Monday, February 28, 2011

Will California Keep Adult Day Health Care?

Today's Capital Desk column in California Healthline gives a glimmer of hope that once again adult day health care services throughout The Golden State will survive to fight another day. Now slated by Gov. Jerry Brown for elimination as part of his proposed budget, ADHC is gaining support from an influential committee. Those members understand that the alternative for families receiving adult day care will be to either quit their jobs or place their parent or spouse in a nursing home, both of which will cost the state far more.

"It's important to note that, compared to other states, we have a lower number of people in nursing homes in California," committee member Nancy Skinner (D-East Bay) said, adding that it's the ADHC program that helps keep people out of nursing homes, which benefits the state, she said.

"Because nursing home care costs more. A lot of the reason that we moved toward these programs is that they save that cost," Skinner said. "So I have to ask: What good are we doing here?"

You can read the entire column here.

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