HCA's Enough is Enough Campaign

Download: HCA's Enough is Enough Campaign Press Release

For Immediate Release: October 22, 2009

Contact:

Roger Noyes 518-810-0665; 518-275-6961 (cell)

HCA Launches 'Enough is Enough' Online Advocacy Campaign

New site, www.enoughisenoughny.com, contains online petition, advocacy resources and news updates about proposed state budget cuts to home care

With Governor Paterson now proposing a massive $184 million in further cuts to home care through his recently unveiled deficit-reduction plan, the Home Care Association of New York State (HCA) has launched a new grassroots online advocacy campaign, called Enough is Enough, urging the Governor and lawmakers to embrace constructive proposals for reducing costs, as opposed to draconian home care cuts. The Enough is Enough campaign is located at www.enoughisenoughny.com.

If the Governor's new deficit-reduction proposal were adopted in full, the tally of recently enacted home care cuts would approach an astonishing one-half billion dollars since April of 2008. These cumulative budget cuts would strike at the same time that the state has advanced an unprecedented number of new unfunded mandates and proposals to alter the home care delivery infrastructure, prompting the three-part Enough is Enough campaign tag line: Enough with home care cuts. Enough with unfunded home care mandates. Enough with destructive home care system 'reforms'.

At its center, the Enough is Enough campaign includes an online petition which urges legislative support for HCA's "Home Care Accessibility, Efficiency and Improvement Act" (S.5179) in place of cuts. HCA-EIA "will not only save Medicaid dollars but will protect services for the elderly, chronically ill and persons with disabilities so that they can continue to be cared for at home, as is their wish," the petition states. The multi-part bill achieves this goal through home care program enhancements, regulatory reforms, workforce flexibility initiatives, quality and performance standards, a realignment of financial incentives, and much more.

Hundreds of home care providers, caregivers, patients and family members have signed the online petition, with many leaving personalized comments such as:

"My mother received care through a long term home health care [program] for over five years, allowing her to remain out of a nursing home. This was an invaluable service for her and our family, and saved the health care financial system thousands of dollars. Don’t reduce funding for this critical program."

"As a home care provider I know that continuing to cut reimbursement by the government is affecting our ability to serve residents. Continuing to cut reimbursement for home care services will cause more people to return to hospitals or be admitted to nursing homes, costing the state taxpayers more."

Enough is Enough also includes state budget news, links to HCA reports and testimony, charts, and other advocacy resources.

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