LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors last week approved sending the state a letter to ask it to spare a program that supports frail elderly who want to remain independent and living in their own homes rather than nursing facilities.
Dennis Fay of the Area Agency on Aging Advisory Board asked the board for the letter, and Supervisor Denise Rushing – who had heard Fay give a presentation on the matter – asked him to come and speak at the Feb. 15 meeting.
The program at stake is the Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), which Fay said is up for elimination in Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget.
Fay explained that the program supports seniors over age 65 – with an average age of 80. A fact sheet he provided the board said the program saves the state $55 million annually by helping 12,600 chronically ill older adults stay at home.
Of the adults it serves, Fay said, “He or she is exceedingly poor,” with most living on less than $1,000 a month while dealing with many medical conditions.
Without the MSSP program, most of the seniors it supports would be living in nursing homes, Fay said.
For the elderly who use the program, many often live away from family and are located in rural areas, he said.
“That is sort of the human face of MSSP,” which Fay called “really quite a good program.”
The state's proposal would cut $20 million in state funds that support the program. Fay said that, as a result of that cut, the state also would lose a $20 million matching federal grant.
The question Fay suggested the board should ask is if the cut is financially prudent. “The answer,” he said, “is absolutely not.”
Within 30 days to six months of making the cut, Fay said the state would be expected to shift $55 million into nursing home care.
He said the cuts would impact 80 frail seniors in Lake County who, he said, are not “living large.”
The MSSP's Clearlake office has three social workers, a nurse and case aide whose jobs are to make sure there is a support network and safety net for the seniors they serve, Fay said.
If the program were cut, those five workers would be laid off. Fay said some of them have been with the program for more than 20 years.
“We can't afford to lose any more jobs in Lake County,” he said.
Fay went to Sacramento two weeks ago to argue against the program's elimination before the Senate and Assembly budget subcommittees.
He said that programs like MSSP, that provide care for 50 cents on the dollar, should be expanded, not contracted. Fay pointed to a trend across the nation to move people from more expensive care into less expensive, managed care situations.
Fay urged the board to take action quickly.
Supervisor Rob Brown said MSSP is an important program, but pointing to the letter – which asked for no cuts whatsoever to the program – said, “There's not a program in the county that couldn't write this very same letter.”
He questioned why the letter had to be “all or nothing,” explaining that something has to be cut, and suggesting the letter would be taken more seriously and be more effective if it offered alternatives.
Fay suggested the program could probably survive a 10-percent cut with minimal harm to its patients, but said a bigger cut of 25 percent would be devastating.
Brown asked which would be worse – 25 percent or 100 percent.
Fay said it's the state's position that everything that isn't a mandated service be put on the chopping block.
Brown asked for input from county Social Services Director Carol Huchingson, who noted, “We're very concerned about all of our programs.”
Huchingson agreed with Brown that the letter should be revised to suggest that cuts be minimal, not that they not happen at all.
Rushing said the board hasn't written many of these letters to the state this year. “I felt strongly that this particular program should be considered by the board,” she said.
She supported revising the wording to suggest reductions but to also make clear that the program is cost-effective to keep in place.
Huchingson suggested that the letter should also make the point about the importance of the program in a rural area, as opposed to a metropolitan area where there are many other services. Board Chair Jim Comstock said that was an important point.
Fay suggested he could look at it and get a revised draft to Rushing that same day.
County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said he's been sending communications on his own – and not on behalf of the board – to the state on various issues.
Cox was concerned that, by sending the letter, that it could be taken to mean that the board wasn't upset about other issues, like eliminating money for state libraries and redevelopment. He suggested that the board needed to indicate that this wasn't the only matter of concern to the board.
Fay said the county has a joint power agreement for AAA with Mendocino County, which already has sent a letter to the state about MSSP.
He also agreed that they should suggest alternatives and not say there should be no cuts at all.
The board approved sending the letter 5-0, with Huchingson agreeing to help edit the final draft.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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