(SACRAMENTO, CA)  Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley), Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, praised the settlement announced today between the Department of Health Care Services and seven plaintiffs representing a class of 35,000 Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) recipients facing the elimination of the program at the end of the month.

"Thousands of people were facing a nightmare scenario at the end of this month," said Blumenfield.  "My heart goes out to them and the relief today's news must bring.  It could not come at a better time for them.  This settlement is also great news for our state budget.  We were about to spend more to provide health care for less people."

ADHC is a low-cost, licensed, community-based day care program providing health, therapeutic, and social services to those at risk of being placed in nursing home care.  Today's settlement calls for the creation of a new program of community-based services to care for ADHC recipients at the greatest risk of institutionalization.  This will benefit the state budget because it costs roughly $1,050 per month per person enrolled in ADHC, compared with $5,193 per month per person enrolled in nursing home care.

"This settlement resembles the solution many of us backed as an alternative to elimination," said Blumenfield.  "I'm pleased that the debate is settled and important community services will be preserved for people in need."

The governor vetoed legislation Blumenfield authored this year to save adult day health care while reducing costs.  Assembly Bill (AB) 96 aimed to ensure that the elimination of Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) would not cause the transfer of the most medically fragile adults to high cost institutional or nursing home care.  It would have created the Keeping Adults Free from Institutions (KAFI) program to care for the most medically fragile adults currently served by ADHC.  Federal approval and funding were required to implement KAFI, which was designed to operate through licensed adult day health centers for half the cost of ADHC.  $85 million in funding for KAFI was included in the budget passed by the Legislature in June.

On November 15, the CA Association for Adult Day Services named Blumenfield Legislator of the Year for his dedication to protect adult day health care.  More information about today's settlement available at http://www.disabilityrightsca.org.  More information about AB 96 is available at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.

Contact: Anthony Matthews, tel. (916) 319-2040