The Michigan Senate has reacted to the to the state’s looming budget shortfall by proposing radical cuts in services to Michigan citizens, especially to seniors and people with disabilities.

The most disturbing of the proposed cuts would include eliminating the $0.50 per hour wage increase for Home Help workers enacted last year, a move that would in fact end up costing the state millions of dollars.

The Anderson Economic Group (AEG) published a report last year that found that the wage increase to Home Help workers would save the state over $276 million in Medicaid spending by keeping people in their own homes and avoiding costly nursing homes.

The Senate bill would also cut the number of hours of home care services provided to seniors and people with disabilities. By cutting these basic services, it will make it that much harder for our neighbors and loved ones to stay in their own homes when they need long term care.

Furthermore, this short-sighted plan totally disregards the well-known fact that long-term care services will need to be expanded, not reduced, in the face of the aging Baby Boomer generation.

The net effect of these cuts will be to put the 50,000 Michiganders who rely on these services and the 40,000 workers who provide them, at serious risk.

We must take action immediately to let lawmakers know we will not stand for it.

AARP has set up a toll-free number so that you can call your state House member and tell them not to make the same mistake the senate made.

Click here to send your lawmaker an email. 

Call now: 888-232-6829!