SITUATION: The U.S. Senate is currently working on a Reconciliation Package, including $400 billion for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), funds which will allow seniors and people with disabilities to age in place, but the amount allocated to HCBS is in jeopardy, with opposition proposing less than half those funds, $150 billion.
The full $400 billion will:
- Increase federal matching funds to states for HCBS
- Expand and strengthen caregiving jobs for workers who provide these services and have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, a workforce which is predominately female, low-wage and BIPOC
A lower figure is simply inadequate to address the entrenched issues in the HCBS service system.
ACTION: Call our U.S. Senators ASAP to tell them we need the full $3.5 Trillion Reconciliation Package, especially the $400 Billion for HCBS.
ACTION: Send this email to friends and family in the U.S.
Contact information for California Senators:
Senator Dianne Feinstein
One Post Street, Suite 2450
San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone: (415) 393-0707
click here to email Dianne Feinstein
Senator Alex Padilla
333 Bush Street, Suite 3225
San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone: (415) 981–9369
click here to email Alex Padilla