* Erickson…

With no end in sight to an impasse that has left state government in limbo, Democrats spent Tuesday shining a spotlight on plans by Gov. Bruce Rauner to reduce the number of senior citizens who receive state assistance.

Just as their counterparts in the House have tried to paint the Republican chief executive as a threat to the poor and middle class, Senate Democrats held press conferences and conducted a formal hearing Tuesday on Rauner’s plan to alter a ranking system that determines who gets government help and who doesn’t.

The governor has proposed changing the rankings in order to take aid away from thousands of seniors and disabled Illinoisans.

While Rauner says his administration needs to find savings because of a decrease in revenue after the expiration of the state’s temporary tax increase in January, Democrats said the impact will be devastating.

* Finke…

Mary Schnell of Springfield said the proposed changes would leave her and her husband, John, without services. John Schnell suffers from dementia, and twice a week he attends day care services outside the home paid by the state. Also, the Schnells get four hours a week of in-home services to help with work around the house and to take them grocery shopping and to do other tasks outside the home.

“It’s just been a godsend for us,” Mary Schnell said. “It’s getting to the point that without help, I can’t do it.”

The administration said the determination-of-need scoring system hasn’t been changed in 30 years and that Illinois provides services to a lot of “low need” people.

* Sun-Times…

“Presumably as part of the governor’s budget proposal it’s intended to save the state money,” Cheryl Jansen, public policy director for Equip for Equality told senators. “But it’s been shown again and again, and you’ve heard testimony here today, and the state has provided statistics that show that serving people with disabilities in their own homes, in their own communities — rather than institutions — saves money. In the long term, this change will not only cost the state money, it will deprive the individuals served by this program of their independence, of their dignity and of their improved quality of life.”

* Sen. Daniel Biss sent out a press release yesterday explaining the impact of changing the scores…

Substantial and detrimental changes to state-provided in-home or long-term care may be on the way under a new plan proposed by the governor. If it is enacted, nearly 40,000 seniors enrolled in the Community Care Program alone will be forced out of their homes and into nursing home facilities.

To decide whether or not a person is eligible to receive services, such as a home health aide or admission to a nursing home, state agencies use a Determination of Need (DON) score. It’s a tool designed to assess the level and type of need in order to provide the best and most efficient care to older adults and persons with disabilities.

The governor has proposed raising the threshold citizens would need in order to receive care from state programs. With these changes in place, the minimum score to qualify for assistance would increase from 37 from 29. Many people who rely on these services to live and provide for their families are fearing for the future and the future of their families. […]

People already receiving home services with scores between 29 and 37 would lose the services they rely on to get from one day to the next. And in most cases, the cost to the state is significantly lower than if the state were to provide nursing home services, often the only alternative.

“The governor is cutting much more than hypothetical dollars from the budget with this plan,” said State Senator Daniel Biss (D – Evanston), chair of the Human Services Committee, who led a hearing on in-home care on Tuesday. “He is cutting a lifeline for thousands of seniors and disabled Illinoisans who rely on state government to ensure their health and safety. If we raise the threshold for assistance, we lower our standards as a state at a time when we need to find our moral center more than ever. Taking away these services would also increase the cost to the state. This is a lose-lose situation.”

The governor is planning on asking the federal government for a special waiver that would allow Illinois to change Medicaid rules for determination of need. Biss is imploring the governor to first look into the human impact of a possible rule change before making any decision on this issue.

“Instead of blindly grabbing for any means to save dollars and cents, we need to take a hard look at the people we’re casting aside,” said Biss. “These citizens are not a financial inconvenience to be stripped from the books. They are in need of services, and it’s in everyone’s best interest to provide that care in the most effective way possible.”

* Meanwhile, Mark Brown looks at the child care program…

Under cost-cutting measures imposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration effective July 1, the state’s child care assistance program has been effectively closed to nearly all new enrollees.

According to advocates, in just the first two weeks more than 2,000 families who would have qualified under previous eligibility guidelines have already been denied access to the program.

These are families who rely on the child care subsidy to make it economically feasible to go to work so that someday they might escape poverty.

A family of four earning $12,132 a year will now make too much money to qualify for the subsidy, a dramatic drop from the previous income ceiling of $44,868.