The state-sponsored home care program could see cuts that drive people from their homes to nursing homes.
Buried in hundreds of millions in cuts in the governor's budget is about $3 million in reductions for the state's Home Care Program for Elders, which allows seniors who meet certain financial eligibility requirements to live at home and receive care from the state.
Evelyn Babella has utilized the program for 10 years and currently pays $30 per month to participate. She shudders at what the alternative may look like.
"It means everything," Babella said in her Manchester home. "I don’t want to live in a nursing home! My God! For heaven’s sake!”
Babella said the program allows her to live in her own home with her 18-year-old dachshund, Henrietta. She doubts Henrietta could go with her to a nursing home.
"I couldn’t have her in a nursing home. And she’s my baby. She’s my little one," Babella said.
State Sen. Beth Bye, a Democrat from West Hartford who chairs the legislature's Appropriations Committee, said she's "very concerned" about the future of the program.
"I think it’s a program that’s keeping seniors in their community and reducing reliance on nursing homes," Bye said.
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Even though she wants to protect the program, Bye conceded that this year's budget presents struggles across all agencies and programs.
"The cuts are very alarming and there aren’t a lot of options, so we’re looking at cuts," she explained. "We have to take them all seriously and do our best to take care of ones like this that really save money but there are no silver bullets. This is a very difficult budgets."
Babella said she wants to stay in her home as long as possible with Henrietta and can't afford to pay more for the home health program, which is what the governor wants to do.
"It means my independence to live here and I don’t understand. If you’re going to cut anything, don’t cut for people that have worked all their life and now are seniors. It’s just not right," she said.
