Jim's Fight For His Life

The 10% Medi-Cal cutbacks Governor Brown has signed are now on President Obama's desk.  Those cut  backs, if not overturned, cut force Jim out of his apartment  where he lives a full life, living independently, working occasionally in the Entertainment  Industry.

The president, if he was urged by enough constituents, might overturn the budget and enable Jim and tens of thousands of disabled California citizens like him who require Medi-Cal funded caregivers to continue living independent lives, where they interact with their communities, and many, like Jim pay taxes and contribute to the economy.

There is a coming wave of babyboomers who will also be needing long-term homecare. If Governor Brown dismantles the long-term care programs, what will he say to these children of what has been called "The Greatest Generation?" I know my late father didn't fight and watch his friends die in Okinawa to see his son forced nto a nursing home.

The real insanity is that these cuts will end up costing the state much more. It has been proven time after time that keeping people with disabilities at home is far cheaper that institutionalizing them. For example, personalized home-care keeps Jim healthier, requiring less hospital visits, fewer expensive tests, Jim pays his own rent, buys his own food, pays for his own utilities, etc..

Jim is also concerned the Medicare and Medicaid cuts currently on Obama's desk arten't overturned, it will cause the same fate to affect millions of people with disabilities across the country. 

To help requires a three-pronged effort. One way to help is to contact Governor Brown and demand that he reverse his decision to make the cuts, two is to contact your representatives in Washington and insist that they use their influence to change the president's mind on this issue, and lastly contact the president himself and tell him how you feel. Perhaps there's people in your own family in the same position. If you thought there was nothing you can do - there is.

"One more thing we can all do to insure this never happens again is to vote. People with disabilities are the largest minority group in the country. 83% of all able-bodied people will be disabled at some point in their lives. The problem is we don't feel empowered, statistically people with disabilities don't vote. If we did, cuts like these would never happen," said Jim Troesh.