Advocacy and Public Policy
Home Help Changes
On July 1, 2004, the Home Help program changed in regard to the number of hours per month a person can receive help on his or he Instrumental Activities of Daiily Living.
There are now caps on hours for meal preparation (25 hours per month), laundry (7 hours), house cleaning (6) and shopping (5). All Home Help recipients were sent a notice telling them of the change in policy. However, it seems that the Family Independence Agency, which runs the Home Help program, decided (reasonably) that hours over the caps would not be cut until after an in-person review by the caseworker with the individual. Because there are so many Home Help recipients (48,000), these reviews could not happen all at once, so they will take place in the normal course of reviews.
If your hours are cut or if you have questions about what your right to hours is, please call us at 800-828-2714. We can advise you about what the policy might mean for you and about what you can do about it, and we can give you the name and number of an advocate near you for help.
If you disagree with the number of hours you get, you have limited options. You can, however, ask for an "exception." If you want to ask for an exception, call us at (800) 828-2714 and we can talk to you about how to do it.
April 2006
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