Hundreds Protest Proposed Cuts To Adult Day Care

BOSTON (CBS) - Hundreds of people showed up at a Division of Health Care Finance and Policy hearing Thursday to protest the governor's proposed cuts to adult day care.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports

They would eliminate nearly 90-percent of adult day health programs, spending, and services affecting more than 11,000 adults, most of them senior citizens like Irene Chamberlain's 83-year old-father.

"I think it's deplorable because he worked all his life, until he was 72," she told WBZ NewsRadio 1030.

"He fought for this country in the Korean War and to have him be deprived, I mean, that's an insult, not only to older veterans, but the younger veterans. What have they got to look forward to when they get older?"

Watch Carl's video

Dianne Quinerly has a 32-year-old son with a brain injury and she worries about what will happen to him.

"I don't know what we'll do. He'll essentially be sitting in the house watching TV all day long. There's only so much I can do."

Read: Keller@ Large: Adult Foster Care Needs More Support

State senator Richard Moore testified at the hearing. He said the proposed cuts would drive elders out of their houses.

"The adult day health program keeps people in their homes and out of nursing homes that are far more expensive. This is just one of these things that's 'penny wise and pound foolish."