Calls to Expand Long Term Services and Supports in California and Nationwide

Disability Rap

Calls to expand Long Term Services and Supports are growing here in California, in Washington, D.C., and across the country. For people who may be unfamiliar with the term, Long Term Services and Supports, or LTSS, is an umbrella term that encompasses all the supports people with disabilities and older adults need in order to live independently in the community of their choice.

Long Term Services and Supports include home health aides and personal care attendants, but LTSS also include services like medical and non-medical transportation, durable medical equipment, home modifications to make someone’s living space more accessible, and much more.

In President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda that has been stalled in the Senate since last fall, he proposed investing $400 billion in the nation’s LTSS system. Washington State enacted a public LTSS insurance program in 2019, and momentum is growing here in California for universal LTSS for all people who need it in the state, regardless of income or assets.

For more on the calls to expand Long Term Services and Supports, we’re joined by a roundtable of guests from the LTSS4All Grassroots Coalition, a cross-sector campaign for universal LTSS, representing people with disabilities, older adults, family caregivers and homecare professionals.

Monique Harris and Carrie Madden are with us. Both Monique and Carrie receive In-Home Supportive Services, or IHSS, which is California’s Medicaid-funded homecare program. Monique is a graphic artist based in Emeryville, and Carrie is a (Systems Change Advocate) at Communities Actively Living Independent & Free, or CALIF, the independent living center in downtown Los Angeles.

Allen Galleon is also with us. Allen is a homecare worker, family caregiver for his mother, and an organizer with the Pilipino Workers Center. And we’re joined by Kayla Shore, Southern California Research Manager & Organizer with Hand in Hand, The Domestic Employers Network. And we’re getting support today from Lindsay Imai Hong, the California Director of Hand in Hand, who will be revoicing for Monique.