Settlement saves services for senior citizens and disabled

Weeks before the state planned to cut off funding to adult day healthcare centers throughout California, lawyers representing 35,000 low-income senior citizens and people with disabilities announced a legal settlement Thursday that preserves services for those most at risk of going into nursing homes.

On Dec. 1, the state had planned to eliminate adult day healthcare as a Medi-Cal benefit, which could have forced the closure of dozens of centers.

Lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging that there would be nowhere for the frail senior citizens and disabled participants to go and that many would end up in hospitals or nursing homes.

The settlement creates a program called Community-Based Adult Services, which will provide similar services for many of those who currently go to the adult day healthcare centers. The settlement also postpones the end of the adult day healthcare program until the end of February.