Certain functions of the Department of Human Services would be protected from cuts if Senate Bill 694 wins approval in the House by end of business Friday.
“The budget bill we approved in the Senate this week protects core functions of government like education and healthcare and helped avoid catastrophic cuts in other areas. This measure strengthens those efforts by ensuring the programs that aid the most vulnerable adults and children in our state will not be cut,” Senator A.J. Griffin said.
Griffin, Senator Kim David, Rep. Jason Nelson and Rep. Pat Ownbey put together the legislation which, in part, protects the ADvantage program.
“I believe, given the option and the ability, most seniors would much rather remain in their own homes rather than going to a nursing home,” David said. “The ADvantage program provides home healthcare and other services so older Oklahomans can stay in their own homes. It’s far less expensive than the cost of a residential facility, but without these home services, many of these individuals would have no other option than to leave their homes.”
SB 694 also maintains 2016 funding levels for adult day care and programs for disabled children and adults.
“We must protect the services that our most vulnerable citizens rely on,” Nelson said. “This has been a very difficult budget year, and many hard decisions had to be made, but I am grateful we were able to find a way to protect these programs that are so critically necessary for the most vulnerable children, adults and seniors.”
