They are SEIU or Service Employees International Union. They are a union for In Home Supportive Services...a service for people with disabilities. Home health care workers work for the disabled. The disabled get help with their funding through IHSS. SEIU works very hard to keep the funding coming in (from State and Federal) for these workers who otherwise may be out of a job. Without this funding, many if not most of the disabled would be forced out of their homes and into the care of State nursing homes, group homes, etc. who would require much more money from state and federal (our taxes) to care for these disabled individuals. Keeping IHSS afloat is the least expensive way to care for the disabled who requires their services.
You would think that without IHSS people would naturally rely on their family to care for them. However, many do not have family that is capable or have the finances to do so. Many disabled require so much time and work that it is stressful on anyone to care for them "and" keep a job to pay for their needs as well as their disabled family member. On the other hand, there are single parents with disabled children who cannot work because their child requires them to be home to care for them and to protect them from harming themselves. The pay the parent receives from IHSS is not much, but it allows the child to have extra quality care and have their parent with them at the same time.
It is much simpler, cost effective and humane to keep these individuals with their families or in their own homes. Having these people going into nursing homes, group homes etc., is fiscally comparable to one going to the hospital. One can buy pain meds at the pharmacy with costs in the single to double digits, but if those same meds are being purchased through the hospital it can go quickly into the triple digits. I can care for my son's asthma at home with a nebulizer and albuterol for next to nothing, but if he's admitted into the hospital for even one day that cost quickly rises to over $2,000 or more.
It is no different for home health care whose workers are only paid $9.?? An hour whereas if the person they are caring for were in a nursing/group home, it would be 10 times that or more.
So for anyone who may be assuming that we are paying too much money out of our taxes for home health care, consider how much more we would be paying if IHSS had to close down.
One more thing, be careful what you say and think about these people when you and your family are healthy...it may be you or someone you love who is the next disabled statistic who may be in need of these services.