The IHSS program has seen disproportionate growth over the past several years, and IHSS costs have grown nearly twice as fast as inflation and population growth.
With this remarkable growth has come a growing element of fraud, estimated to be as high as 25% of all funds expended. The Governor is seeking simple reforms to help rein in growing fraud in this worthy program. They are:
- Fingerprinting and background checks for all providers
- Automated fingerprint checks of recipients to prevent double-dipping
- Fraud training for county workers
- Timecard accountability
- Unannounced home visits
These are simple steps that ought to be easy to support to ensure scarce funds go farther.
The chart below shows the incredible growth in the IHSS program. Yet another example of a program with rapid growth, runaway fraud, deserving of additional scrutiny to ensure more funds are available to the truly needy. For 2009-10, the chart reflects what expenditures would be without the Governor’s proposed reductions.