Trinidad Contreras enjoys gardening and playing dominoes at his adult day health care center, but a state ruling has the 79-year-old fearfully anticipating an isolated existence.

"At this age, being old and being in the apartment alone, I'm afraid to be alone. I'm afraid I'll get depressed again," he said, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter.

He began to cry.

Until this year, California paid for him to attend Gardner Adult Day Health Care in San Jose.

To save money, the state limited Medi-Cal coverage for such care to those with the most serious needs. Contreras, who sometimes needs help eating because of Parkinson's disease tremors, did not make the cut.

The state this year found 7,000 seniors ineligible out of 35,000 participants in a program originally meant to save money by keeping medically fragile people out of more costly nursing homes and high-cost emergency rooms.

Some 1,800, including Contreras, have appealed, and some centers, unwilling to leave people without services, are sagging under the financial pressure of keeping their doors open to people the state no longer pays for.

In Santa Cruz County

That's the case at Elderday in Santa Cruz, the only adult day health care facility in the county. Program Director Sheri Anselmi said state rate cuts mean the center is losing about $55,000 a month, jeopardizing the Elderday's future.

Elderday sees about 130 enrollees who receive transportation to the center, meals, physical and occupational therapy, mental health services, nursing and dietician services and therapeutic activities.

The rest is here:

Seniors program's launch brings confusion, delays for Californians