After a long legislative battle and plenty of lobbying, there’s finally some good news to report for Massachusetts older adults and their caregivers. On Thursday, Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a spending bill that included $3.78 million for elder home care services. Those funds should end the wait list for home care services that had been implemented on September 1.

The elder care funds were part of a much larger $187.5 million spending bill, the bulk of which will help fund the MassHealth program, which received $164 million. But the $3.78 million slated to go to home care services will make a direct and vital impact on the quality of life for Massachusetts seniors.

Al Norman, the Executive Director of Mass Home Care, led the lobbying fight to restore the funding to the home care services line item, detailed the impact of the move.

“I am very pleased to report that the Governor (Thursday) has signed the supplemental budget bill that includes section 28, which adds $3.78 million to the elder home care services line item, using federal Community First Trust Fund money,” said Norman in a press release.

“The Governor has rescued these seniors from the No Care Zone, and we thank him and his staff for understanding why a little home care means so much to these families.

“This should result in the end of the home care wait list that began on September 1st. If no action had been taken, this wait list could have reached 2,000 elders by next June.

“Even with this funding, the home care programs are just about level to our appropriation level in FY 16 — so there are still some challenges ahead this fiscal year.

“It is a major accomplishment to get this home care money restored. To do this, we had to have the full support of the Senate President (Stanley Rosenberg) and the Speaker (Robert DeLeo), the Chairs of  the Ways and Means Committees (Karen Spilka and Brian Dempsey) and all the members of the General Court.

“We thank them all today for showing that seniors still count in Massachusetts!

“And we thank all the advocates who rallied to help keep seniors in the budget.”