Caregivers deserve better compensation
Lujan-sponsored act would expand DD Waiver services for the disabled
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to ensure all Americans have the option to receive quality, long-term care in the setting that best meets their needs and preferences. Care can’t wait.
New Mexico has an aging population. By 2030 it is anticipated that onefourth of New Mexicans will be 65 or older. The waitlist for persons with developmental disabilities to access full DD Waiver services is 13 years from the time of enrollment.
The federal program that provides Medicaid support for persons to receive services in their home and in their community is called Home and Community Based Services. Federal legislation, termed “The Better Care, Better Jobs Act” would create historic change to this system. It is cosponsored by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan.
The bill increases funding into the states from the federal government in the form of an increased Medicaid match. The goal would be to decrease waitlists for services. It also increases wages and benefits for the workers who provide these services.
One question that arises when considering expanding services is provider capacity. This act recognizes how the workforce and the care provided are intertwined. Nationwide, home care workers — a majority of whom are women and people of color — earn a median wage of $12 per hour. Roughly 18% of these workers live in poverty and many receive few or no benefits. This low compensation, paired with the difficulty of the work, results in exceptionally high turnover rates among direct care workers, often estimated between 40% and 60%.
For years our state legislators have been forced to weigh the cost of removing individuals from the waitlist vs. increasing provider rates and workers’ wages and benefits. The reality is that you cannot legitimately do one without doing the other.
Individuals receiving services — whether in senior care or disability services — deserve quality care and consistency in their workforce. You cannot add more care recipients into the system without addressing the low wage and lack of benefits for caregivers.
There is another benefit to this act. Forty-eight million Americans provide unpaid family caregiving services according to the AARP and 20% of unpaid family caregivers became so during the pandemic year according to a February 2021 article in Forbes magazine. A paid caregiver can allow an unpaid family caregiver to return to work. This impacts all industries. Investing in the caregiving workforce simply makes good economic sense.
New Mexicans would benefit from the passage of The Better Care, Better Jobs Act and would benefit from including the funding to end waitlists and provide for better care into the budget reconciliation bill.