Home care workers deserve better pay, plus benefits
Citing the labor shortage in the Dec. 4 article “Why won’t Ohio boost pay for home care workers?” Ohio Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran asserts “We could give them every dime … They wouldn’t be able to hire people.” Oh really?!
Home care workers are expected to keep patients alive, yet most do not receive the same benefits as state employees (like Corcoran). Benefits such as Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation if injured, PTO for sick leave or vacation, promotions, pay raises, support from co-workers, or breaks.
Ohio even refuses the liability of being employer of record, and many are independent contractors. It’s too much burden on providers and families, very laissez-faire on the part of the State.
Rather than invest in pay, Medicaid awarded millions to Sandata to provide devices for Electronic Visit Verification, required in the CARES act.
On the front lines many families have been on duty since March 2020, as I have with my 19-year-old daughter, who requires assistance with all of her activities of daily living.
Shame on the Ohio State Legislature. They passed a law restricting women’s access to healthcare due to electrical impulses in fetal tissue, but refuse to support the lives of the vulnerable and the heroes who show up every day to assist.
We need an immediate boost, but not just in pay. We must uplift the status of individuals working in home care. They deserve CEO levels of pay and fringe benefits. After all, life is worth nothing if there is no one to care.
Amanda Runyon Lynch, Columbus