Congressman Dave Loebsack
An amendment to America’s Affordable Health Choices Act added in the House Education and Labor Committee would require:
- the development of recommendations for promoting and investing in the direct-care workforce
- the development of recommendations for assisting states with direct-care workforce plans
- the creation of a Personal Care Attendant Workforce Advisory Panel
In addition to other responsibilities, the advisory panel would be charged with developing core competencies for personal and home care aides as well as necessary training curricula and resources. Panel recommendations would then serve as the basis for a demonstration project in up to four states to test the effectiveness of the proposed training standards and curricula.
The amendment was introduced by Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-IA) and Congressman Jason Altmire (D-PA), at the encouragement of PHI and the Iowa CareGivers Association.
“Direct-care workers are at the frontline of health care,” said Congressman Loebsack. “They are the heroes who care for our elderly and disabled, and we must do everything we can to ensure that they have the training and resources they need so that we can continue to provide Iowans, and all Americans, with the quality health care they deserve.”
While some states have training requirements for personal and home care aides, there are no federal training standards for this segment of the workforce despite the fact that this occupation is among the second fastest-growing in the country.
The 2008 Institute of Medicine report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce, garnered much public attention and included strong recommendations for creating training standards for personal and home care aides.
I applaud Congressmen Altmire and Loebsack for this common-sense, practical addition to the healthcare bill. It is good to know that leaders like Congressman Altmire understand that first and foremost, this healthcare legislation MUST get done, and that is simply imperative that every working person and child in this country have healthcare – no matter how it is achieved, healthcare cannot be optional for working people and kids. The alternative is not only morally wrong, it leads to a system like we have now in which costs are not controlled, the population in the insurance pool is artificially small, the working class have’s are pitted against the have-not’s, and those businesses who choose to provide healthcare are less economically competitive than those who do not. But finally, it is also good to know that Congressman Altmire recognizes that direct care healthcare workers are part of a new backbone of American economics that includes teachers and other core services, and the quality of those professions must be protected at all costs.
As you say, it is great that direct care workers are being recognized for the imporatnt work they do, and that they must be included in strategies to reform the delivery system. There is much work to be done to address consumers with chronic health conditions and who need coordination of care in their homes, and home health and personal care aides are essential frontline caregivers.
Our work is not done. Congressman Altmire is on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the one House Committee that has not voted in favor of HR3200. Urging him to support this bill is important and time is of the essence.