A recent “listening session” on the direct-care workforce for Wisconsin legislators demonstrated the power — and the limitations — of capturing lawmakers’ attention with personal testimonials.
Family members attested to the importance of paid caregivers, employers discussed the increasing difficulty of recruiting enough workers, and direct-care workers talked about the difficulty of surviving on their wages as gas prices and other expenses increase.
According to an article in the July 2 Dunn County News, the legislators in attendance “admitted that for some of them, the issue had not come up on their radar.” One of the three, Representative John Murtha (pictured), said: “It was touching to hear the stories presented tonight. We think it [disability/aging] won’t happen to us — but you got through to me.”
But the legislators said there was nothing they could do to increase reimbursement and thus improve caregiver wages, since Medicaid formulas are set by the federal government. T the same time, Senator Pat Kreitlow counseled the audience to “keep the drum beat beating,” adding: “Budgets are organic and are based on real people’s moms, dads, siblings, and needs.”
The Eau Claire meeting was arranged by the West Central Wisconsin Workforce Alliance.
Elise Nakhnikian, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org
Elise the picture you have is not the John Murtha who is a state rep for Wisconsin. They are two different men.
http://www.legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/contact/legislatorpages.aspx?house=Assembly&district=29
And state reps cannot do much to help these issues; change can only come from the federal level.
thanks for the catch, Patti! Just fixed the pic.
The notion that the issue of the adequacy of caregiver wages and benefits is a federal one is simply not true. State legislatures can and do provide Medicaid reimbursement rates that may only be used to increase caregiver wages and benefits. In fact they are in a much better position to increase wages and benefits than the federal government is by virtue of appropriating the specific level of funding on which the reimbursement rates for these services in thier states are based.
I agree with Mike. Every state legislature has the power to decide reimbursement formulas for not only long term care programs, but also, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, managed care plans, and every other provider type that receives Medicaid funding. Most legislatures look at those specific issues every time a Medicaid budget is considered. The WI Legislature may have finished their work for this year and next year’s budgets, but every budget can also be changed and more money added. In Michigan, we call those budgets “supplementals.” State legislatures have responsibilities for their Medicaid budgets.
The statement from the WI state legislator that there is nothing they can do can’t be farther from the truth. States have in fact taken the lead in improving wages and benefits for direct care workers in a variety of ways including wage pass throughs and health coverage. In fact, because state Medicaid programs pay for a large share of the personal care/home care and nurisng home services, ensuring adequate rates is their responsibility. States like Washington, California, Oregon, Montana and New York all have Medicaid funding good health coverage for home care workers. We hope that Wisconsin will follow their lead. Go to http://www.coverageiscritical.org for more information about state strategies for health coverage.
That is so far from the truth its not even funny. In the facility I work at, the better the state inspection we receive, the more money medicare/medicaid will send us. Its a great incentive, and it helps out quiet a bit with moral b/c the more they send us, the higher percentage they can pay us. But, that only helps in facilities I’m thinking, I don’t think it does much to help out the home health worker. Which is really sad.
I’m thinking that the gov’t is lining their pockets with this money, and just can’t seem to give.