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State Legislation/Regulation

LD 1934: “Resolve, To Improve Retention, Quality and Benefits for Direct Care Health Workers” (Part A): A sub-group chaired by Vicki Purgavie, Home Care Alliance, was created by the Elder Issues Partnership to focus on LD 1934.  Introduced by Sen. Beth Edmonds, this legislation had been referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services (Sen. Arthur F. Mayo, III – Senate Chair, and Rep. Hannah Pingree – House Chair). The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to study options for, and cost of, increasing wages and providing health coverage for direct care workers in state-funded and MaineCare-funded long-term care programs.

Specifically, the study would:

  1. Examine the wage, benefit and reimbursement structures for direct care workers in all long-term care settings, including but not limited to nursing facilities, residential care facilities and home care;
  2. Determine the cost of a wage floor of $8.50 per hour and the cost of a wage floor of $10 per hour for entry-level direct care workers, including certified nursing assistants, personal support specialists, home health aides, homemakers and direct support professionals. The study must include determination of the cost of proportional increases in current wage scales for more experienced workers and employer-related costs such as FICA;
  3. Develop options to extend MaineCare or other health insurance coverage for direct care workers; and
  4. Evaluate the need for a direct care worker registry, including desired objectives of such a registry and a cost estimate
    In addition, an amendment offered during the work session would require the study to:
  5. Study persons formerly employed as direct care workers in long-term care settings to determine whether they would return to work if the pay were increased to $10 per hour; and
  6. Survey organizations that provide services to senior citizens, including through paid workers and through volunteers, to determine the level of interest among older persons in becoming direct care workers, either full-time or part-time, and within their physical capabilities to assist persons who are elderly or persons with disabilities.

The Committee on Health and Human Services (Sen. Arthur F. Mayo, III – Senate Chair, and Rep. Hannah Pingree – House Chair) held a hearing on LD 1934 on Thursday, March 2nd and then held a work session on the bill March 8th.  LD 1934 was passed unanimously out of the Health and Human Services Committee as ought to pass as amended above.

For more up-to-date information on a bill's status, click here.