Industry players opposing Obama's call for better wages for home care workers

The home health industry in the United States is opposing the Obama administration’s plan to include home care workers in minimum-wage and overtime protections given by the federal labor law.

 

According to the news site Asian Journal, the industry “has wasted no time in filing arguments that the change would burden home care companies,” suggesting instead “that Congress alter the rules and also increase provider payment levels” from third-party payers. 

 

Extending fair pay to home care workers would urge providers to “reduce the availability of care to the elderly and the infirm,” the industry argued.

 

However, the US Department of Labor, which has opened itself for public comments on the matter, said compliance “would be a negligible fraction of the industry’s $84 billion revenue.”

 

The Asian Journal report said the US Labor department “will issue the final revised regulation” after February 27, which is the end of its call for public input.

 

President Barack Obama announced this plan in the White House last December, in the company of some home healthcare aides that represent those taking care of the rising number of elderly people. 

 

The US Administration on Aging sees that there may be as many as 22.6 million disable elderly in 2040, from about 5.1 million in 1986.

 

The Global Health Council said “the Philippines is one of the world’s largest exporters of health workers, making this one of the country’s most important exports.”

 

Fair pay for home care workers

 

The proposal is said to be a part of Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” campaign, which Wall Street Journal described as “a series of initiatives aimed at boosting economic growth without needing congressional approval.”

 

It will require minimum wages for workers offering a variety of health-related services, such as:

 

Currently classified as “companions,” home healthcare workers are exempt from the 1974 minimum wage law. Such workers are also not covered by minimum wage protection in 29 states.

 

According to US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, almost 40 percent of these workers “rely on public aid such as Medicard and food stamps.” Most of them are women, she added, who serve “as the primary breadwinner of their families.” - with Rose-An Jessica Dioquino, VVP, GMA News