The States With The Best And Worst Wage Laws For Home Health Workers

i guess i am blessed to have a home health job that pays 16.00 per hour for a forty-eight hour shift…but then again, you take taxes out, and any health insurance and you are left with a whole lotta not-very-much…but i am so thankful to have job!

It’s unbelievable that we want the best care for our loved ones but we can’t even pay the people providing this care enough to care for their own families.

My mother does this work for a living in NYC, she can barely survive on the pay and benefits have been getting worse lately. I live in Texas and in this state there are no benefits to speak of. Take you 9 dollars an hour and eat shoes.

Let’s not forget that minimum wage is a joke. Maybe a teenager deserves that but working adults can’t live on that.

What about Alaska and Hawaii?

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, home health care workers are exempt from overtime and not eligible to receive the federal minimum wage. This is the law that needs to be changed.

It’s about time!

The Fair Labor Standards Act supersedes federal minimum wage laws. Kinda like restaurant servers do not get minimum wage in Texas.

More money is always desirable. What needs to be understood is that much of the home health industry is supported by Medicaid payments. The provider gets reimbursed $X per unit of service. It doesn’t take a great mind to realize that you can’t paid the home health aide more than you get reimbursed for the service. Providers keep pushing states to increase the reimbursement rate precisely so that we can afford to pay more. At the same time, we can’t go too low, or else McDonald’s will hire away our employees. It’s a little more complicated than just raising the wage standards. Unless you want to put the providers out of business and eliminate home health services. [Disclosure: I've been on the board of directors of a home health nonprofit since 1993, so I'm not just making this stuff up.]

I am the payroll processor at a home health care agency in Anchorage, Alaska an I am a little confused because we are held to the same minimum wage standards as the rest of the state, and we most certainly are required to pay overtime.

I cant believe out of all the topics that this could bring up some of you people are discussing the colors on the map and not the actual integrity of the data nor the fct that this is a needed change.

I live in Ms. and I can tell you the prices I’ve been given for 24 /7 care for my 95 year old mother in-in law are from $10.00- 25.00 per hour. I’m trying to put together a good care system for her at home. It’s very pricy on the paying end. If it gets much higher people that that are simply paying out of pocket for it ,won’t be able to afford it and agencies will close and the caregivers will have no work! It’s already having in St. Louis Mo with the agencies not getting new clients.

I am frequently inclined to believe that Arizona is the most draconian state I could possibly live in but then I see things like this. Hey, I guess it could be worse. At least we aren’t South Carolina.

Why did you choose to pick on little old New England in your two-paragraph story when the entire South AND a few nearby states are not “friendly” at all?

While we’;re at it, let’s talk about restaurant workers and how they are exempt from minimum wage laws.

colors don’t match the legend — Ohio is orange, for example, which says “both minimum wage and overtime”, but when I click on Ohio it says Minimum wage but no overtime. Confusing.

The White House first approves sweeping cuts to home health reimbursement. Then the administration decides to vilify home health agencies for trying to control operation cost while continuing to provide the sick and elderly with patient-centered care.

I think the map colors are mislabeled.

even at minimum wage it runs to 6400 a month if you need full-time staff, plus taxes if you are at home- a pretty big number for almost anyone

And we wonder how elder abuse happens! The in home workers that care for our elderly have an extremely stressful job and couple that with an inability to make ends meet after working long hours, I see how they may have difficulty keeping their emotions in tact.(not saying it is okay, it is not) The other disparage is between what they make and what the owners of the agencies they work through make — A few years ago we had an in home care giver for mom – the caregiver made $8 and hour yet we were paying the agency $21 and hour – yes, the agency has expenses, but not that much!! Someone is going home with allot of jingle in their pocket and it isn’t the “worker”

Either the color scheme or wording is wrong for Minnesota. I’d like to believe it’s the color.

I’m ashamed of my state, Connecticut, for being in the worst category. And… what’s up with Wisconsin and Illinois? They are “striped.”

I”m a home health worker, it’s poverty, zero consistancy, low pay, zero benefits, and back injuries! Many home health care workers are on welfare due to the low pay, low hours, it’s never regular, you never know what you will make from week to week. Never ever 40 hours. The agencies charge 19.00 hour while we get 8.00 an hour, and at 20 or less hours a week and begging to work more hours, they never have an 8 hour work day for us, we can’t live on it at all. Always looking for our next job.me health worker, it’s poverty, zero consistancy, low pay, zero benefits, and back injuries! I WAS a CNA, Certified, took the classes at $300.00, finger printed $95.00, physical exam plus TB test. 35.00, Certification Exam 95.00. all to be a CNA. Then only get paid $8.00 an hour as a Home Health Aid, you NEVER get CNA wages ever. I had one agency ask me to drive up to another town for a bath, ONE HOUR of work! I said hell no! Many agencies will take advantage of you, send you out of town for 2 hours of work, can’t do it, you don’t make money. Then they want you to work weekends, no way not on this low pay, low hours,inconsistant work hours and zero benefits. Many are injured on the job as well, lifting and moving clients many hurt their backs, yet they have no health insurance, so it’s off to the ER for primary care. Home Health Aid’s need to come together and demand higher pay, health care benefits and a full work week. finding good quality people to work home care is hard, why? The pay is so low and not enought hours or health benefits. I’ve seen all sorts of weird caregivers I would not allow in my home.

Staffing agencies receive good money from clients who have long term care insurance and fair money for clients who are on Medicaide or Medicare to cover their services, however, the staff gets a very little portion of that. Furthermore, agencies do not have to comply with licensure (at least in my state) if they offer only homemaking assistance and the pay is even less. But, if the client requires homemaking assistance, they often need other help which borders on and falls into nursing care which a compassionate aide would provide often without proper training, not agency insurance, no oversight or assessment for services needed and of course, no additional pay for those services. Homemaker services can be covered by Medicaide Waiver in some cases. In my state, who owns such a service and knows how to work the system? One of our Americans For Prosperity loving state senators!

That would explain why I was working over 50 hours a week with no overtime… The agencies charge SO much for workers to be there though, if there were overtime or minimum wage the clients might not even be able to afford care. The agency I work for charges double what I get paid.

Note that the preponderance of states who don’t give a damn are Republican controlled states.

The term “professionals” implies that these workers have some sort of nursing training or an ethical dedication to their work. The ones I’ve met here in VA do not. They are simply good at patronizing seniors. It appears these are jobs of last resort for people, with the only thing less desirable being work in a nursing home. This is one of those cases of “you get what you pay for.”

I run operations for a large non-profit home care company in Texas. Our state professional organization says this change will hurt home care companies and will not help because providers will just stop scheduling workers for overtime or 24 hour shifts which has been the only way workers could increase their earnings. But,there are much bigger problems here. Most of the services we provide are paid for by Medicaid. For those direct service workers employed by our agency, we can only pay $7.25 to $8 per hour and stay within the state reimbursement rates. To pay our administrative expenses and meet all state licensure requirements for training, provide accident coverage, client coordination, screening, hiring and staffing, we lose over a dollar an hour on every hour of service in Medicaid. We make this up through a large line of credit and fund raising. And we still cannot afford health insurance for our home care staff (we provide a tele-health service at $45/mnth per employee). According to Texas’ Center for Public Public Policy Priorities’ Family Budget Estimator, it takes $11 an hour in most Texas cities to afford health care, child care and a modest apartment. And the bigger conundrum is that home care is far more cost effective than nursing home care with better outcomes, but the private pay rate is $18 per hour, putting it out of reach of most Texans without significant subsidies. Texas Medicaid pays under $12 per hour. The Texas job growth “miracle” has been largely low wage. We have no state income tax. This is part of the reason our revenue is inadequate to support these programs. Just before Christmas, I had to inform many consumers in our Consumer Directed Service programs (persons in need of home care can hire their own staff and we act as their payroller and fiscal intermediary with Medicaid) that they would have to cut their staff wages due to state budget reductions. Overhead is eliminated in these programs so wages can be higher – just over $9 per hour. I don’t have a silver bullet, but we pay overtime and always have. We cover our employees with an accident policy that exceeds the Texas Workers Comp policy benefits and always have. Exempting these workers from minimum labor laws that most have enjoyed for decades is not the answer and continuing these exemptions will not destroy the industry.

It’s not so easy for investors to scam some of the money away from home health care so they are out to kill it. Voters in certain regions are more likely to support the party that supports the health care thieves (investors).

If you depend on any governmental body, federal or not, to help cover these costs, and it appears many in the health care industry do, you cannot, out of compassion for your fellow man (in generic terms) vote for a Republican; because they do not.

My home is in Ocala, Florida, where EMTs’ starting pay is less than $9.00 per hour. Is that any way to treat someone who might be saving your life one day?

This is not a simple issue. An elderly person who has help come into the home is not an island. If they have adult children, there is a 70% chance that those children live over 50 miles away. The circumstances of each family and individual can vary dramatically. There are definitely families who can afford a higher cost for a live-in caregiver for their parent. On the other hand, if the cost goes up even a little, there will be many families who have to reduce the number of hours or end the service all together.

From the Caregiver perspective, a single caregiver who lives at the home with the patient by definition does not have to maintain a household and the “room and board” are part of the bargain and are not accounted for in the discussion about compensation. The argument for keeping the price lower is that more families can afford to hire a caregiver that gives their loved one the attention and help they need and the privacy and dignity of care from a trained person instead of having to disrupt their life and move in with family at a distance or go without the needed services. The loss of that job opportunity does not help the worker.

Ms. Loder, will you please post companion overlay maps that show political leanings, rankings in education, salaries, and population by age, and religion preferences, please? Thank you.

This very brief article only addresses the requirements of law, not what workers are actually receiving. I wonder if they are the same or if some.

This isn’t about north and south. For the most part it is about democrats and republicans.

surprising states-Oregon and Iowa and on the other side Montana. Not surprising at all that the solid south remains solidly south

Our country give millions even billions to other countries but refuses to take care of its own citizens properly. It’s time to get MAD and stop ignoring the injustice blindly going about our daily routines. The future is bleak for future generations. WAKE UP AMERICA!

A lot of Seniors move to the South because it’s more afordable in many ways. Labor is one reason.
I am a caregiver in AR, work from 50 to 95 hours a week, no overtime, I had a $0.70 raise in 8 years. I make a living, I think the law should be fair to all employees, everyone deserves a fair pay and overtime. They will need to hire more people, and that will generate more jobs. I don’t care working overtime without getting paid for it, like everybody else.

Louisiana only pays federal minimun wage $7.25 per hour and now some companies want you to be self employed as a home caregiver!! we will never support our families in this field. Its really ashame at how money grubbing this state is.

Hmm. most of those states that are in blue are bankrupt, wonder why?

The underpaying of the caregivers{mostly women over fifty}in the senior care field is a sad and under the carpet sin in this country.I meet these ladies, who have no health care ,no dental,and are being paid 8.00 and 9.00 an hour to care for our parents and grandparents and no one seems to care.The owners of the agencies get rich and the caregivers get the shaft…Big surprise!

I work in this industry. Minnesota is okay wage wise but we still don’t have any benefits of any kind. Overtime is a joke. We are not suppose to go over 48 hours a week as then they have to pay. But if you are in a situation where your forced to go over they won’t pay you anything. Its like those hours are erased. You work for nothing. You make sure you watch your hours. The state cut back on what they pay the agencies and they in turn cut us back. But the people still need the same amount of care they did before.

My girlfriend just left for work. She will drive 14 miles to her patients home. She will be their for 4 hours. She will then drive home. At 9:00pm tonight she will go back to her patiens home and be their for 2 hours. She is paid no travel time. She is paid no mileage.
She is paid 8.50 per hour. She went to college for 4 years for this! WOW!!!