President Biden’s proposed Build Back Better plan, passed by Congress in mid-November and currently scheduled for a vote in the Senate the week of December 13, if passed would provide $150 billion to reducing waiting lists for in-home care services and improving pay for low-wage in-home care professionals; $150 billion to increase the supply of affordable housing; $130 billion to provide tax credits for uninsured people in states that have not expanded Medicaid benefits; $1 billion for direct care workforce competitive grants; and $20 million for hospice and palliative nursing programs.
The legislation has the support of the home healthcare industry, including the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC). “From pediatric nursing care to home care aide services for those with multiple chronic illnesses as they age, this legislation will provide improved access to home care,” NAHC President William A. Dombi said in a statement to Home Health Care News. “We now look to the Senate to complete the work to protect our families and friends who need this essential care.”
The funding in Build Back Better is slated to help with recruiting and retention in home health care by improving wages. Home care workers make an average of under $14 an hour, or less than $30,000 a year, according to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute.
Build Back Better will also permanently improve Medicaid coverage for home- and community-based services, giving more Americans access to quality care in their homes and allowing them to avoid nursing homes. There are currently an estimated 800,000 people on waiting lists for these services.
“Today’s vote is a major step forward for millions of older Americans … stuck on waiting lists to rent a place they can afford, and unable to get the home health and other help they and their families need,” Katie Smith Sloan, the president and CEO of LeadingAge, said in a statement. “It’s also an overdue step toward alleviating workforce shortages that are denying critical services and support to millions of older adults.”
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