King, Casey Introduce Homecare Workforce Legislative Package

WASHINGTON, D.C. -U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Bob Casey (D-Penn), Chair of the Senate Committee on Aging, have introduced three bills to better support Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), the workforce responsible for providing homecare and assistance to seniors and people with disabilities who frequently rely on long-term service and support. The three bills would strengthen and support this workforce by creating new programs and modifying current federal funding to support home and community-based services (HCBS).

"Over the years, Maine has seen an increased shortage of long-term home health care professionals," said Senator King. "This has had serious impacts on older Maine people aging gracefully at home and those with disabilities who rely on this critical support. Unfortunately, low wages and difficult working conditions have led to high turnover. This DSP legislative package with Senator Casey would make significant investments into the long-term home care industry to bolster wages and provide more opportunities for workers to pursue additional education and trainings to help them advance in their careers. This is commonsense legislation that will make a tangible difference for both those relying on care and those providing it."

"Our Nation is in the midst of a caregiving crisis, and it's a crisis that stems from a lack of investment in the caregiving workforce," saidSenator Casey. "I'm proud to introduce these bills with Senator King that would respond to this crisis by improving our national capacity to recruit, train, and retain the care workers that provide essential care to older adults and people with disabilities."

Caregiving is in a crisis across the United States. Caregivers that include DSPs are widely underpaid, earning a median wage of $15.43 an hour and often living in poverty. The result is caregivers are in short supply - a recent survey revealed 92% of nursing home respondents and nearly 70% of assisted living facilities reported significant or severe workforce shortages. Another recent survey of HCBS providers showed all 50 states experiencing home care worker shortages, and 43 states reported that some HCBS providers have closed due to worker shortages. Maine has seen 23 nursing home closures in the last ten years.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), DSPs are projected to be one of the fattest growing labor markets. Theoretically this should be a boon for the industry, but labor shortages due to low wages and difficult work conditions have made it difficult for the industry to recruit and retain staff.

The Direct Support Worker Training Reimbursement Act would:

1. Provide enhanced federal matching payments for direct support worker training programs at a 75 percent rate.

The Mollie Baldwin Upskilling of Personal and Home Case Aides Act would

1. Create funding through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for demonstration projects to provide individuals already working in the home care workforce with opportunities for education, training and career advancement.

The Career Advancement for Direct Support Aid Workers (CADSAW) Act would:

1. Create funding through HRSA to help individuals already working within the home health care field with opportunities to pursue increased education and training to facilitate career advancement.

Senator King is a longstanding advocate for the necessity of stable, quality long term care in Maine. Earlier this year, he introduced bipartisan legislation that would require the VA to study the risks to elderly veterans of a proposed rule by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would unsustainably change staffing ratios at nursing homes, especially in rural areas. In an October 2023 letter to the head administrator of CMS, King noted that proposed staffing mandates may inadvertently cause the widespread shutdown of rural nursing facilities, both in Maine and across the country. Most recently, he introduced legislation to help revitalize the American long-term care workforce by making jobs more attractive and better compensated.

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