Delaware’s 153rd General Assembly Advances DHSS Priorities to Lower Costs, Strengthen Care Workforce

NEW CASTLE (July 1, 2026) - Delaware's Fiscal Year 2027 operating budget and key legislation enacted by the 153^rd General Assembly are delivering important wins for Delaware families. The operating budget, signed by Governor Matt Meyer on June 30, and other legislation take important steps to make health care more affordable, make child care more affordable, and support care workers.

"Health care is a human right, and this budget increases access to high-quality, life-saving care for hardworking Delaware families," said Governor Matt Meyer. "Families need access to quality and affordable child care, and the professionals that serve our children deserve to be paid fairly."

Health care affordability: Families across Delaware struggle with high and rising health care costs. The budget and legislation passed this session implement major reforms to make health care more affordable:

• The operating budget includes new funding so that hundreds of Delaware seniors who do not qualify for Medicaid can receive support for home care aides and similar services that help them age with dignity at home.
• The General Assembly has passed legislation that will place a moratorium on any private equity acquisition of Delaware hospitals, protecting Delaware consumers from predatory behavior.
• Recently passed legislation will also establish critical new requirements for hospital financial assistance and charity care, to protect Delaware families from accruing medical debt. Read the announcement here.
• Legislation also expands Delawareans access to physician associates and dental hygienists, allowing more care to be delivered in lower cost settings.
• The legislature has passed reforms to implement reference-based pricing for hospitals, helping to make care more affordable over time.

Child care affordability: Working families spend an ever-increasing share of their paycheck on child care. To address rapidly growing demand, the operating budget makes a major new investment in child care affordability in the Purchase of Care program. More Delaware families will be able to afford high-quality child care through expanded eligibility for the Purchase of Care program, allowing an estimated 1,400 additional children to receive assistance each month, a roughly 10% increase.

Care workers: Even as Delaware families struggle to afford health care and child care, the workforce that delivers many of these services, like child care workers and direct support professionals, face low wages and struggle to make ends meet. The operating budget recognizes these gaps and makes critical investments that will help raise wages for care workers:

• Increased reimbursement rates-10% for providers serving children from birth through age 5 and 20% for providers serving children with special needs-will help strengthen child care providers and expand access to high-quality care for Delaware families.
• Direct support professionals and behavioral health service providers will also see rate increases to help raise wages for critical care workers.

"The work of DHSS touches Delawareans at every stage of life," said DHSS Secretary Christen Linke Young. "This session's investments and reforms will strengthen our care workforce, help more families access affordable child care, improve access to health care, and modernize how government serves the public. We're grateful to Governor Meyer, the Joint Finance Committee, legislative leadership, our partners in the General Assembly, and Delaware's stakeholder community for their collaboration throughout the session."