Legislation
Would Expand Access To Home Care And Community Supports For Seniors And People
With Disabilities And Invest In Home Care Workers
Almost
820,000 Americans Sit On Wait Lists To Receive Home And Community-Based
Services
40 Senators Support Legislation
Washington
(June 25, 2021) – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), U.S. Senator
Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging,
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), along with Chair of the
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and
Senators Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)
and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are introducing the Better Care Better Jobs Act, a
key element of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. U.S. Representative Debbie
Dingell (D-Mich.), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Frank
Pallone (D-N.J.) and Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Doris Matsui
(D-Cali.) introduced the House companion. This legislation would make a
historic investment in home and community-based services by strengthening and
expanding access to quality home care services and lifting up the caregiving
workforce that provides them.
“I
am proud to introduce the Better Care Better Jobs Act with Senate Democrats as
part of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan,” said Majority Leader Schumer. “The Better Care Better Jobs Act
would make a massive investment in home and community-based services to ensure
that seniors and people with disabilities have the right to live in their homes
while getting the care they need. Furthermore, it will finally treat the home
care workforce like the essential workers they are and ensure they are paid
fair wages. The COVID-19 pandemic shown a painful magnifying glass on how our
country is currently falling well short of those goals. We must do better. I
will work tirelessly with President Biden and my colleagues in Congress to get
this proposal signed into law.”
“For
millions of families, and especially for women, home and community-based
services are a bridge to work and a bridge to economic security. The Better
Care Better Jobs Act would not only enable more older adults and people with
disabilities to remain in their homes, stay active in their communities and
lead independent lives, it would also create jobs and lead to higher wages for
care workers, who are predominantly women and people of color. This legislation
is critical to advancing equity, spurring economic recovery and improving
quality of life for older adults and people with disabilities,” said Chairman Casey.
“For
too long, seniors and Americans with disabilities who want the choice of good
quality long-term care at home and the workers who provide it have gotten short
shrift. This bill lays out a transformational investment through Medicaid that
will begin to set that right so receiving good quality care in the comfort and
safety of home is a real possibility. It is also critical that the workforce
who provides home care receive a liveable wage, and that family caregivers have
more supports when they provide care to their loved ones. I will continue
working with my colleagues and the President to pass this key pillar of the
American Jobs Plan,” said Chairman
Wyden.
“In
Washington state and across the country, I hear from people with disabilities
and older Americans who are relegated to institutions and from caregivers—who
are disproportionately women of color—who aren’t getting the wages or benefits
they deserve. It’s clear we’ve got a caregiving crisis, and we desperately need
a caregiving infrastructure,” said
Senator Patty Murray. “I’m proud to introduce the Better Care Better Jobs
Act alongside Senators Casey, Schumer and Wyden to help make home and
community-based services available to every eligible American and invest in the
essential workforce that provides these services. This bold plan is good for
people with disabilities and older Americans, good for caregivers, and good for
our economy—and I’ll be fighting as hard as I can to get it across the finish
line.”
“No
one should have to wait to get the care they deserve, and no care worker should
have to live below the poverty line to give this care,” said Rep. Dingell. “This is personal for me – I was so lucky to
have my husband John receive care at home. That experience showed me the
significant fractures in long-term care, from low wages for workers to
thousands on HCBS waitlists to so many people not knowing how to get the care
they desperately need. We need a stronger system that supports both care
workers and care recipients, and this legislation is a historic step forward to
expand HCBS so that seniors and people with disabilities can get the care they
need in the setting of their choice while also ensuring care workers are
receiving pay and benefits commensurate with their work.”
“HCBS
allows seniors and people living with disabilities to receive the high-quality
care they need in their communities and in close proximity to their friends and
families. However, far too many people are unable to receive HCBS care because
of long waitlists and chronic underinvestment in care workers,” said Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank
Pallone, Jr. “The Better Care Better Jobs Act makes a historic investment
that will allow millions of Americans to access home- and community-based care
while giving a much-deserved raise to the workers who provide care to our loved
ones. I commend Congresswoman Dingell and Senator Casey for their leadership
and look forward to getting this vital legislation passed and signed into law
this year.”
The
Better Care Better Jobs Act would
provide states with enhanced Medicaid funding for home and community-bases
services if they carry out certain activities that will support expanding
access to these services and strengthen the workforce providing them. It would
also provide funding to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to
carry out the bill’s programs and conduct oversight.
The
original Senate cosponsors of the Better Care Better Jobs Act are U.S. Senators
Markey, Leader Schumer, Casey, Wyden, Murray, Duckworth, Hassan, Brown, as well
as Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard
Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben
Cardin (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Cali), Kirsten
Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-Colo.), Tim
Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Pat Leahy (D-Vt.),
Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chris
Murphy (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Cali.), Gary Peters (D-Mich), Jack Reed (D-R.I.),
Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne
Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chris Van
Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
more about the Better Care Better Jobs
Act here.
Credit: Source link
