Carl illustrated the need for increased funding for home and community based services to catch up after years of increasing costs and years of insufficient rates.
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Championing Change: Advocating for Fair Compensation in Home Care Services
L to R, Carl Berry Executive Director of CRI and President of PA-HCBS, Ted Mowatt Director of PA-HCBS, Secretary of the Budget Uri Monson, and Secretary of Policy and Planning Akbar Hossain
Braving the bitter cold and blustery snow, CRI’s executive director Carl Berry traveled to our state capitol to advocate for disability rights and caregiver wages. Meeting with Secretary of Budget Uri Moson and Secretary of Policy and Planning Akbar Hossain, Carl illustrated the need for increased funding for home and community based services to catch up after years of increasing costs and years of insufficient rates.
“In-home personal assistance service providers have a history of being left behind. Since 2005, the cost to deliver these services has increased by 66%, yet the provider rates paid for these services have increased only 28%, with many years having no increases at all. Over the past ten years, rates have increased only three times. But, in the 2023 budget, managed care organizations received an increase of an additional $928 million dollars of funding, yet not one penny of that additional funding increased personal care provider rates. In 2023 nursing homes received a 20% increase in their rates, yet the in-home personal care providers again received no increase” said Carl. “We need higher provider rates in order to pay our caregivers with competitive life-sustaining wages and to cover the other costs of delivering high-quality in-home care.”
CRI’s Carl Berry is the president of the Pennsylvania Association of Home and Community Based Services.