TESTIMONY
Torynold McCampbell on Advocating for Improved Wages and Conditions for New York Home Care Workers
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4 min
Torynold McCampbell, Legislative Coordinator for 1199 SEIU, testifies in support of improving wages and working conditions for home care workers in New York.
- Highlights the critical roles these workers play in supporting seniors and individuals with disabilities, emphasizing the workforce's composition mainly of women, women of color, and immigrants.
- Criticizes under-valuation by policymakers, especially the Medicaid payment for only 13 hours in 24-hour shifts, contributing to a worker shortage.
- Supports the NYC Council's resolution for the state legislature and governor to increase wages and improve conditions, stressing the importance of fair pay.
- Discusses the negative impact of Medicaid home care's privatization, which enriched for-profit insurance companies rather than improving care or worker compensation.
- Urges continued city council action to ensure proper compensation for home care workers, for the benefit of both workers and consumers they serve.
Tori Newman Campbell
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Okay.
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Good morning, Sheridanowicz.
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And thank you to the committee on civil service and labor for allowing us to testify here today.
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My name is Torynold McCampbell, and I'm the legislative coordinator.
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For New York at 1199 at CIU.
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Excuse me.
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Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today on behalf of over 300 1000 New York members of 1199 SEIU.
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1199 members work in just about every health care setting across the state that includes hospitals, nursing homes, community based organizations, and home care.
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We appreciate the New York City Council's resolution calling on the New York State legislature and governor to increase wages and improve working conditions of home care workers and growing New York's vital home care workforce.
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Most home care workers are women, women of color, immigrants earning low wages.
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They do important work supporting seniors and people with disabilities with their activities of daily living.
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They allow people to age in place instead of in nursing homes and they allow people with disabilities to live with a degree of independence and control over their lives.
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Policymakers have too often undervalued this vital work especially the work of women and women of color.
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For example, Medicaid only pays a worker for 13 hours even when they're required to remain in the consumer's home for 24 hours for an overnight shift.
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One result of these poor working conditions is a severe shortage of home care workers at a time when New York's population continues age.
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If we are going to provide care to those who need it, we must expand the home care workforce by making these good jobs with benefits where people can support their families.
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This resolution ensures that the collective voice of the city council is raised in support of policies that would enact this vision.
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Fair pay for home care will ensure that home care workers make at least a 150% of the over the minimum wage.
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The home care savings and reinvestment act would produce savings which can be reinvested in the home care services and home care worker wages and benefits.
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For some background, in 2011, the state handed control of Medicaid home care to private insurance companies arguing that privatization would save money through improved care management and care coordination.
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Instead, managed long term care has cost to state 1,000,000,000 of dollars and enriched the profits for profit insurance companies.
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In the past 4 years alone, an analysis commissioned by our union estimated that private insurance companies have pocketed over $5,500,000,000, excuse me, $1,000,000,000 in administrative fees and profit that could have gone to services for consumers and wages for workers.
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The home care saving and reinvestment act would have Medicaid paid directly for home care services rather than going through insurance company middlemen.
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Care management would also be paid for directly, and consumers who want to be in a fully managed care plan would still be able to choose that option.
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The savings would come from eliminating fees and profit that currently flow to huge for profit companies such as Molina, Centene, and Anthem.
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Recently, former New York state budget director Paul Francis assessed the proposal and concluded it could save $1,000,000,000 each year.
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As you can imagine, this bill has generated tremendous opposition from the managed care companies who take their cut of administrative fees and profit from our tax dollars, which are intended for home care services.
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You can imagine how hard they're fighting to preserve this golden egg.
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Whereas they are trying to divert attention from their profits and blame home care workers and consumers for cost increases in these programs, supporting proposed cuts to home care worker wages.
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And hours of care for consumers.
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That's why the city council's resolution is so critical.
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We need to ensure home care workers are getting paid proper wages and are being paid for every hour of work they put in.
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The state has the ability to change this, and they must before more seniors and people with disabilities are forced into nursing homes.
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1199 SEIU and other home care workers have been in this fight for years and will not give up.
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We are pleased to join the NYC Council, and I hope you will continue to take action on behalf of home care workers and the consumers they care for.
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Thank you.
