In an unexpected twist for New York’s budget negotiations, state leaders are considering a plan that would sharply reduce wage supplements for home-care aides and redirect the savings to a subsidy for employer-sponsored health coverage.
The plan is backed by the influential health-care union 1199 SEIU, which represents a large share of the affected workers. It also operates a home-care worker benefit fund, which has faced mounting losses in recent years and stands to receive an infusion of cash if the plan is enacted.
For many aides who are not unionized, however, the plan would effectively negate the benefit of minimum wage hikes promised in January 2024.
New York operates an unusually large and costly home-care program, relied upon by hundreds of thousands of frail elderly and disabled people and their families. Most of the funding – for wages, benefits and everything else – comes from Medicaid, a taxpayer-funded safety-net health plan.
Since 2016, the state has required that home care workers in the downstate region – where home care workers disproportionately live and work – receive supplemental compensation on top of the minimum wage. The compensation can take the form of cash or benefits, such as vacation time or health insurance, and it must be worth at least $4.09 an hour in New York City or $3.22 on Long Island and in Westchester County.
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