“Acute shortages of home health aides and nursing assistants are cropping up across the country, threatening care for people with serious disabilities and vulnerable older adults. . . . The emerging crisis is driven by low wages — around $10 an hour, mostly funded by state Medicaid programs — and a shrinking pool of workers willing to perform this physically and emotionally demanding work: helping people get into and out of bed, go to the bathroom, shower, eat and participate in routine activities, often while dealing with challenging behaviors.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):
The age wave, a gradually improving economy with more job alternatives and the national push for a $15 minimum wage will exacerbate this problem. Medicaid can’t help. The only hope is to pull in home equity and LTC insurance, but that won’t happen until Medicaid returns to its original mission as a safety net for the truly needy.

The disabled and the elderly are facing a big problem: Not enough aides

#goldencareagent