Self-directed care has become a big trend for people with mental illness, disabilities and other issues. The idea is that consumers know what will help them live healthier lives better than "experts," and many Medicaid programs have built in flexible funds to allow consumers to spend their money as they set fit (subject to some conditions). Consumers often are directing their care to hiring home-care workers.
So the latest development for self-directed care is that home-care workers are going to have to be paid minimum wage and overtime if they work more than 40 hours a week. The U.S. Department of Labor won't be enforcing the rule for the first six months after it goes into effect January 1, 2015, the Kansas Health Institute's news service reports.
Increasing wages for home-care workers won't be without cost. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback "had expressed concern that the rule boosting the pay of personal care attendants hired by elderly and disabled Kansans to help them stay in their own homes would add $33 million to $40 million to the overall Medicaid budget in Kansas, including $15 million from state funds not in the current budget," KHI reports.
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