A $258 million plan to improve the pay for thousands of home health care providers in Wisconsin was halted after lawmakers on the Legislature’s powerful budget committee blocked it. The plan that DHS sent to the Joint Finance Committee last month involves covering services for people enrolled in Medicaid home and community-based long-term care programs. Advocates for providers of long-term health-related services, as well as for the people who receive that care, say that if providers can’t cover higher wages, their workforce will shrink along with the number of agencies that provide that care.

Read more