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Wisconsin is experiencing a crisis-level shortage of community-based direct care workers that is leaving people without the supports necessary to live in the community and putting personal care agencies out of business.
Governor Walker’s proposed state budget includes a 2% per year increase to the personal care reimbursement rate, but a 15% increase is needed to stop the crisis.
On May 4 contact your legislators for the Community Caregiver Day of Action.
To Participate: call your state representative and state senator May 4th and tell them how the Direct Care workforce crisis impacts you and ask them to support a 15% increase to the personal care rate.
To Contact Your State Legislators Call: 1-800-362-9472 or look up your legislators’ phone numbers on the legislative website
Here are some things you can say when speaking with your state legislators:
- A 15% increase to the personal care reimbursement rate is needed to address the Direct Care workforce crisis.
- Personal care workers make it possible for people with disabilities and older adults to live in the community. If the crisis continues, it will become harder for people to live in the community and they may have to relocate to nursing homes or institutions, which cost taxpayers more.
- The Medicaid personal care rate has only increased by $0.24 over the past 14 years, and there have been no rate increases since 2008.
- The current Medicaid personal care rate of $16.08 per hour is $2.50 below the actual cost of providing care.
- 85% of people who need personal care can’t find enough workers to meet their needs. 1 in 5 people are thinking about moving out of a community living arrangement because of the crisis.
- Close to 60 personal care agencies have closed or downsized in the past few years. If something is not done now, agencies will continue to close and the crisis will only get worse.
Find out who represents you in the state capitol:
The first step in contacting your legislator is knowing who your legislator is. The easiest way to do this is the tool found on the Legislature’s home page. In the right-hand side of that page is a link that says Find My Legislators! Type your address in the box below that link to get the names of your state representative and senator.
