Gov. Jim Justice announced Thursday that his administration will increase its funding for state programs that provide in-home care for people with disabilities, seniors and others in hopes of addressing a workforce shortage.
The funding will go toward a 15% Medicaid reimbursement rate increase for providers that serve vulnerable adults and children in state waiver programs. The money is meant to improve pay for direct care workers, who currently earn around $11 an hour, but there is no requirement on how providers spend the money.
A 2023 survey said West Virginia needed to increase its rate of reimbursement and the worker salary range to $15.50-$18.60 per hour; the new rate increase, which goes into effect Oct. 1, reflected the study’s recommendations.
“We can get some more bucks to these great people who are absolutely doing God’s work,” Justice said. “I’m just tickled to death to do that.”
Advertisement
Companies that employ direct care workers have said the rate increase, which was well below neighboring states, was necessary to employ and retain its workforce.
Eric Hicks, board president of the West Virginia’s chapter of the Home Care Association of America, anticipated home care wages being increased by agencies statewide. He noted that West Virginia was one of the nation’s most elderly states.
“This investment allows West Virginia seniors and those with disabilities to age in their homes with dignity,” Hicks said. “Home care saves both families and the state from the enormous costs of long-term care facilities, which the Department of Human Services recently reported poses a $200-plus million annual additional taxpayer risk to the Medicaid program.”
Senior centers across the state, which provide in-home care to elderly residents through Medicaid, have also struggled to keep enough workers. Jennifer Brown, president of the West Virginia Directors of Senior and Community Services, said the rate increase would allow senior care providers to offer competitive salaries.
“This will enable our members to continue our vital mission of caring for, transporting and providing meals to seniors in West Virginia who are in the greatest need of assistance,” she said. “Our group of providers offers comprehensive services to seniors, prioritizing their well-being over profits.”
Advertisement
In-home care is also a cost-saving measure for the state as paying for long-term care, like nursing homes and psychiatric facilities, is much more expensive
During the May special session, lawmakers gave DoHS $180 million in a reserve fund that they could use to improve Medicaid reimbursement rates. Lawmakers declined to mandate that DoHS spend the money to increase the rates after learning the department had spent money earmarked for people with disabilities on things like in-home COVID-19 tests.
While the Justice administration delayed action on the rate increase, a group home in Martinsburg for people with disabilities, many without family members, announced its closure earlier this month. Companies providing in-home care to seniors laid off workers due to financial loss.
A press release from Justice’s office did not specify how much the rate increase would cost or where the funding would come from. Spokespeople for Justice and DoHS did not respond to questions for this story by deadline.
DoHS did not require providers to use a certain amount of the reimbursement amount on increasing workers’ salaries.
Advertisement
Disability Rights West Virginia Legal Director Mike Folio applauded the rate increase, but said that it was still millions of dollars short of what was needed as the state has infinitely institutionalized more people with disabilities.
“DoHS hasn’t increased rates in more than 10 years and the rate increases are not tied to a wage pass-through to guarantee that the increased revenue will be used to bolster front-line workers’ wages,” he said. “Hiring and retention are necessary to end the skyrocketing number of involuntary commitments, but the rate increase gives providers free reign to spend the new revenue on management lunches and trips and not on workers’ wages.”
The state Bureau for Medical Services plans to monitor the impact of increased rates on worker pay and member access to services “to determine if the increased rates are having the desired effect on workforce availability and tenure,” according to a press release.
CHICAGO, IL — Democratic political figures from West Virginia took in this week’s Democratic National Convention from the floor of the United Center in Chicago.
Olivia Dowler, a first-time candidate for House of Delegates and recent graduate of West Virginia University, says the convention has an uplifting experience for her.
“It’s been such a powerful, joyful, hopeful environment, almost something I’ve never experienced before,” Dowler said on Metro News Talkine with Hoppy Kercheval on Thursday.
Dowler got a live look at speeches from dozens of Democratic leaders throughout the week, including the likes of former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as President Biden and current vice president nominee Tim Walz.
Advertisement
Dowler says the collective message sent this week has been that the Democratic leaders will fight for the American people.
“They keep emphasizing, ‘it doesn’t matter if you do vote for us or not, if we get in there, we’re still going to represent you and we’re still going to support you,” Dowler said.
Dowler, a Hancock County native, says she knew she wanted to make a difference as a Democratic politician right after graduating.
“I knew I couldn’t let myself be a bystander when I saw that I could make a difference,” Dowler. “I don’t think the community is adequately being listened to and their voices really need to be heard in the legislature, and I believe I can go out there and do that for them.”
Steven Wendelin, the Democratic nominee for District 2 in West Virginia, says the upcoming race is about everyone, and those in rural communities are not forgotten by the Democratic Party.
Advertisement
“The Democrats have not forgotten rural America,” Wendelin said. “We are all Americans, including the rural Americans and this race is about all of us.”
Glen Elliot, former Wheeling mayor and candidate for U.S. Senate, says the brand of the Democratic Party in West Virginia is challenged and he and the other politicians need to bring the positive message back with them.
“As a delegate from West Virginia, I recognize that the Democratic brand is challenged back in my home state,” Elliot said. “We have to do a better job of telling them why we are the party of working-class West Virginians, we’re the party of the underdog. That’s what we always were, and we’ve lost that identity with a lot of West Virginia voters, so we need to bring the message from here back and let people know that we’re looking out for them.”
Current Vice President Kamala Harris closed out the DNC Thursday night, officially accepting the Democratic Party bid for president.
Child care assistance for thousands of West Virginia kids still is in limbo as the Department of Human Services needs anywhere from $23-30 million dollars for a funding shortfall. Lawmakers are unlikely to step in and give the department funds, saying the embattled agency already has the money to cover it.
DoHS has been using federal emergency funds to subsidize child care centers to avoid a Sept. 1 funding cliff, which could have removed 2,000 kids from the program by next month. Gov. Jim Justice said on Thursday that the money could sustain the program through the end of the year.
“We’ve found enough federal funds to cover the cost of our centers with entirety ‘til the end of the year,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that we improve child care, because that’s what drives young people to this great state and we’ve got to have workers.”
But how DoHS will pay for it beyond that — as well as the state’s plan for sufficient, long-term child care funding — remains a question that DoHS hasn’t yet clarified for lawmakers, child care providers, families or this news outlet.
Advertisement
“We are just business owners fighting to get funding for families right now,” said Jennifer Trippett, owner of Cubby’s Child Care Center in Bridgeport. “It is impossible to run a business that you don’t know what your funding stream is going to be in six months.”
The center serves 450 families; around 50% of those children use the state’s child care assistance program, which pays the center per child.
“We’re told there is funding, but there’s no one who can say where it will come from,” she said.
The federal government recently mandated without funding that states subsidize child care centers based on the total enrollment rather than attendance. About 15,000 West Virginia families used the child care assistance program in 2023.
DoHS has been using money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to cover the costs of child care subsidies.
Advertisement
Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor
“The plan is to use TANF dollars as long as they can,” said Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor.
“My goal is that families feel less nervous,” she continued. “What I wish is that we had a clear answer. I worry about these families and children and their planning. I’d like to have accurate information.”
TANF dollars aren’t permanent, and DoHS leaders said they’ll give families and providers a 60-day notice when the funding changes.
DoHS did not respond to multiple interview requests or questions about child care from West Virginia Watch. A spokesperson for Justice didn’t respond to this story.
House Minority Leader Sean Horbuckle, D-Cabell, said his caucus had tried with little success to get information from DoHS about the funding issue.
Advertisement
The lack of communication for child providers and families was “disrespectful to the citizens of West Virginia on such an important matter,” he said. W.Va. House Minority Leader Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell
DoHS says it’s the legislature’s problem to fix, lawmakers disagree
DoHS Secretary Cynthia Persily told WV News on Aug. 16 that she needed the Legislature to allocate additional funds for the shortfall and that she couldn’t dip into a recently-created $180 million reserve fund.
Lawmakers, concerned with DoHS spending transparency, required in the bill that DoHS report to them any spending out of the reserve. It doesn’t prohibit the department from using the money for the child care assistance program.
“[Speaker Roger Hanshaw] is confident the Department of Human Services has enough funds for child care assistance to continue … and the speaker also is confident the department’s reserve fund for making up any funding shortfall in the short term is available to the secretary relatively unencumbered for that purpose,” House of Delegates Communications Director Ann Ali said.
Hornbuckle said that he didn’t want to focus on “who was right or wrong.”
“It’s not time to hide or tell fables or bend the truth. Let’s figure out why we haven’t moved on this and let’s get it moved on,” he said. “Besides the parents and kids, it hurts the economy. It’s a tough thing.”
Advertisement
He also noted that House Democrats, under the leadership of Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, prioritized child care legislation during the session.
With more than 20,000 child care spots needed in the state, Republican leaders had also said it was a priority as they looked to improve the state’s chronically-low rate of workforce participation. Child care advocates have purchased billboards around the state, including this one In Charleston, urging lawmakers to figure out program funding issues. (Amelia Ferrell Knisely | West Virginia Watch)
But a bundle of bi-partisan bills focused on increasing child care access never went up for a vote in the full House or Senate. Then during the May special session, lawmakers voted down a bipartisan amendment that would have required DoHS to spend some of the $180 million reserve on child care and avoid the current funding shortfall.
The funding cliff won’t likely be addressed in an August special session should Justice decide to call one. He has been pushing a Child and Dependent Care tax credit that would allow 16,300 eligible families to claim up to 50% of the allowable federal tax credit.
“I think what I’m gathering is that the governor hasn’t given that to us to fund. He had opportunities during the session and [May] special session,” Summers said. “He wants his tax credit.”
More issues plaguing child care providers
Lawmakers will be at the State Capitol on Sunday for the start of August interim meetings. Trippett and other child care providers will hold a rally at 2:30 p.m to ask lawmakers to solve the funding issue.
Advertisement
While the state’s enrollment subsidy model will help stabilize child care center’s income, Trippett stressed that DoHS must increase the amount it pays in subsidies for children.
The state lost 750 child care spots this year because the subsidy amount failed to keep up with rising operational costs.
“I lose a ton of money on every child who has assistance,” she said. “Since 2019, any child care center that is hiring someone with or without a degree who has training … instead of paying $9-10 an hour, we now have to pay $17 an hour because that’s what fast food is paying. And the cost of food has tripled.”
Led by a team of expert instructors and designed to assist in developing and maintaining mindful resilience, mental fitness and relaxation, this series will take place from noon to 1 p.m. every Thursday from Sept. 12 to Oct. 17 on Zoom.
Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend up to six one-hour sessions that will offer a variety of simple yet practical tools to be mindful in daily living.
Recordings of each session will be available on the Mindful Steps YouTube Channel.
