A severe shortage of home health workers is depriving those with serious disabilities and at-risk older adults of care. The shortage crisis is due to the low wages of around $10 an hour that fail to tempt workers to carry out care work, which can be physically and emotionally demanding. As the US sees its senior citizen population grow to 88m strong in 2050, an increase from its present 48m population, it will need assistance for those suffering from chronic health conditions and serious disabilities. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has put the need for direct carers (personal care aides, nursing assistants and home health aides) at an additional 1.1m workers by 2024, a 26% increase from 2014. The improving economy has had a negative effect on health agencies’ worker inflow as higher-paying roles become more widely available. Several states are making a push to raise the minimum pay to $15 to counter the skill loss, but competition for care services leads to the more remote clients being left without care. Medicaid professionals are calling the situation “unprecedented”, putting the blame at the feet of Healthcare, which funds around two-thirds of nursing home business, for providing inadequate payments.
A severe shortage of home health workers is depriving those with serious disabilities and at-risk older adults of care. The shortage crisis is due to the low wages of around $10 an hour that fail to tempt workers to carry out care work, which can be physically and emotionally demanding. As the US sees its senior citizen population grow to 88m strong in 2050, an increase from its present 48m population, it will need assistance for those suffering from chronic health conditions and serious disabilities. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has put the need for direct carers (personal care aides, nursing assistants and home health aides) at an additional 1.1m workers by 2024, a 26% increase from 2014. The improving economy has had a negative effect on health agencies’ worker inflow as higher-paying roles become more widely available. Several states are making a push to raise the minimum pay to $15 to counter the skill loss, but competition for care services leads to the more remote clients being left without care. Healthcare professionals are calling the situation “unprecedented”, putting the blame at the feet of Medicaid, which funds around two-thirds of nursing home business, for providing inadequate payments.