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Tell Senate Finance Community Attendants deserve a raise

The community attendant workforce is crucial to keeping Texans with disabilities and seniors healthy and in their own homes. But recruitment and retention of these workers is at high risk due to an extremely low base wage, no benefits, increasing demand, and alternative employers paying much higher wages.

The Senate Finance committee is holding an interim hearing Tuesday, June 14, on several interim charges regarding LTSS and Medicaid.

The Committee is limiting public comment to 2 minutes at the hearing. Even if you can't be there, they need to hear from you! Email the committee members to tell your story and advocate for a raise in the base wage of community attendants. We've drafted an email to get you started.

We just need few pieces of information to connect you with the Senate Finance committee.

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TAKE ACTION

Tell Senate Finance Community Attendants deserve a raise

The Senate Finance committee is holding an interim hearing Tuesday, June 14, on several interim charges regarding LTSS and Medicaid.

Senate Finance Committee

Subject: Community Attendants deserve a raise.

Message:

The June 14 Senate Finance interim hearing calls your attention to the sustainability of the long-term care workforce. While other language mentions nursing facilities, it is important to note that the large majority of Texans receiving long-term care do so in the community care programs, not institutions. Compensated lower than nursing facility workers, the community attendant workforce is in a crisis. Years of under-funding for community attendants and direct care workers has resulted in a huge gap between market wages and Medicaid wages for these essential workers. COVID-19 has exacerbated this crisis. Community attendants are an evaporating pool of workers. We’re losing this competition to taco shacks, fast food, and unskilled warehouse work; and it’s not even close. The base wage for most Medicaid community care is $8.11 per hour with no benefits whereas fast food restaurants pay $17 per hour to start and Amazon unskilled warehouse workers begin at $18 plus benefits with a review in 90 days. Sky-high turnover rates indicate community care in Texas Medicaid is facing a collapse of its critical, essential workforce. This is alarming and becomes more so with increasing workforce demands in the near future. The Texas Workforce Commission ranks the state’s projected highest-growth occupations—Texas will need almost 95,000 new community attendants by 2028. The inability to recruit and retain community attendants is absolutely the result of the current low wages. Without attendant care, people with disabilities and older adults decline in health, leading to more costs for acute care, ER visits and hospitalizations. Loss of independence and unnecessary institutionalization results. I have family and friends facing this outcome due to inability to recruit and retain community attendants. This will require a significant appropriation to make up for years of inattention to attendant wage rates. The base wage for community attendants should be at least $15 per hour with a mechanism developed to maintain market wage rates. Thank you for your attention and service to our state.

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Tell Senate Finance Community Attendants deserve a raise

Tell Senate Finance Community Attendants deserve a raise

Thank You!