Rule on home health care workers causing rift between Medicaid directors, labor advocates

CQ HealthBeat: Rule On Home Care Aides Divides Medicaid Directors And Worker Advocates
Directors of state Medicaid programs and disability rights groups are warring with labor advocates over a long-awaited federal regulation that would extend federal minimum wage and overtime pay to in-home health care workers. The Medicaid directors warned in an April 8 letter to the Office of Management and Budget that the proposal could disrupt complex and long-standing care arrangements for low-income people, particularly when friends or relatives are the caretakers. Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, said in an interview that new cost estimates need to be made because the potential impact is "just huge" (Norman, 4/15).