A hand up for direct care workers

My goal as a legislator is to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars while strategically striving to solve societal problems. The Republican-led House of Representatives voting to increase wages for direct care workers who serve developmentally disabled people is such an instance. Montana’s conservative leaders voted on this wage increase in order to solve a problem and save money in public assistance programs in the long run. It’s good policy.

There are 3,000 direct care workers in Montana who provide services for 5,800 people. These professionals help people dress, teach, bathe, eat and so much more — activities that empower the disabled in their everyday lives.

Unfortunately, because of low hourly wages starting at $10.15, over half of the providers in Montana struggle to find the staff to fill the incredible need for these life changing services.

The government sets wages through Medicaid when clients cannot pay for services, as is often the case. Therein is our problem: government-fixed pricing and the free market have collided. It is more financially rewarding for a worker to take a job at McDonalds for a 40 percent pay raise rather than becoming a direct care professional.

In fact, low wages mean that between 50-60 percent of direct care workers are on some form of public assistance. This is not acceptable.

My proposal to increase hourly wages $5 over the next two years comes out to the same cost to the state as the bevy of social services that direct care workers are entitled to receive. It’s better policy to spend the money on wages than on government assistance. The question before this legislature is simple: with limited resources how do we prioritize funds to ensure that disabled people in Montana receive the care that they need? We cannot demand that the disabled pay more out of pocket to raise the wages of direct care workers. We must prioritize raising wages for these important and difficult services.

The goal of government assistance programs is to provide a temporary safety net for its citizens when they need it, and then empower them to move off of these programs as quickly as possible We need to ensure that there are tools for employees to work hard and advance, not remain subsistent on government.

In passing the direct care wage increase, the Republican led legislature will make direct care jobs servicing the disabled more attractive to the free market. We will also make strides to provide a more solid workforce for the disabled and save money in government welfare programs.

The bottom line is that our direct care workers helping the disabled are living near poverty, not because they are unskilled or do unimportant work.  They are living near poverty because state Medicaid policy assures their employers cannot pay them more. This bill changes that and places value on the great work direct care givers provide. It tackles a societal problem and gets individuals off of government assistance, a hallmark of good policy.

——

Rep. Jon Knokey, R-Bozeman, represents House District 65