Monday, January 22, 2007

Caregivers and the next Wisconsin biennial budget

The Wisconsin Long Term Care Workforce Alliance has been spearheading efforts to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates, which would affect direct caregiver wages.

They've asked us to send letters and call our state legislators and Governor Doyle, with an earlier deadline of December 1 for a petition drive. But there's still time to call your legislators, according to Anne Medeiros.

On the legislative front, Governor Jim Doyle plans to introduce his biennial budget to the legislature on February 13th. There is still time to contact his office by letter, phone, or email with your request for a 5% increase to CIP, COP, personal care, home health, nursing homes, and Community Aids.

More information at the Alliance archives.

Iowa CareGivers Approach

More good ideas come from the Iowa CareGivers Association's legislative priorities to address the problem of caregiver turnover:

Funding for the state Department of Public Health for expanded education and new standards oversight.

Raising the minimum wage and exploring ways to increase the average wage.

Expanding health care coverage for all of Iowa's uninsured and underinsured.

Increasing the tobacco tax by $1 to fund the initiatives.

Develop data collection mechanisms to measure outcomes that matter in nursing facilities by worker classification.

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