The Politics and Policy of Home Care

OHIO GOVERNOR KASICH'S PROPOSAL WOULD INSTITUTIONALIZE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Jane Hash, The Mobility Resource - February 28, 2015

I’m sure there are all kinds of quasi-budgetary, quasi-reform proposals currently meddling with generally functional home care systems in other states. I’m blogging on what’s happening in Ohio for two reasons.

One, I’ve been reading Tweets about home care in Ohio for months now, maybe a year. Two, this is the first full explanation of the issues I have seen so far. Three, it’s written by Jane Hash, who I met virtually when she discussed American Horror Story: Freak Show with me on my Disability.TV podcast.

It still amazes me that there aren’t more Republican politicians who buy into consumer-directed models of home care. It’s less bureaucratic, it relies on lots of individual responsibility, and, more cynically, consumer direction has an uneasy relationship with unionized nursing. It shouldn’t, but it does.

Of course, the sticking point is that it involves taxpayer money, comparatively large amounts of it, essentially being given, directly or indirectly, to low-income severely disabled people to manage home care for themselves. Personal responsibility may be a cherished value of conservatism, but giving poor people lots of money and services is definitely not.

I am curious about the issue of the alternative program mentioned, which would, apparently, make consumers the “employer of record”. In one sense, this sounds like a reaffirmation of consumer control. On the other hand, it makes it an all-or-nothing proposition … either you take ALL responsibility on yourself, or you give up all of it to a home care agency.

In New York State, where I live, consumer-directed home care typically involves non-profit agencies that act as “fiscal intermediary”. They don’t decide who to hire and fire, and they don’t train the workers. The consumers do that. But the agencies pay the taxes, cut the paychecks, and even provide decent health insurance to the workers, still at a lower cost and slightly better pay to the workers.

All of this aside, it seems like a bad idea to shake things up too often, even if it’s to implement possibly good ideas. Home care is an extremely delicate, intimate thing. If you’re able to find the right workers and create a healthy, functional system for your care, you don’t need loads of bright ideas imposed on you whenever its budget time again.

----------

Facebook

Twitter
Disability.TV Podcast