A group of N.J. lawmakers is fighting to set a minimum hourly rate that insurance companies would be required to pay the agencies that supply the aides.
They help their patients with the tasks of daily life: bathing, eating, dressing, tending to bathroom needs.
They wash laundry, shop for food, prepare meals. They make existence possible for more than 30,000 New Jersey seniors and disabled residents who grapple with chronic illness and cognitive impairments, but most take home paychecks that barely stretch to cover their own needs.
And now one insurance company wants to reduce the already meager wages home health care aides take home.
The announcement by Amerigroup that it would decrease its payment rate for aides who care for Medicaid patients starting in July came as a blow, not only to the aides, but also to the men and women who rely on them profoundly.
Study: 37 percent of people in N.J. are among the working poor
Many aides are currently making $10 an hour or so, earning a yearly salary of $22,000. On those dollars, they struggle to support a family, feed their own children, pay the rent.
It comes as welcome news, then, that a group of N.J. lawmakers, both Democratic and Republican, is fighting to set a minimum hourly rate that insurance companies would be required to pay the agencies that supply the aides.
Their legislation, passed unanimously by the state Senate Budget Committee on June 1, would require managed care companies to pay these workers around $18 an hour, the same rate at which the state reimburses agencies that provide aides outside the managed care system.
Senators Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), Diane Allen (R-Burlington) and Nellie Pou (D-Passaic) are taking the lead on this initiative.
The women recognize that making life more sustainable for these workers is a goal that benefits not only the aides, but also the thousands of patients they serve. That it's nearly impossible to put your all into a job if you're worried about putting food on your own table.
Americagroup say increased costs for this type of care, coupled with the demand for "medical efficiencies," drove the decision to impose the upcoming salary cuts.
But tell that to Victor Muniz, who has used a wheelchair since a spinal-cord injury a decade ago and who can't say enough about the team of aides who helped him finish college and find a job. "What they make now, they can't even live on," the Kearney resident worries.
With an aging and increasingly vulnerable population, the home health care industry is one of the most rapidly growing fields in the country. The U.S. Department of Labor projects a 38 percent increase between 2014 and 2028.
To attract - and retain - qualified aides, we need to provide them with a living salary. Their services are priceless; their wages should reflect that reality.
Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.