Medicaid-funded home care is a vital part of Maryland’s care infrastructure, and will only grow more important as our population continues to age. Home care services help older adults and people with disabilities with day-to-day activities like eating, bathing, or shopping, and allow those receiving care to remain in their homes rather than moving to a nursing home or other facility. Medicaid is by far the most important funder of home care services. However, policy choices have made these services less effective, harming seniors, Marylanders with disabilities, and workers. The damage is not evenly distributed, with Marylanders of color – particularly Black women – bearing the largest share of harms.
The Maryland Center on Economic Policy examined Maryland’s budget for Medicaid-funded home- and community-based services as a model of how racial equity analysis can inform better fiscal policy choices. This webinar, recorded Oct. 28, 2024, covers this analysis, explores the connections between fiscal policy and racial equity, and dives into home care workers’ and consumers’ real-life experiences.
Speakers:
- Christopher Meyer (he/him), research analyst at the Maryland Center on Economic Policy, will explore how fiscal policy choices about Medicaid-funded home- and community-based services can advance or hinder racial equity.
- April Simms (she/her) will share her experiences as a home care worker, and how insufficient wages, benefits, and working conditions get in the way of attracting and retaining workers.
- Sandy Balan (she/her), staff attorney at Disability Rights Maryland, will discuss the impacts of home care-related policy choices on access to care and other outcomes for Marylanders with disabilities.