Home care providers are pushing back against a proposed cap on overtime. The Illinois Department of Human Services set a limit of 40 hours a week for personal assistants caring the severely ill or developmentally disabled last year. The state later temporarily rescinded the cap.
When the state of Illinois imposed the limit last November, personal assistant Danyale Hampton, a single mother, was caring for a female patient with stage four cancer. Her paid hours dropped from 250 to 160 hours a month, but she continued to work off-the-clock.
That decreased my income to take care of my family and at the same time still giving her the care I’m supposed to give her. I had to work around that.
Tim Sommer took early retirement, knowing Medicaid would pay for the time he dedicates to his son’s care at home. But the prospect of an hourly limit concerns him. His 23-year-old son is confined to a wheelchair and hospital bed.
“Everything that goes in him whether it be a drink of water to a regular meal has to be done by me or somebody else, a PA, a personal assistant. He’ll probably be this way his entire life.”
Funding for Medicaid programs is evenly split between the state and federal governments. The U.S. Department of Labor cautioned the state that capping the number of working hours is a violation of the law.