The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a powerful force in Olympia. It has somehow persuaded a majority of Washington legislators to launch a $6.5 million home-care training program, even as they scramble to close a $2.8 billion budget gap.
The budget proposals now nearing completion contain bad news for just about everyone. Taxpayers, schools, businesses and, yes, the state's most vulnerable citizens all would take it on the chin. Both the Senate and House budgets cut funding for nursing homes; the Senate bill would cut $58 million, while the House bill contains a $17 million cut. But this home-care training program — mandated by a citizen-approved initiative backed by the SEIU — survives.
Initiative 1029, approved by a lopsided majority of voters in 2008, was temporarily suspended last year at the request of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire. After it became apparent that the state would face another massive budget shortfall this year, Gregoire again asked that lawmakers hold off on implementing the initiative. Budget writers haven't acted on the request. The new training program is still on track to begin in the summer.
There really is no way to justify setting aside $6.5 million to launch this new program when so many programs and services are being cut or eliminated. It's a decision that can be understood only in the political sense — as a favor for the SEIU from grateful Democrats. As a practical matter, initiating this training program makes little to no sense at this time. Indeed, a case can be made against launching this program at any time.
We opposed I-1029 when it was on the 2008 ballot. The initiative's call for more training for long-term care workers looked good at first blush. But initial appearances were deceiving. Upon closer examination, it was apparent that the initiative would have costly consequences for taxpayers, many long-term care workers and most families with someone in long-term care.
The initiative increases the number of hours long-term care workers must be trained from the current 34 hours to 75 hours. Washington taxpayers will pay for the training of workers subsidized by the state through Medicaid. The training of non-Medicaid caregivers will be paid by home health-care agencies. The extra hours of training will boost the cost for these agencies by around $700 per worker, according to Craig Hanley, general manager of Vancouver's Synergy HomeCare franchise. When I-1029 was before voters, Hanley told Vancouver Business Journal writer Jodie Gilmore the obvious — that this extra cost would be passed on to consumers. He estimated that it would increase the cost of home care from the current $18 to $22 per hour to $26 per hour.
Do caregivers need more than double the hours of training they now receive? That's highly doubtful. Certainly there are a good many workers who don't need 75 hours of training. But this program is one size fits all. No distinction is made between workers who cook or clean and those who must provide medical care. It's an unnecessary program with lots of hidden costs. This really should be low-hanging fruit for lawmakers looking to close that $2.8 billion budget gap.
