Long-term care and other healthcare workers in California would see a minimum wage of $25 per hour if legislation introduced Wednesday by state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D) passes and becomes law.
The bill as written applies to workers in senior living, skilled nursing and home health, as well as hospitals, general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, medical offices and clinics, behavioral health centers and other settings. Currently, the state’s minimum wage for all industries is $15 per hour. The $25 hourly minimum wage would affect approximately 1.5 million workers across the state beginning in January 2024, the California Globe reported.
“State lawmakers must make meaningful and long-lasting funding investments in the long-term care sector’s workforce to advance the health and well-being of California’s older adults and persons with disabilities,” Corey Egel, director of public affairs at the California Association of Health Facilities, told the McKnight’s Business Daily. “Without these funding investments, wage enhancements cannot be achieved.”
Those enhancements are needed for facilities that are struggling to find workers and keep their doors open, Egel added.
Renée Saldaña, spokesperson for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, told the McKnight’s Business Daily that healthcare workers are leaving the profession in “alarming” numbers.
“Low pay and poor working conditions mean that not enough new workers are willing to join the healthcare workforce, leaving California with an urgent patient care crisis,” she said. “A $25 per hour minimum wage for healthcare workers across the state would be a tremendous positive step towards addressing the severity of the healthcare worker staffing crisis in the state and ensuring there will always be enough qualified staff to take care of patients.”
Last year, the union spent approximately $11 million to promote a $25 hourly minimum wage to 10 Southern California cities, CBS News reported. To date, Inglewood, CA, is the only city to implement it.
“We commend Sen. Maria Elena Durazo for her leadership and for recognizing that healthcare workers deserve to earn a fair wage that reflects their life-saving work and for taking steps to confront the staffing crisis in California’s healthcare system,” Saldaña said.
LeadingAge California, however, said the legislation could have unintended consequences.
“Healthcare workers deserve to be fairly compensated for their work. Unfortunately, this proposal doesn’t provide necessary reimbursement increases, making it impossible for some providers to burden this additional expense,” Amber King, vice president of legislative affairs at LeadingAge California, told the McKnight’s Business Daily. “Nor does it get to the root of the problem by bolstering employment and training pipelines for healthcare workers. In fact, we are concerned this proposal will exacerbate the current healthcare workforce crisis and lead to lasting, debilitating impacts for providers and the older adults they serve.”
The association, she said, “supports wage increases but believes they should be part of a broader discussion around workforce solutions and include a financial impact study to determine its comprehensive impact across the healthcare industry.”
