Home health care workers headed to Carson City in search of pay raise
LEGISLATURE
STEVE MARCUS FILE (2023) Personal care assistant Chrystal Taylor, left, poses with her client Gwendolyn Thomas outside Thomas’ apartment in 2023.
Nevada home care workers will return to the Legislature this year to seek another pay bump they say is needed to keep up with the cost of living.
Two years ago, lawmakers approved a proposal increasing the state’s Medicaid reimbursement rate for home care providers, directing an increase to $16 an hour to the workers who care for sick, elderly and disabled patients.
This year, they are looking for a raise to $20 an hour.
“The $16 minimum wage has given me hope, helped me pay my bills and kept me in this field that I love,” said Chrystal Taylor, who cares for an elderly woman and a disabled woman in Las Vegas. “But with the cost of living, I’m still living paycheck to paycheck.”
She said the raise being sought this year is about “basic survival — keeping food on the table for my three kids, a roof over our heads and my car running so I can get to my clients’ homes to be by their sides.”
The Service Employees International Union Nevada Local 1107, the group that represents health care workers, says the wage increase is addressed in Gov. Joe Lombardo’s budget proposal.
“Health care is more than just a service; it is a lifeline,” Lombardo said in his State of the State address. “It’s an equalizer.
It’s a promise that no Nevadan no matter where they live will be left behind.”
There is some evidence that the pay raise that went into effect last year has had a positive impact on hiring and retaining workers. They previously made $11 per hour.
A study by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services showed that from December 2023 to April 2024, home health providers recruited an additional 1,528 care workers.
The nonpartisan Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities reported in 2020 that one out of two Nevada home care workers left their jobs within their first year.
But after the pay increase, nearly all the workers have been retained, the center found.
“It’s so uplifting and heartening to see that our efforts to address the home care crisis are having a positive impact for seniors, people with disabilities and the workers who support them,” state Sen.
Rochelle Nguyen, chairwoman of the Finance Subcommittee on Human Services, said in a statement.
Nguyen said she was committed to working to increase wages again during the legislative session that begins Feb. 3.
“With all of us working together, we can keep lifting up the entire industry in order to adequately care for our aging population,” she said.
Nevada has 15,000 home care workers, according to the Service Employees International Union Nevada Local 1107, which backed home care workers during the 2023 state legislative session. Since then, more than 1,000 home care workers have voted to join the union.
The state has over 3 million people, and almost 17.5% of them are 65 years of age or older.
A report from the research firm Tripp Umbach and UNLV predicted explosive growth in Nevada’s senior population over the next five years. It projected the state could be home to 750,000 senior citizens by 2030, an increase from 515,438 people in 2010.
An aging population comes with an increased demand for home-based care. By next year, Nevada will need to add 5,300 home care workers to meet demand, the Guinn Center predicted.
Taylor said a pay raise will ensure the state can retain its care workers. “I want to make sure our seniors have the loving care they need and can stay in their own homes. That’s why I’m going to do everything I can to pass the $20 wage in the state Legislature,” she said. grace.darocha@gmgvegas.com / 702- 948-7854 / @gracedarocha
Two years ago, lawmakers approved a proposal increasing the state’s Medicaid reimbursement rate for home care providers, directing an increase to $16 an hour to the workers who care for sick, elderly and disabled patients.
This year, they are looking for a raise to $20 an hour.
“The $16 minimum wage has given me hope, helped me pay my bills and kept me in this field that I love,” said Chrystal Taylor, who cares for an elderly woman and a disabled woman in Las Vegas. “But with the cost of living, I’m still living paycheck to paycheck.”
She said the raise being sought this year is about “basic survival — keeping food on the table for my three kids, a roof over our heads and my car running so I can get to my clients’ homes to be by their sides.”
The Service Employees International Union Nevada Local 1107, the group that represents health care workers, says the wage increase is addressed in Gov. Joe Lombardo’s budget proposal.
“Health care is more than just a service; it is a lifeline,” Lombardo said in his State of the State address. “It’s an equalizer.
It’s a promise that no Nevadan no matter where they live will be left behind.”
There is some evidence that the pay raise that went into effect last year has had a positive impact on hiring and retaining workers. They previously made $11 per hour.
A study by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services showed that from December 2023 to April 2024, home health providers recruited an additional 1,528 care workers.
The nonpartisan Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities reported in 2020 that one out of two Nevada home care workers left their jobs within their first year.
But after the pay increase, nearly all the workers have been retained, the center found.
“It’s so uplifting and heartening to see that our efforts to address the home care crisis are having a positive impact for seniors, people with disabilities and the workers who support them,” state Sen.
Rochelle Nguyen, chairwoman of the Finance Subcommittee on Human Services, said in a statement.
Nguyen said she was committed to working to increase wages again during the legislative session that begins Feb. 3.
“With all of us working together, we can keep lifting up the entire industry in order to adequately care for our aging population,” she said.
Nevada has 15,000 home care workers, according to the Service Employees International Union Nevada Local 1107, which backed home care workers during the 2023 state legislative session. Since then, more than 1,000 home care workers have voted to join the union.
The state has over 3 million people, and almost 17.5% of them are 65 years of age or older.
A report from the research firm Tripp Umbach and UNLV predicted explosive growth in Nevada’s senior population over the next five years. It projected the state could be home to 750,000 senior citizens by 2030, an increase from 515,438 people in 2010.
An aging population comes with an increased demand for home-based care. By next year, Nevada will need to add 5,300 home care workers to meet demand, the Guinn Center predicted.
Taylor said a pay raise will ensure the state can retain its care workers. “I want to make sure our seniors have the loving care they need and can stay in their own homes. That’s why I’m going to do everything I can to pass the $20 wage in the state Legislature,” she said. grace.darocha@gmgvegas.com / 702- 948-7854 / @gracedarocha