SACRAMENTO — California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra is calling on the Trump administration to withdraw its proposed rule to alter Medicaid state payment requirements, a move the attorney general says will hurt the state's 400,000 home care workers as well as the half-million with disabilities under their care.
In a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, Xavier argues the proposed Medicaid rule will undermine California's home care workers and their right to collectively bargain for better wages, benefits and training.
“The Trump administration’s latest attack on unionized Medicaid home care workers is completely unjustified and unnecessary,” Becerra said in a statement. “It seeks to hurt home care workers and, in doing so, jeopardizes the health of vulnerable Americans who rely on them. Many aged, blind, disabled or infirm Americans would not be able to live at home without the services of home care workers.
According to the California Attorney General's Office, HHS's proposed rule would deduct payments from home care worker's paychecks for benefits obtained through collective bargaining such as health care coverage or union dues.