An unfunded wage increase could deplete access to care for vulnerable Californians | Opinions
It’s no secret that California is facing a dire health care crisis, one that has profound immediate and long-term impacts. Couple that crisis with the fact that California’s population is aging at a record pace. In Sacramento alone, UC Davis reports that the number of residents age 65 or older is growing at its fastest rate in 130 years. If services and providers continue to lag behind, the state will reap dangerous consequences.
Leaders are starting to recognize the urgency needed to prepare California for an aging state. But some of the solutions currently on the table will only lead the state and its most vulnerable communities down the wrong path, potentially leading to a dangerous exacerbation of existing shortfalls.
Opinion
Senate Bill 525 is one of those proposed solutions. The bill is currently speeding through the legislature and is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee in August. We cannot let haste interfere with the formulation of good policy.
The bill seeks to raise the minimum wage for all workers in specific health care facilities to $25 an hour. While it appears to be a valiant effort when looking through rose-colored glasses, its proponents fail to recognize its true cost and unintended consequences.
A deeper dive into SB 525 uncovers the reality of what an unfunded minimum wage mandate will have on an already strained health care system: higher costs for facilities and patients, worsened staffing shortages and reductions in life-saving services and programs.
This bill will end up hurting many of the people that it claims to protect.
An extensive economic analysis prepared by Capitol Matrix Consulting found that SB 525 would increase costs for health care providers in California by $8 billion annually by 2025. Who will take the direct hit from these rising costs? Nonprofit health care providers and the patients they serve — in other words, our states most vulnerable residents and the safety net providers who care for them.
Providers like Sacramento’s ACC Senior Services, which operates a robust community center, senior transportation and escort programs as well as a senior employment placement program and three senior living communities, will bear the brunt of these consequences. We will be forced to consider raising private pay rates for patients and be pressured to reduce the number of Medi-Cal residents we serve just to meet the costs of this mandate.
In the worst cases, similar providers — still reeling in the wake of the pandemic — will be forced to shutter their doors, removing entire care access points for the communities they serve.
Under-resourced and vulnerable Californians depend on groups like ours to provide them with critical health and food services, but SB 525 will jeopardize their viability and put the people who depend on these kinds of services at significant undue risk.
At a time when cost of living is soaring and the state of the economy is in question, gambling with additional increased costs for patients and providers alike is something California simply cannot afford.
The truth behind SB 525 is that it’s a massive unfunded state mandate that will jeopardize access to vital services for thousands of older adults and their families, both in the Sacramento area and statewide.
Senior care providers and their residents across the state cannot sustain the consequences of SB 525. We urge lawmakers to continue evaluating ways we can honor caregivers in California and provide them with better wages without jeopardizing our health care safety net and the services that millions of older adults and their families depend on.
Carol Pickard has been serving elders for 31 years and is currently the COO ACC Senior Services, located in the Pocket Area of Sacramento.
