Individuals with disabilities want to live in the community. The shared goal, life in the community for individuals with disabilities, was reaffirmed and promised by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision, the New Freedom Initiative, Congress, the A.D.A., and U.S. Governors.

To achieve the goal of community living, millions of Americans with disabilities daily depend on Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), often referred to as personal assistants or home care aides, to provide critical supports. These critical supports include assistance with medical appointments and follow-up, grocery shopping, transportation, personal hygiene, vocational training, meal preparation, and other intimate in-home services.

Because many Americans with disabilities depend on Medicaid as their primary source of funding for their services and supports, providers of services and supports are held to fixed Medicaid reimbursement rates and cannot pass cost increases onto their “customer.” These fixed Medicaid reimbursement rates impact DSP wages. At the same time that there is an increased demand for the supports DSPs provide,  DSP hourly wages increased nationally only $1.55 from 1996 to 2006 compared to an increase of $2.92 for public DSPs in the same time period.

It is essential that Congress recognize the tremendous work of DSPs, correct wage disparities that exist between public and private DSPs, and help the industry address the workforce crisis.  In February, Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Lee Terry (R-NE) introduced The Direct Support Professionals Fairness and Security Act of 2009 into the 111th Congress. The bill, H.R. 868, seeks to amend the Social Security Act to provide funds to states to enable them to increase the wages paid to targeted DSPs who are providing services to individuals with disabilities under Medicaid.  H.R. 868 would offer states an option for supplemental Medicaid funding needed to increase DSP wages. Please help us encourage Federal Action to permanently address the workforce crisis.