Adrian Daily Telegram: Rep. Tim Walberg introduces bill to address in-home care costs

WASHINGTON — Last week, Rep. Tim Walberg and two colleagues introduced a bill that they say will improve access to affordable home care.

Reps. Walberg, R-Tipton, Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., and Adrian Smith, R-Neb., introduced the Ensuring Access to Affordable and Quality Home Care for Seniors and People with Disabilities Act. The legislation would reverse an Obama-era Department of Labor rule to ensure that seniors and individuals with disabilities have access to affordable companion care. The legislation would restore the overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act for home caregivers employed by a third-party employer or living with the individual receiving care.

"Live-in domestic service workers who reside in the employer’s home permanently or for an extended period of time and are employed by an individual, family or household are exempt from overtime pay, although they must be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked," the rule says.

The Department of Labor said the intent of the revised rule, which was enacted in 2013, was to offer more workers minimum wage and overtime protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Walberg has sponsored similar legislation before.

“As America’s population of seniors and individuals with disabilities continues to grow, there is a greater need for companion care,” Walberg said in a news release. “However, over the years, the Department of Labor’s misguided regulation has limited affordable access to in-home care for vulnerable Americans. My legislation would reverse this rule to ensure that these individuals have the option to receive quality care in the comfort of their own homes instead of being forced to leave their homes and enter institutional living. The legislation will also empower independent caregivers by allowing them to determine their own work relationships with families, free from government regulations.”

“The Ensuring Access to Affordable and Quality Home Care for Seniors and People with Disabilities Act strikes a balance that allows families to afford companion care while ensuring fair treatment for independent caregivers,” said Bucshon, who was a physician and surgeon specializing in cardiothoracic surgery before being elected to Congress. “I am proud to join Representative Walberg in the effort to address the growing caregiver shortage by re-introducing legislation that limits federal regulation and restores the prior exemption standard.”

“Prior to 2015, Americans providing vital in-home care were exempt from arbitrary labor regulations which were inappropriate for the services they provided," Smith said. "This legislation would eliminate Obama-era red tape which has complicated access to in-home care and contributed to a caregiver shortage.  I thank Reps. Walberg and Bucshon for their commitment to empowering Americans with the flexibility necessary to meet their families’ home care needs.”

Lori Dahan, Private Care Association president, thanks Walberg for reintroducing the bill.

"This action reaffirms Congress’s 1974 commitment to keep home care affordable for working families and empowers independent caregivers to determine their work relationships with families, free from government restrictions," Dahan said. "We believe the widely reported caregiver shortage can best be addressed by making the home-care profession more attractive by restoring a caregiver’s right to enter into a lasting relationship with one client and become a part of the family, as opposed to being forced to work short engagements with a multitude of different families, due to regulatory restrictions. We applaud Representative Walberg for re-introducing this much-needed bill to remove those restrictions."

This article originally appeared in the Adrian Daily Telegram on January 30.