Welcome to The Press Room, a weekly roundup of the major stories and happenings of the 2023 Delaware legislative year.
This week’s edition focuses on the health department’s biggest challenge post-COVID-19, the governor’s trip to India and media reports that Delaware is too boring to host the president’s possible reelection campaign.
As always, send story tips, feedback, ideas or gossip to me at mnewman@delawareonline.com.
Follow me on Twitter at @MereNewman.
Delaware’s health department continues to struggle with staffing shortages
The health department’s greatest challenge is no longer controlling the spread of COVID-19 – it’s finding people who want to work for them.
During the Department of Health and Social Services’ budget hearing, Secretary Molly Magarik said there are about 900 open positions out of 4,000 total employees. Some divisions are facing vacancy rates as high as 80%.
The health department is the state’s largest agency, with a whopping recommended budget of $1.5 billion. Last year, lawmakers approved changes to the agency’s pay policy, with the hopes it would attract more applicants. The department is again asking for salary increases.
“I can’t imagine what would have happened without it,” Magarik told lawmakers. “We still are having unprecedented staffing challenges.”
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The problem, specifically, is finding health care workers. Because of a nationwide shortage, the private sector (think hospitals) are offering tens of thousands of dollars in signing bonuses, in addition to higher salaries. The state simply can’t compete.
“It’s as though a bomb went off within the health care sector,” Magarik said.
“Do we go back to what it looked like before?” she continued. “Or is this a permanent shift in the workforce … that will require the state to do more dramatic things to ensure that we have the services and the health care system that we need for the population that’s here, not to mention the fact that that population is aging”
Magarik said the state is looking to hire nursing assistants and then pay for these workers to undergo training to become certified nursing assistants. A similar program will exist for licensed practical nurses. The hope, she said, is to take the barrier of training (and its cost) away from prospective employees.
Advocates plea with lawmakers to increase Medicaid reimbursement rate for private nursing
People with disabilities, their loved ones and health care agencies asked – and at times pleaded – with lawmakers last week to increase the Medicaid reimbursement rate for private duty nursing by about 20%.
Those with disabilities testified that these health care workers, often CNAs, provide essential care that allows them to live independent and fuller lives. But the wages are dismally low, often the lowest in nursing. It forces many to leave the profession.
One CNA testified, while the patient she cared for watched on, about how she loved her job but the low wages have torn her life apart. She has struggled to care for her children and the financial stress resulted in her divorcing her husband.
With signing bonuses being dangled as incentives elsewhere, many workers are leaving these positions in droves.
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It’s led to many being without care. One owner of a health care agency said when workers call out they are only able to fill those scheduling holes now about 10% of the time. Before the pandemic, it was close to 90%. It’s resulted in many people with disabilities without an aide to help them with their daily needs. Knowing this, the owner confessed to having trouble sleeping at night.
John McNeal, director of the State Council for Persons with Disabilities, became engulfed with emotion – both anger and absolute heartbreak. Like thousands of Delawareans, he is enrolled on Medicaid and depends on a home health aide to help him in the mornings.
“We’re asking for a few extra bucks for people to come in and make a difference in people’s lives,” McNeal said. He told lawmakers he’s tired of coming to Legislative Hall to beg for funding. He doesn’t know if he will be able to return for next year’s budget hearing.
“I’m exhausted as these people are exhausted,” he said. “It’s a matter of life and death.”
Gov. John Carney takes India
Did you know Gov. John Carney was in India last week? Same. I must have missed that media advisory.
Carney met with Indian diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is the Minister of External Affairs. According to media reports in India, Delaware and Gujarat, a state along the western coast, signed an agreement in 2019 to strengthen the states’ relationship.
The two politicians “discussed our strong business, education, tech & people-to-people ties,” according to a tweet by Jaishankar.
Former lawmakers speak out about Medicare Advantage
Meanwhile, back in Delaware, more than two dozen former lawmakers signed an open letter to the governor about their frustrations with the state’s attempt to switch their health care plan to Medicare Advantage. They, too, are state retirees.
Notably, former Sens. Margaret Rose Henry and Harris McDowell signed the letter. They were among the most influential lawmakers during their tenure in Legislative Hall.
“Even in the worst of times, we kept our promises to our retirees and made sure that their excellent healthcare benefits were secure,” the letter reads. “Now it is your turn to do the same for those who went before you.”
As a refresher: This summer, a group of retirees sought to block changes to the state retirees’ health care plan. It resulted in a lawsuit, and a judge temporarily blocked the transition to a Medicare Advantage plan. A trial is now pending.
The state has argued that without this Medicare Advantage plan, Delaware’s unfunded liability could grow to $33 billion by 2050.
The former lawmakers argue in the letter that the state’s ballooning unfunded liability “should not be the only consideration in your decision-making.” They wrote that forcing retirees into this plan would, among many things, delay and deny medical care.
Is Delaware too boring to be Biden’s campaign headquarters?
With the question of whether Joe Biden will run again for president still looming, Wilmington has emerged as a potential frontrunner for the Delawarean’s campaign headquarters.
And apparently, Democratic operatives are, um, less than pleased. Before the pandemic shut everything down, Philadelphia was the location of Biden HQ. And then, as we all know, it became his basement.
In a Politico newsletter from late December (with the headline: “Dela-really?”), Democrats have “grumbled” that the city with the former slogan of “Place to be Somebody” is an actual contender.
“The general vibe is, ‘Please let it not be in Wilmington,’” one Democratic Party aide told Politico. “People would be really excited about D.C., relatively excited about Philadelphia, and people would be really disappointed if it were in Wilmington.”
A Feb. 19 New York Times story wrote: “The president has pushed for Wilmington, his hometown, according to people briefed on internal discussions. But some advisers fear that such a location would make recruitment harder, with younger campaign aides not eager to spend a year in a sleepy, small town.”
