SE Illinois News

Gov. J.B. Pritzker's administration will increase the rate of pay for eligible in-home care providers in an effort to recognize frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release on the state's official website.

According to Pritzker, this $54 million investment, facilitated by funds from the governor's FY 21 and 22 budgets, would bolster the state's "social safety net."

"One of the best ways we can recognize the workers who support our most vulnerable residents is by ensuring they can support themselves and their families," Pritzker said, "A strong social safety net begets a strong state, and Illinois is investing in the people who make in-home care for our seniors possible."

However, Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) criticized Pritzker's decision in an interview with SE Illinois News, arguing the administration's investment of $54 million should have been used differently. 

"We need to shore up what we have now," Bailey said, "We've got so many areas we need to be tackling instead of creating new obligations."

Bailey also argued that Pritzker's plan to impose a higher rate of pay may deter healthcare providers from working in Illinois.

"There is a profit margin that a business has to make to be profitable," Bailey said, "you can't just tell people what they have to to pay; that's the corporate world the governor comes from, he can't begin to understand what most of us have to deal with."

Currently, in-home service providers within IDOA's Community Care Program (CCP) have received a rate increase of $23.40 an hour as of April 1 of this year.

Additionally, CCP will make a one-time retroactive payment to over 400 providers for services rendered between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2020 at this increased rate as compensation for the pay rate being frozen during this time period.

On Jan. 1, 2022, providers will reportedly receive another rate increase, enabling them to pay their employees a minimum wage of $15 an hour.