This spring, lawmakers approved $6.25 million to raise Medicaid rates for in-home caregivers, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Alaska Public Media reports the increase lined up with a rate study the state Department of Health paid for last year. Dunleavy vetoed the money. He said his budget vetoes aimed at long-term fiscal sustainability.
He also vetoed House Bill 96, from North Pole Republican Representative Mike Prax. That bill passed the House 35 to 5 and the Senate 19 to 1. It would have created an advisory board for home care workers. It also would have required agencies to spend at least 70 percent of their Medicaid personal care funding on worker pay and benefits. Dunleavy wrote that the requirement could create hardship for agencies and reduce the services available to Alaskans. He also wrote that the state should address home care workforce problems through Medicaid, not a new board.
Amy Backas works for Consumer Direct in Homer and said nearly all her clients get care through Medicaid. She said some of them get fewer hours of care than they need.
“There are clients that I’ve had where they’ve really needed honest-to-god 24-hour care, or at least 12 hours, and they only are allotted three hours a day,” Backas said.
Backas and fellow caregiver Bryan Hays of Kenai sit on the union’s bargaining team. Backas said the team has spent the last few months bargaining with Consumer Direct. Hays said they haven’t negotiated pay yet. He said the veto is part of why it’s unclear how big a raise they’ll get, and a health plan the union wanted will likely have to wait until next year.
Hays said most lawmakers voted to fund the rate increase.
“They saw the need and they addressed it. And it was just because the governor decided to veto it that it’s not there now. So yeah, it’s nice to get out and support the people who stood up for us, when they saw that this funding is desperately needed,” Hays said.
According to the Alaska Beacon, caregivers at Consumer Direct joined Service Employees International Union 775 in 2023. Workers at All Ways Caring followed. When they approved their first contracts in 2024, the union represented nearly a thousand caregivers at the state’s two largest home care companies.
Hays said the job means helping clients bathe, brush their teeth, get to the doctor and more. He said most clients already get fewer hours of care than they need. He said some worry Medicaid cuts could push them into assisted living or make it harder to get their medications and travel to appointments in Anchorage.
“That’s also why this election is so important to us, because not only is it going to affect our ability to make a living, but it’s going to affect the people we care for. Some of them in massive ways, where they’re not going to be able to get the medication they depend on to live,” Hays said.
Backas said the union is backing Democrat Mary Peltola for U.S. Senate, independent Bill Hill for U.S. House and Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor. Closer to home, it’s backing Republican Louise Stutes for Senate District C and nonpartisan Brent Johnson for House District 6. The union is also urging a no vote on Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal ranked choice voting, open primaries and some campaign disclosure rules.
Dunleavy is term-limited, so the next state budget won’t cross his desk. Lawmakers head back to Juneau in January. Whoever Alaskans elect governor on November 3 will decide whether to sign or veto what they pass, including any new money for in-home care.
