Public Charge Rule Takes Effect, Undermining the Direct Care Workforce

As of today, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new public charge rule is in effect. Immigrants can now be penalized in their immigration cases simply for using programs they are lawfully eligible for, like Medicaid and SNAP.

Immigrants make up at least 29 percent of the direct care workforce, and nearly half of all direct care workers rely on some form of public assistance to meet their basic needs. This rule forces immigrant workers and their families to choose between the food, housing, and health care they are lawfully eligible for and their future in this country.

The result will be more instability for workers, more turnover for providers, and less access to care for older adults and people with disabilities. Combined with recent Medicaid, labor, and immigration policy changes, it deals another blow to a workforce our care systems cannot function without.

Policymakers should reverse course and invest in policies that strengthen, rather than undermine, direct care workers. Read PHI’s full comments to DHS here.