REPORT: Home Health Aide Pay Rate Holds Steady
The average hourly private-pay rate for home health aides remained at $21 in 2012, according to the latest edition of the MetLife Mature Market Institute‘s Survey of Long-Term Care Costs.
That rate has held steady at $21 since 2009, according to the report, which was published by the research wing of the insurance company MetLife.
Meanwhile, adult day service centers, which employ direct-care workers, had an average daily pay rate of $70 for the second straight year.
Less than half of the pay rate for home health aide services actually goes toward home health aide wages. According to PHI research, the average home health aide earned just $9.91 an hour in 2011, the last year for which data is available.
Home health aide pay rates were highest in the Rochester, Minnesota metropolitan area, at $32 an hour, the MetLife survey found. They were lowest in Shreveport, Louisiana ($13/hour).
The MetLife report also showed that average pay rates for nursing home care have gone up. The daily pay rate for semi-private rooms rose to $222 in 2012 — a 3.7 percent increase — while private room rates went up by 3.8 percent to a daily average of $248.
The average pay rate for assisted living communities was $3,550 a month, up from $3,477 in 2011.
— by Matthew Ozga
