11/12/2025
Are we happy that PA has passed a budget? YES! But are we happy with the 94% of Caregivers that were left unseen and unappreciated? Absolutely NO! Has this deepened the homecare crisis? YES! Our efforts will not stop. MedStaffers will continue to provide the absolute best service possible, because we do care about the 94%.
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HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Homecare Association (PHA) today issued the following statement in response to the budget agreement reached in Harrisburg.
Independent, taxpayer-funded studies commissioned by the Shapiro Administration and the legislature found Pennsylvania must invest more than $800 million to stabilize Pennsylvania’s home care system and align Direct Care Worker wages with neighboring states and competing industries. PHA has urged lawmakers to pass a $370 million increase in this year’s budget to begin addressing that gap, yet the final deal provides just $21 million - earmarked for only 6% of in-home caregivers— while choosing to ignore 94% of the workforce, and the families and patients who rely on them.
“This budget represents a devastating failure of leadership by Governor Shapiro, his Administration, and the General Assembly,” said Mia Haney, CEO of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association. “Pennsylvania’s legislature had the opportunity to address the state’s home care crisis but instead chose politics over people. Instead of solving the problem, lawmakers approved funding for just 6% of workers - while abandoning the 94% of caregivers who deliver the overwhelming majority of care across the Commonwealth. This is not how you stabilize a collapsing system; this is how you deepen a crisis.”
Every month in Pennsylvania, over 112,500 shifts of care go unfilled and one in four authorized nursing hours never takes place. Families are left without critical support—or worse, loved
ones remain trapped in hospitals and institutions simply because support is not available to bring them home. This budget ensures that those numbers will grow even more dire.