Ask Mike - Caregiver wages in different states

Hi Mike,
I am currently the caregiver of a 20 year old quad. We currently live in Kentucky and go through the Medicaid Wavier program. They pay 24 hours per week at $8.00 an hour. He requires 24 hour a day care. We are thinking of moving to Tennessee, but I need to know if they pay more for a personal home assistant. What states would provide the better services?

Thank you,
Moving To Tennessee

Dear Moving To Tennessee,
Thanks for writing. You shared that you are a personal attendant for a young man with quadriplegia who currently receives 24 hours of assistance per week. You are paid $8.00 per hour. You are thinking about moving to Tennessee, but need to know if Tennessee pays more. You also want to know which states provide "better" services.

Our website can help you find the information you want. Go to Wages for Personal and Home Care aides and click on "Tennessee" on the USA map. To help you understand the chart and the graph, "nominal wage" means the actual wage you would be paid; in this case, $8.81 in 2009. You can use these same directions to check wages in any of the states; just click on the state you want to check on the USA map and do the same thing as above.

You were also interested in the services different states provide. You can easily look at different Medicaid Waivers and contact state officials about those waivers by going to Contact Info and Descriptions for Medicaid Waivers. This page provides brief descriptions and contact information for all of the Medicaid Waivers in a given state. You can also click on the website link to get even more information. Just use the directions, above, to check out the states of interest to you. You could also ask about current wages, instead of 2009 wages, using the contact information provided.

I hope this information helps you figure out where to relocate.

Mike Oxford

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