Should Nurses Take a 30% Pay Cut When Their Patient Turns 23?

[Demovictory9]

With one ear on the sound monitor linked to his daughter’s room, Joe Trimarchi sat at his dining room table in the Rosebank section of Staten Island. He was stuffing dozens of envelopes, hoping that one of them would land on the desk of a politician who might care. Mr. Trimarchi, 55, is a cashier in the billing department of Staten Island University Hospital, but what animates him is advocating for his daughter Alexia.

Since she was born 20 years ago with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder, and hydrocephalus, he has been pestering government agencies and state senators. The Trimarchis have endured two decades of anxiety, hospitalizations and middle-of-the-night scares. But now, the family is facing a full-blown crisis.

When Alexia turns 23, the New York State Department of Health will change her classification from “medically fragile child” to “medically fragile adult.” That distinction, which may seem minor, has enormous consequences. For one thing, Alexia’s caregivers will no longer receive the same hourly rate to which they’ve become accustomed.

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Alexia is one of around 1,500 medically fragile children in New York State who depend on Medicaid for private-duty nurses. Children deemed medically fragile require continuous nursing care as well as life-sustaining medications and treatments. In addition, many rely on interventions like feeding tubes, ventilators or supplemental oxygen.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/nyregion/medically-fragile-nurses-salary.htm




Aziza Hankins, left, has spent years caring for Alexia Trimarchi, who was born with severe health problems. “As much as I love Alexia,” Ms. Hankins said, “I’m not going to be able to continue with her” when she turns 23, triggering a drop in pay.Credit...Olga Ginzburg for The New York Times

Aziza Hankins, a licensed practical nurse, has been with Alexia since she was a little girl. But in three years, when Alexia is considered an adult, Ms. Hankins’s rate will drop to $23 an hour from $32 an hour, and she fears she’ll have no choice but to leave for a higher-paying job.

[abqtommy]

1. I advocate for cutting the pay of politicians and hospital administrators. And giving nurses

a raise.

[multigraincracker]

2. +1 K&R

[Useless in FL]

5. Absolutely! At the very least! (n/t)

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. Hear hear!

And getting rid of assistant hospital administrators entirely! All they appear to do is clutter up the halls and make useless suggestions. (30 year RN here)

[smirkymonkey]

9. +1000

[cstanleytech]

10. Most of the people in the country need a huge pay raise

as the whole trickle down economics experiment has been a disaster for this country.

[marble falls]

3. Where are our priorities as a nation.

[GoCubsGo]

4. If anything, they should be getting a raise.

This is nuts, especially considering it's much more physically taxing to tend to a quadrapelegic adult, given their larger size. Not only should they get a raise, they should be provided an assistant.

[Useless in FL]

6. That's too logical!

The healthcare system still sucks. That this could happen is just plain greed.

[crickets]

11. That would be humane and make more sense. nt

[PA_jen]

7. Absol-Fucking-utely Not. I worked home health The care for people like that

doesn't change regardless of age in fact as people get older complications do arise.