At-large D.C. Councilman David Catania introduced a bill Tuesday that would require Medicaid funded employers to pay a “living wage” to employees or face losing their Medicaid eligibility.
A recent audit by the District’s inspector general found that Medicaid funding for facilities that care for people severe developmental disabilities was being used to pay big salaries for executives while frontline workers were paid what Catania called “substandard wages.” In one case, the top two employees of a group home paid themselves a combined $843,000 annually.
“These are essentially public employees, who rely entirely on government funding, who pay themselves more than the president of the United States to run group homes,” Catania said.
The bill would require the employers to pay their employees $12.50 an hour with wage increases tied to the consumer price index.
