2018 is shaping up to be a tough year for unions.  Just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) ending the mandatory union fees paid by public employees around the country, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has announced a proposed rule to end the diversion of Medicaid payments from in-home health care providers to unions.

HHS says the “proposed regulatory change is designed to ensure that taxpayer dollars dedicated to providing healthcare services for low-income vulnerable Americans are not siphoned away for other purposes.”

WPC has long recommended ending what is known as the “SEIU dues skim,” a scheme that enables the Service Employees International Union to exploit loopholes in the law to fill their coffers with around $200 million annually in Medicaid money that is meant to protect the neediest and most vulnerable in our society.

Under the cover of collecting union “dues” or “agency fees,” SEIU has arranged for some states, like Washington, to automatically take a portion of the more than $41 billion the government sends every year to individual Medicaid recipients. The Medicaid money sent to low-income elderly, disabled or ill individuals is meant to enable them to pay for in-home care.  Medicaid payments are sent directly to the individual in-home health care providers on behalf of their Medicaid-eligible “client,” but in states like Washington, a portion of these payments are diverted to SEIU before the caregiver receives any money.

Many of the home health care providers who are forced to pay SEIU “dues” or “fees” are taking care of a family member in their home. They receive a modest Medicaid-funded payment each month to help cover the costs of the in-home care they provide for their loved one.  But before the provider receives any of those funds, the state automatically deducts a portion and sends it to the union. So SEIU doesn't even have to do the collecting.  The state takes it from providers and sends it to the union.

In Washington alone, the dues skim of Medicaid benefits from the state’s home health care providers amounts to a staggering $27 million for SEIU 775 each year.

Medicaid dollars are supposed to enable elderly, ill, and disabled individuals to receive in-home care. Instead much of it is being siphoned away to enrich a private union.  The move by HHS to end this misuse of taxpayer Medicaid dollars is long overdue.