The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is poised to award an Area Agencies on Aging contract to Maximus, an out-of-state, for-profit company. The contract outsources the county-based Area Agencies on Aging (AAA)’s clinical Assessment work - work that determines the level of care seniors with disabilities need.
Unfortunately, this decision will eliminate hundreds of AAA jobs held by our members. Handing Maximus this work will be detrimental to seniors, especially those with significant medical needs across Pennsylvania.
Currently, AAA caseworkers meet clients in person to assess their level of care for Medicaid funded long-term care services. Doing this work has given AAA caseworkers significant knowledge and extensive networks of local resources from which seniors benefit, and which Maximus can’t match.
Maximus Has Failed Seniors Before
In 2016, Maximus was awarded a contract to handle other work performed by local AAA caseworkers. When Maximus started, they eliminated face-to-face outreach, and instead mailed individuals complex applications and provided limited assistance to complete them. Maximus also lost documents which led to a delayed service. The company's failure to handle this work drew widespread condemnation from both parties and chambers of the Pennsylvania State Legislature.
The Wolf Administration Must Not Privatize Senior Care
Please reach out to the Governor’s office and demand that he stop the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services from outsourcing and privatizing AAA work. Call Governor Wolf at 717-787-2500 and tell him:
Don’t privatize the AAAs!
Do not award Maximus critical Aging Assessment work.
Let the Area Agencies on Aging continue to do the work they’ve performed with expertise for years.
Do not award Maximus critical Aging Assessment work.
Let the Area Agencies on Aging continue to do the work they’ve performed with expertise for years.
If you award Maximus the Aging contract, hundreds of family-sustaining union jobs will be lost across the state. Services to seniors will be substantially diminished.
Maximus has a history of offering low bids and running up costs on the back end. In the long-run, Maximus will cost the Commonwealth and the counties more for poorer service than is already available.
The Wolf administration should not sacrifice family-sustaining union jobs and quality care to seniors for the false promise of a low bid.
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