NJ Trade Group Wants to Move $100 Million from Home Care to Nursing Homes — What It Means for NJ Families

A nursing home lobby is asking Trenton lawmakers to redirect $100 million away from home care and back into institutional facilities. If you’re caring for an aging parent in New Jersey, this fight matters — and it changes how you should plan the next 12 months.

What’s happening

The Jersey Vindicator reported this week that a nursing home trade group is lobbying New Jersey lawmakers to divert roughly $100 million in state funding away from home- and community-based services and back into skilled nursing facilities. The argument from the institutional side is that nursing homes are struggling with staffing and reimbursement. The argument from the home-care side is the opposite — that seniors want to stay home, families want them home, and every credible survey confirms it.

This fight is not new, but the number is bigger than usual. And it lands at the exact moment two other things are happening: the U.S. family caregiver population just crossed 63 million (per the new “Caregiving in America” report), and Modivcare — one of the largest personal care services companies in the country — just brought in a new CEO, Marsha Ramos, to steady its personal care division. Translation: the industry is consolidating, the caregiver workforce is stretched, and Trenton is being asked to fund fewer people at home and more people in facilities.

At the same time, the New York Times ran two pieces this month — one on “age tech” and one on getting retirement-community-level care inside your own house. Both point in the same direction families already know: people want to age in place, and they want the tools and the staff to make it possible.

What this means for NJ families

If you’re a daughter in Westfield or a son in Cherry Hill trying to figure out how to keep Mom or Dad at home, here is the plain read:

• Public funding for home care in NJ is under pressure. If $100 million shifts to nursing facilities, waitlists for state-supported home care programs like NJ FamilyCare MLTSS will get longer, not shorter.
• Waiting on Medicaid approval is riskier than it was six months ago. If your parent needs help this month, “we’re waiting on the state” is not a plan — it’s a hospital readmission waiting to happen.
• Private pay and private long-term care insurance are becoming the fastest, most reliable path to keeping a loved one safely at home in New Jersey right now.
• The caregiver shortage is real. Trained, certified home health aides who can actually show up, do transfers, manage incontinence, and communicate with families are the bottleneck. Agencies that hire well and pay well are the ones still standing.

According to 24 Hour Home Care NJ, families who plan around private pay and private insurance for the next 12 months will have far more control over who walks through their door and when. Waiting for the state to move faster is not a strategy.

According to 24 Hour Home Care NJ

I’m Sofia. I’m an RN, and I run care planning for 24 Hour Home Care NJ. I’ve been watching this funding fight for years. Here is my honest read.

The nursing home lobby is not wrong that facilities are hurting. They are. But the answer is not to pull money out of the home. Every serious study — including the new McKnight’s survey of senior living residents and families — shows a “striking contradiction”: people move into facilities and then still say they wish they could have stayed home longer. Nobody grows up dreaming of a shared room down a linoleum hallway.

According to 24HCNJ, the right response to the caregiver shortage is not fewer people at home — it is better-trained certified home health aides, better supervision by nurses, and clearer plans of care that families actually understand. That’s the model we run.

And one more thing, said plainly: we do NOT provide Medicaid or Medicare — only private pay and private insurances. If you’re waiting on NJ FamilyCare MLTSS approval and the clock is running out, we can cover care today at private rate and help you bridge until state benefits kick in. Call (908) 912-6342 and we’ll walk you through it.

How Sofia’s team handles this

Here is what actually happens when a family calls us during a moment like this — hospital discharge, a fall, a diagnosis, or just the slow realization that Mom can’t be alone anymore.

1. A real conversation, not an intake form

You talk to a human being on the first call. I or one of my RN care managers ask about the medical picture, the home layout, the medications, the family dynamics, and the budget. No sales pressure. If home care isn’t the right answer, I’ll tell you.

2. RN in-home assessment within 24-48 hours

Before we place anyone, an RN comes to the house. We look at fall risks, transfer needs, skin integrity, cognition, and what the family is already doing well. This is where a real plan of care gets built — not a template.

3. Matched certified home health aides — not whoever is available

We match personality, language, and skill level. If Dad is a retired mechanic from Newark who watches the Yankees, we don’t send someone who wants to watch daytime TV in silence. Fit matters. Retention matters. Continuity matters.

4. Ongoing RN oversight

I don’t hand you an aide and disappear. Our nurses stay involved — check-ins, medication reviews, coordination with your primary care doctor and any home health therapists. When something changes, we catch it early.

5. Family communication that respects your time

Short updates. Clear escalation. If your aide calls out, you hear from us before you hear from her. That’s the standard.

What to do if you need help right now

If any of the following describe your situation this week, don’t wait for the legislature to figure out its budget fight:

• Parent is being discharged from a NJ hospital or rehab in the next 7 days
• You’ve been managing everything yourself and you’re burning out
• A recent fall, UTI, or hospitalization has changed the baseline
• You have long-term care insurance and don’t know how to activate it
• You applied for NJ FamilyCare MLTSS months ago and nothing is moving

Call (908) 912-6342. Ask for Sofia or one of the RN care managers. We serve families across New Jersey — Union, Essex, Morris, Somerset, Middlesex, Bergen, Monmouth, and beyond — with certified home health aides, companion care, dementia care, post-surgical support, and 24/7 live-in coverage. Private pay and private insurance only.

According to 24 Hour Home Care NJ, the families who do best in the next year are the ones who stop waiting for a policy fix and start building a real care team around their loved one now. That’s what we help you do.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the $100 million funding shift affect my parent’s home care right now?

If your parent is on NJ FamilyCare MLTSS or a state-funded waiver, potentially yes — through longer waits and reduced hours. If you’re using private pay or long-term care insurance through an agency like 24HCNJ, no. Your care is not tied to that state budget line. Call (908) 912-6342 to review your options.

Do you accept Medicaid or Medicare?

No. 24 Hour Home Care NJ is private pay and private insurance only, including most long-term care insurance policies. If you’re waiting on Medicaid MLTSS approval and need care today, we can start immediately at private rate and help you plan the transition when state benefits activate.

How fast can you start care in New Jersey?

For most cases, we can complete the RN assessment within 24 to 48 hours and have a certified home health aide in the home shortly after. Hospital discharges and urgent situations are prioritized. Call (908) 912-6342 and tell us the timeline.

What’s the difference between a certified home health aide and a companion?

A certified home health aide (CHHA) is trained and state-certified to help with bathing, dressing, transfers, toileting, medication reminders, and hands-on personal care. A companion provides supervision, conversation, meals, and light housekeeping but does not do hands-on personal care. Sofia’s RN team helps you pick the right level.

Can you help my parent use “age tech” like medical alerts and remote monitoring?

Yes. Our aides are trained to work alongside fall-detection pendants, medication dispensers, video check-in devices, and remote patient monitoring your doctor may have ordered. Tech doesn’t replace a caregiver — it makes a good caregiver more effective.

Talk to Sofia

New Jersey home care is changing fast. Funding is under pressure, the caregiver workforce is tight, and the families who plan early get the best aides. If you have questions about care for a loved one anywhere in NJ, call (908) 912-6342. I’ll pick up, or one of my nurses will. No pressure, no scripts — just a real plan.