“I feel glad it’s come to everybody’s attention; people are supposed to get paid when they work.”

This is where it started, 2007:

The United States Supreme Court ruled yesterday against a home care aide from Queens and upheld federal regulations that exempt most home care workers from minimum-wage and overtime protections.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he would seek to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure that home aides were protected. He said the court decision highlighted “a significant gap in the protections of our laws,” and added that he would work with his colleagues “on a fair solution that treats these hardworking caregivers with the dignity and respect they deserve”.

We first looked at this fight in 2011.

Today:

The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was extending minimum wage and overtime protections to the nation’s nearly two million home care workers.
Advocates for low-wage workers have pushed for this change, asserting that home care workers, who care for elderly and disabled Americans, were wrongly classified into the same “companionship services” category as baby sitters — a group that is exempt from minimum wage and overtime coverage. Under the new rule, home care aides, unlike baby sitters, would be protected under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the nation’s main wage and hour law.
In an unusual move, the administration said the new regulation would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2015, even though regulations often take effect 60 days after being issued. The delay until 2015 is to give families that use these attendants, as well as state Medicaid programs, time to prepare for the new rule.
“We think the workers providing this critical work should be receiving the same basic protection and coverage as the vast majority of American workers,” said Laura Fortman, deputy administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division.

The White House said 92 percent of these workers were women

Saving us all from the threat of health insurance

Good for her for keeping Medicaid expansion in the news:

Democratic Sen. Capri Cafaro unveiled during a Tuesday news conference the latest legislative measure aimed at reforming and expanding Medicaid in Ohio. And while Cafaro’s proposal included some new policy, the senator focused mostly on trying to dispel a central Republican complaint — Medicaid expansion would siphon money from state coffers. Cafaro argues that expanding Medicaid would save Ohio billions.
The Northeast Ohio senator provided an analysis of Medicaid spending by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio and Ohio State University that showed that the state’s Medicaid spending would reach $17.4 billion in 2025 if no expansion is agreed to. Ohio could save up to $3.2 billion during that period if lawmakers pass an expansion, according to the analysis.
The GOP-controlled legislature jettisoned the expansion, and a handful of bills circulating the Statehouse seek to reform or expand the federal program.

Cafaro’s legislation is supported by Senate Democrats. No Republicans have endorsed the measure.
“Given what we have laid out, why would somebody not support this?” Cafaro said. “We’ve taken the cost considerations off the table. We are promoting efficiency, we are promoting shared responsibility by both individuals and providers…and we are covering more people. I’d like to know why somebody would say no.”

We already know why Republicans say no, because the Ohio Tea Party has one issue and that issue is opposition to Obamacare. Without that opposition, the Ohio Tea Party has absolutely nothing to offer or talk about and they go back to being what they were prior to Obamacare – the same old cranky and disgruntled GOP base:

The most outspoken House Republican supporter of Medicaid expansion (not much competition for that distinction) has attracted attention from the Toledo Tea Party, which is actively seeking a candidate to challenge her in the 2014 primary.
Rep. Barbara Sears of Sylvania, a member of the House GOP leadership team and considered one of the most knowledgeable members on Medicaid and health care, has backed Gov. John Kasich’s effort to expand Medicaid to Ohioans making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
The expansion is possible under Obamacare – an association that prompted Tea Party groups in Ohio earlier this year to threaten GOP lawmakers with primary challenges if they support it.
The Toledo Tea Party quotes Linda Bowyer, spokeswoman for Conservative Coalition: “NWOCC supporters are very upset with Rep Sears and her continuing efforts to implement Obamacare Medicaid Expansion.” She added: “We’ve been interviewing candidates throughout northwest Ohio. Our supporters have made it clear to us that we need to support candidates who will actively work to oppose Obamacare, and oppose any candidate that is working to implement Obamacare.”
Sears said she is confident she will prevail in next year’s election. Asked if she knows of any colleagues yet who are facing tea party primary challenges over Medicaid expansion, Sears said there is a reason her name is the only one on the expansion bill.

This probably doesn’t help her any:

considered one of the most knowledgeable members on Medicaid and health care

Oh, definitely get rid of her, then. Cull the knowledgeable members – immediately.