Maryland families who pay relatives as caregivers through the state's self-direction program say planned wage cuts and hour limits would unravel the care they have built. Spotlight on Maryland reporter Brooke Conrad talked with those families for a June 26, 2026 story on FOX45.
Her story centers on Noah Weikert of Frederick, who has worked for three years at Beans & Dreams, a coffee shop that employs people with developmental disabilities. His sister is paid as his job coach.
Families weigh pay and hour cuts
His father, Denny Weikert, told the station the family faces wage cuts on July 1 and hour cuts in September, and does not want to replace relatives who know Noah with outside staff. Other families in the story described the same bind. Connor McNeil's stepsister would no longer be a paid caretaker. Tracey Hove, raising her daughter Jenna, said she stands to lose more than $1,200 a month. She plans to tighten her own budget rather than hire outside workers, after bad experiences with them.
The state's reasoning
Governor Wes Moore proposed the Developmental Disabilities Administration reductions while closing a deficit of more than $1 billion. His office says the cuts are needed to keep the Community Pathways Waiver within federal Medicaid cost-neutrality rules. Spokesperson Ammar Moussa told Spotlight that the deficit was not the reason. The station also reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it had not issued a public notice that the waiver was at risk of ending over those rules.
Why this matters for providers and DSPs
For these families the calendar is the story: lower pay for relatives starting July 1, fewer allowed hours in September, and a choice between absorbing the loss or bringing strangers into the house.
For agencies, the story shows why some families resist replacing paid relatives with outside staff: people who already know the person, and in some cases bad past experiences with outside workers. Providers who may be asked to cover hours that relatives lose should expect that hesitation.