A testimonial by Brenda N., a hospice nurse aide in Pennsylvania:
I have health insurance; I wouldn’t work for anyplace that didn’t offer it. But my out-of pocket costs are very, very high and rising. I contribute $65 every two weeks, plus $20 co-pays, a percentage of prescriptions, and a yearly deductible of $400. All of these costs are about to go up, but my pay isn’t going up.
My hourly rate is $12 per hour, but after my health insurance expenses, I’m at the poverty level. After I pay my bills, I have only five to ten dollars left per month. I have to work a second job to make ends meet.
A testimonial by Cheryl D., a home care consumer in Pennsylvania:
At the age of 14, a cardiac arrest left my son Renzo with a severe anoxic brain injury. For the last seven years, he has been completely dependent on the help of direct-care workers. I pay at the higher end of the wage scale ($10.50 – $15 per hour), but I can’t afford health benefits for his workers. Continue reading ‘Turnover Makes Care Difficult’
A testimonial by Lori M., a home care agency executive director from Pennsylvania:
The first time I tried offering health insurance to retain some of our workers, it didn’t work.
We went through a cafeteria style policy. The price depended on age, medical condition and what they chose to have as coverage. I don’t know what coverage they took. I paid $1.15 of the premiums cost for every hour worked per month, plus the $120 sign-up fee. Continue reading ‘Often Short-Staffed Because of High Turnover’
A testimonial by Joan D., a home care agency owner in Maine:
I know that providing health insurance would help me retain workers. One of my full-time aides who needed coverage prompted my search for insurance by letting me know she would have to seek employment elsewhere if I was unable to offer it in the near future.
The instability of hours is the biggest challenge for direct care workers: if I don’t have work for them, I can’t afford to pay their health insurance. What we really need in this industry is to make health benefits portable, so they can move with them as they move from agency to agency.
A testimonial from Tina, a home care worker in Maine:
My name is Tina, and I provide home based care for Eunice from 10 at night until 7 in the morning. Then, from 8 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon I go to my other job at a developmental disability agency in town. Continue reading ‘I Can’t Afford to Get the Care I Need’
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