Nearly one in five of Pennsylvania’s non-elderly residents – about 2.2 million people – will pay more than 10 percent of their income for health care next year, according to a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The story is based on a November 28 Families USA report on the rapid rise of health care costs.Having health insurance is no guarantee of low health care costs. Of those 2.2 million, nearly nine in ten – 87.1 percent – have insurance. But the cost of premiums and co-payments is skyrocketing. According to another report, the article notes, the cost of employer-provided health insurance premiums for family coverage rose from $6,721 to $11,801 between 2000 and 2006.
The Families USA report reinforces what state policymakers have been seeing, according to Ann Torregrossa, policy director for the Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform. “We have a train wreck that’s happening as we speak,” she told the Post-Gazette. “It’s a totally unsustainable situation that dictates immediate action by both the state and federal government.”
After being kept alive with the help of Maine PASA (see below), LD 1687 was considered by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee on October 30. Committee members voiced considerable support for improving compensation for direct-care workers, but the state’s revenue situation remains gloomy, with significant revenue shortfalls forecast for 2008.
As a result, the Direct Care Worker Coalition recommended removing the MaineCare demonstration program, which was not likely to be recommended for funding, and asking the Insurance and Financial Services (IFS) Committee to conduct a hearing on the Dirigo Health proposals in the bill next session. These proposals also require funding subsidies for low-income direct-care workers, but they may be considered as part of the larger debate on continuing Dirigo Health funding.
Key members off the IFS committee have expressed their support for the bill, and several HHS committee members have agreed to testify before the IFS committee in favor of the Dirigo revisions. The Direct Care Worker Coalition is now planning its advocacy work with the IFS committee and other members of the legislature when they convene in January.
The House Insurance Committee today considered two bills aimed at reforming the small group insurance market. Both would require all insurers to develop a standard benefit plan for small groups.HB 1601 is part of Governor Ed Rendell’s Prescription for Pennsylvania proposal. It would require insurers who offer health plans to employees of small businesses to establish community rates “without regard to health status, occupation, or any other factor.” It would also forbid insurers to charge anyone a rate that is more than 33 percent above or below the community rate.
HB 2005, introduced by Rep. Tony DeLuca (D-Allegheny), would require insurers that control less than 10 percent of the market to establish a base rate and to charge no more than 50 percent above or below the community rate. The bill, which was voted out of committee and re-committed to the appropriations committee, would also require insurers to provide coverage to children up through age 29.
Businesses in and around Pennsylvania sent the committee a letter (doc) in support of the bills. Health Care for Health Care Workers’ Tracy Lawless and Simone Baer solicited signatures from a number of long-term care providers who struggle to provide health insurance to direct-care workers.
The PHI Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign is part of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN), a group formed this year to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to advocate for improved access to health care in Pennsylvania.PHAN is forming regional coalitions throughout the state. Its members include advocates from non-profit organizations, retirees, long-term care and direct-care workers, labor representatives, small business owners, uninsured and underinsured consumers, and religious and spiritual leaders.
PHAN coalitions currently exist in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and new groups are being formed in Erie, Warren County, Jefferson County (Punxsutawney area), and the State College, Wilkes Barre, and Schuylkill areas. The goal of the coalitions is to advocate for meaningful health care reform and to educate the public in an attempt to mend the state’s broken health care system.
If you are interested in joining a coalition or learning more about health care reform in Pennsylvania, please contact Simone Baer at (412) 450 8080 or by email at sbaer@phinational.org.
The Pennsylvania Direct Care Workers Association held its fourth annual conference in Harrisburg this month. More than 200 personal care attendants and nursing assistants attended, participating in advocacy workshops and educational sessions. U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey addressed the workers in his plenary session, applauding their dedication to the work they do. The senator called direct-care workers “beacons of light” for people who need long-term care and their families, offering numerous examples of how direct-care workers helped his family when his father was ill.
Casey emphasized that direct-care workers have the power to make change in Washington and suggested that Congress needs to hear from the frontline workers about the care they provide and how cuts in Medicaid will impact the quality of that care.
Direct-care workers honed their advocacy skills at a workshop sponsored by Health Care for Health Care Workers during the Pennsylvania Direct Care Workers Association’s annual conference in Harrisburg earlier this month. Legislative staff, lobbyists, and public relations and media specialists offered practical advice on how to meet with and write to legislators. Workshop participants completed a mock visit to their legislators and drafted letters to their legislators and their local newspaper editors. More than 200 personal care attendants and nursing assistants attended the conference.
For information on how you can advocate for health care coverage for direct-care workers, please contact Health Care for Health Care Workers’ Tracy Lawless at 724-933-6164 or tlawless@PHInational.org.
After Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee referred to nursing assistant work as “emptying a bedpan” during a discussion of criminal background checks, the ICA sent Governor Huckabee a letter objecting to that characterization. “We wonder whether you know how difficult it is to get talented people to enter and stay in this profession,” the letter asks. “Do you know that 25% of certified nurse aides in Iowa have no health insurance? Do you know how we struggle to make ends meet because of low pay? Do you know that turnover in many of these jobs is running over 70% annually? Do you know that ‘being looked down upon’ and not being respected is a big factor in people leaving the occupation?”
The ICA also sent the letter to the news media and all the other candidates then blanketing Iowa in the lead-up to the January 3 caucuses. Several media outlets picked up the story, including TV news stations KCCI and WHO in Des Moines.
“Having been a nurse aide in the past, I have emptied many bedpans, and quite frankly I believe it to be one of the most compassionate acts of caring that one can do!” said ICA Executive Director Di Findley in a January 2 email about the letter. “And while I realize that we may all say things off the cuff, this truly is an opportunity for us to educate the candidates and others.”
Findley also called on fellow advocates to contact Huckabee’s campaign headquarters and “ask him to publicly respond to our request for an apology to the three million direct care workers in the country.”
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