Last year, the PHI Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign in Pennsylvania amplified direct-care worker voices in the debate over health care reform by joining a new statewide coalition. That amplification got a boost today when the coalition received a major grant.
The Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN) has been awarded a $750,000, three-year grant by the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation and Community Catalyst. The Consumer Voices for Coverage grant will provide technical and financial assistance to help PHAN create a robust advocacy network.
“There is tremendous momentum in the states for implementing effective health care reform,” says RWJ President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey in a PHAN press release (doc). “We know from experience that the voices of consumers – the men and women who work hard each day to support their families – are often the most effective in driving necessary change.”
PHAN works to protect high quality health insurance coverage for individuals and businesses, and to expand coverage to the uninsured. Its partners include PHI, the Philadelphia Unemployment Project (PUP)/Unemployment Information Center, Pennsylvania Health Law Project, the Consumer Health Coalition of Pittsburgh, the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania, the Service Employees International Union, the City of Philadelphia Office of Consumer Affairs, the Keystone Development Partnership, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, and the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1776.
PHAN says it will use the grant money “to promote change at the state and national level by mobilizing affected constituencies, including consumers, health care providers, business, labor, the faith community and the general public to press for a more accessible and affordable health care system.”
Included in that mobilization will be direct-care workers, their employers, and the people they assist. “This grant will allow the Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign to further our advocacy so that direct-care workers in Pennsylvania can get the health care coverage they need,” says Health Care for Health Care Workers Pennsylvania State Campaign Coordinator Tracy Lawless. “Working with our partners at PHAN will allow the direct-care workforce to have a voice at the larger, statewide advocacy table.”
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