On June 12, Tracy Lawless and Simone Baer of HCHCW PA spoke at the Consumers Union’s Cover America Tour press event in Pittsburgh. The two discussed the need for affordable health care for direct-care workers — and all Pennsylvanians.
Tracy spoke (pdf) about the role health care coverage for direct-care workers plays in providing quality care for America’s greatest generation. “It has been shown before that affordable health care is key to keeping direct-care workers in their jobs,” she says. “This retention is critical to consistency of care. Continue reading ‘HCHCW PA Joins the Consumers Union Cover America Tour’
On May 13, Iowa Governor Chet Culver (pictured) signed HF 2539, a new law that will have a dramatic and lasting impact on the direct-care workforce. The bill, whose intent is to “progress toward achievement of the goal that all Iowans have health care coverage,” includes several clauses specific to direct-care workers.
This dramatic success flows from years of work on the part of Di Findley, the founder and executive director of the Iowa CareGivers Association, as well as extensive advocacy efforts by direct-care workers and their supporters. Lots of seeds have been planted over the years. This year, we had the opportunity to see them grow and bear fruit.
Being part of the Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign was also of great importance to the legislative effort. The activities of HCHCW – the research that’s been done, the publications that have been prepared, the ideas that we gained, and the help that was provided — were critical to our work.
With health care a top issue for American voters, advocates for better coverage for direct-care workers can sometimes join in a national conversation, delivering their message to a wide audience. HCHCW national director Carol Regan took that opportunity when the people at the Fairness Initiative on Low-Wage Work asked her to do this podcast.
In the podcast, Carol discusses The Invisible Care Gap: Caregivers without Health Coverage, a May 2008 HCHCW report that examines the health insurance status of our nation’s caregiving workforce. She also talks about how that health care crisis affects long-term care recipients.
On June 17, the first meeting of the summer working group organized by Maine Superintendent of Insurance Mila Kofman was convened. The working group was established to look into how affordable health coverage can be made available to all of Maine’s direct-care workforce.
The first meeting was a useful start. A somewhat formal set of introductory remarks set out the scope and intent of the summer’s discussions. The meeting was attended by several members of the Direct Care Worker Coalition (DCWC), including Helen Hanson, Joyce Gagnon, Mollie Baldwin, and me. There were also representatives from Harvard Pilgrim, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, MaineCare/DHHS, Dirigo Health, and the Governor’s Office (Karynlee Harrington and Trish Riley), as well as five or six members of the Bureau of Insurance (BOI) staff.
Senator Sullivan of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee and Representative Campbell of the Health and Human Services Committee also attended, both speaking at length and in strong support of direct-care workers and the need to find a real solution to the question of affordable coverage. Continue reading ‘Maine Seeks New Solutions to Health Care Coverage for Workers’
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As part of HCHCW-PA’s efforts on behalf of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, Tracy Lawless participated in a radio interview that aired on WCNS 1480 AM on June 14. Tracy and her colleague at the Consumer Health Coalition answered questions about the current health care reform legislation taking place in the Commonwealth.
The bill would cover more than 250,000 of Pennsylvania’s uninsured. It would also include a prescription drug and behavioral health coverage.
WCNS was picked to air the discussion because it is in a part of Westmoreland County whose state senator has not committed to supporting the bill.
Tracy talked about how this bill would help direct-care workers, mentioning the many issues that make that workforce particularly vulnerable, including low wages, lack of health care benefits, and high on-the-job injury rates. At the beginning and end of the broadcast, ads encouraged listeners to contact their state senator and urge him to support the health care bill.
Mai Duong, 53, came to the United States from Vietnam 18 years ago. Soon after she arrived, she started working in a gift shop. Then her mother suffered a stroke that left her housebound and Mai left her job to become her mother’s caretaker, in accordance with Vietnamese tradition.
After leaving her job, Mai was eligible for some cash benefits and health coverage through Pennsylvania’s welfare system. For over ten years, mother and daughter lived quietly on subsistence in a one-floor apartment on Old York Road. Mai helps her mother with daily activities like bathing, prepares her meals, and takes her to her many doctors’ appointments. She also collaborates with her mother’s doctors on things like coordinating her mother’s pacemaker with the telephone so her doctors can monitor her health via the Internet. Continue reading ‘A Daughter’s Sacrifice’
Harrisburg, PA — Pennsylvania Direct Care Worker, Karen Goroncy, who has accrued thousands of dollars in medical debt because of lack of health care coverage, participated in an advocacy day in the state capitol on June 3rd. Karen explained to her State Senator that if she has to call off of work because she is too sick, “my client can’t get out of bed in the morning, cannot eat or even bath themselves.”
Karen participated as part of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network’s effort to pass Senate Bill 1137 (PA-Access to Basic Care) which would work to cover more than 270,000 of Pennsylvania’s uninsured. In addition to doctors visits and other basic care, the PA- ABC bill would also provide prescription drug and behavioral health coverage.
Later that afternoon Karen participated in a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda with state Senator’s Costa and Hughes. The Senators called for Senate leadership to discharge the bill from committee and bring it to the floor for a vote.
New York state has been “a national leader” in expanding health care coverage for home care aides and other workers, yet 30 percent of its home care workers lack insurance according to a fact sheet from PHI’s Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign.
Caregivers Without Coverage focuses on home care workers because they are the largest and fastest-growing segment of the state’s direct-care worker population. It explains the conditions contributing to the high rate of uninsurance among direct-care workers, including low wages that make it difficult to afford premiums and copays.
Among the facts it presents:
One in seven low-income workers in New York City is employed as a home care worker;
Starting wages for home health aides are just $7.50 - $8 an hour in New York City, though its cost of living is one of the highest in the nation; and
The statewide median hourly wage for home care workers is $9.74 an hour, compared to $16.91 for all workers.
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