Monthly Archive for July, 2009

Senator Casey with direct-care workers at the annual conference

On July 24, Tracy Lawless, Pennsylvania Campaign Coordinator for HCHCW, participated in a 12-person roundtable discussion sponsored by Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey.  Along with Lawless, representatives from the medical profession, the insurance industry, women’s health organizations, and small business were present to discuss quality affordable health care in America. 

Perhaps no profession has been affected more than the nation’s direct-care workers by the failures of America’s health care system. Currently, only four out of ten home and community-based workers are covered by their employers, and nearly 30 percent lack health coverage of any kind.  Recent studies show that because workers often cannot access coverage through their jobs, the direct care workforce has been shrinking at a time when we need more long-term caregivers than ever before.

“Currently, more than three million direct-care workers care for America’s elders and people with disabilities.  That number is expected to reach four million by 2016,” said Lawless.  “Without real health care reform, America will not have the long-term caregivers we will need in the very near future.”

Typically, members of this workforce make only $17,000 a year, making it difficult to afford current premiums.  Many also suffer from chronic health conditions due to the physical nature of the job, causing long-term care employers to pay high premiums as a “high risk” industry.  Further, these health conditions often require regular prescriptions and treatments.

To that end, Lawless is advocating for coverage that is affordable, excludes risk rating, and incorporates comprehensive benefits and easy enrollment.

“If we can make this health care reform initiative work for the nation’s three million direct care workers,” Lawless said, “it will work for all Americans.”

Allison Lee
National Campaign Manager
HCHCW
alee@phinational.org

US Capitol

THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW

Tell your representative that we need health reform that works for the direct-care workforce NOW!

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on health care reform this week and many Democratic and Republican members are still on the fence.

Call 1-877-264-HCAN (4226) to be connected directly to your representative’s office.

We’ve heard reports that calls against reform are outnumbering calls for reform by three to one. Don’t let your voice go unheard. Call today!

A quote from President Obama:

“This isn’t about me. I have great health insurance, and so does every Member of Congress. This debate is about the letters I read when I sit in the Oval Office every day, and the stories I hear at town hall meetings.

This is about the woman in Colorado who paid $700 a month to her insurance company only to find out that they wouldn’t pay a dime for her cancer treatment – who had to use up her retirement funds to save her own life. This is about the middle-class college graduate from Maryland whose health insurance expired when he changed jobs, and woke up from emergency surgery with $10,000 in debt.

This is about every family, every business, and every taxpayer who continues to shoulder the burden of a problem that Washington has failed to solve for decades.”

- President Barack Obama, Press Conference, July 22, 2009

Last week we asked you to join other advocates in calling your U.S. representatives and senators to ask them to support health reform that ensures affordable quality health care for all Americans.   Over 7,000 calls were generated making a great impact on members and staff.  In addition, MoveOn.org delivered 153,000 petition signatures in support of a public health insurance plan to district offices in 46 states.

If you participated and were able to talk to your member of Congress or their staff about health reform and direct-care worker issues, we’d love to hear your experience.  Please email Allison Lee at alee@phinational.org to share your feedback.

Allison Lee
National Campaign Manager
HCHCW
alee@phinational.org

On Tuesday, the three House Committees – Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor – introduced the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009  nearly one month after putting out their discussion draft for input and review. 

The Committees have released the full bill, a section by section summary, and a document that summarizes the changes that have been made to the June draft. 

“We are pleased that the House is taking the lead on getting legislation passed that will ensure all families have access to affordable, secure health coverage,” said Carol Regan, PHI Government Affairs Director.

In addition to the key coverage provisions, the June draft also addressed areas such as the public health workforce and long-term care services and supports, which will also affect access and quality.  PHI will be working on an analysis of these and other key bill provisions.

Carol Regan
Director
HCHCW and PHI Government Affairs
cregan@phinational.org

“It is a simple fact.  Access to coverage does not equal access to care,” wrote John Hale, Policy Director for the Iowa CareGivers Association, an HCHCW partner, in a Des Moines Register guest editorial about national health reform.  “Not unless legislation also addresses an emerging crisis: a worker shortage in many parts of the health and long-term care work force.”

The shortage is particularly critical in the long-term care sector where 1 million direct-care workers nationawide are needed over the next decade.

In his editorial, Hale applauds Iowa for leading the nation in establishing comprehensive solutions to addressing the shortages.  A newly created Health and Long-Term Care Advisory Council has been tasked with documenting and addressing both the existing and emerging shortages.

“Iowa is doing it right but it can’t do it alone,” wrote Hale. “Federal action is needed.”

Hale provided a “to do” list for the federal government that included:

• Thoroughly documenting the extent of the problem.  In the case of direct-care workers, state data on the workforce is either in complete or non-existent
• Focus on expanding capacity to train more medical professionals, providing scholarships and loan-repayment, mentoring programs and career ladders
• Enhance Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates to allow physicians, nurses and direct-care workers to be compensated appropriately

“The most important thing for the federal government to do is give this looming crisis the sense of urgency it deserves and provide funds to the states to allow them to act,” said Hale.

“The health-care-reform bills being considered in Congress are an opportunity to deal proactively with the health- and long-term-care work force that each of us depends on. It’s an opportunity that Congress and the president should seize.”

Allison Lee
National Campaign Manager
HCHCW
alee@phinational.org

“Quality jobs and a living wage are imperative to ensuring that aging and disabled Pennsylvanians receive quality care,” wrote Tracy Lawless, HCHCW PA Campaign Coordinator, in a letter to the editor published on Monday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“Current research shows that direct-care workers, although they love the work they do, are leaving the industry due to unfair wages and, particularly, a lack of health coverage. Direct-care workers are being forced to decide between caring for our most vulnerable population and caring for themselves and their families.” Continue reading ‘Letter to the Editor Highlights the Needs of Caregivers’

According to the newly-released 2008 Vermont Household Health Insurance Survey, the cost of health insurance premiums is the single biggest barrier to obtaining coverage.  Two-thirds of the uninsured who responded to the survey said cost was the only reason they didn’t have coverage, and another 21 percent said cost was one of the main reasons. Continue reading ‘Vermont Report Highlights the Issue of Affordability’

Congressman Jason Altmire and Tracy Lawless, HCHCW PA

On June 29, Congressman Jason Altmire held a meeting of his Health Care Advisory Board to discuss comprehensive health care reform. Currently, three House committees (Ways and Means; Energy and Commerce; Education and Labor) are focusing on legislation to develop quality affordable health care for all Americans while controlling health care cost growth. Continue reading ‘HCHCW PA Weighs in on Federal Health Reform’