To ensure quality care for ourselves, our caregivers must have coverage.
HealthReform.gov has published state-by-state reports about how health reform will benefit you and others living in your state.
The new fact sheets include information about the uninsurance rate, who will be helped by reform, and how reform will help you.
Visist www.healthreform.gov to access information about your state.
Allison Lee
National Campaign Manager
HCHCW
alee@phinational.org
I know that most of us can’t visit our members of Congress in Washington, or drop by their local state office to add our voices in support of health reform. But we can sign a petition to let them know we expect real change in our health care system.
Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, has a simple petition that will be delivered to our own lawmakers in their district offices urging them to give all Americans access to affordable, reliable health coverage. Members of Congress give themselves good health coverage – it’s time they hear from those who don’t get the same opportunity!
On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of direct-care workers who lack coverage, please add your name to this petition. Just go to www.PrescriptionforChange.org and add your signature so you can get get heard in support of health reform.
Thank you!
Allison Lee
National Campaign Manager
HCHCW
alee@phinational.org
Bill Woody
“As a home care employer in Montana and seven other states I know that providing an adequate compensation package that includes affordable health insurance is a critical component in attracting and keeping high quality workers – the kind of workers that all of us would want to help us should we find ourselves in need of care,” wrote Bill Woody, President and CEO of Consumer Direct Personal Care and Nightingale Nursing, in a guest column published in the Montana Missoulian over the weekend.
“Unfortunately, all too often the workers that so many of us depend on for care are without insurance themselves and have no way to pay for their own medical services should they need them.” Continue reading ‘Reform Must Work for Long-Term Care Employers’
Cindy Ramer poses for The Courier with a picture of her and her late husband, Jim Ramer, at her home in Denver on Sept. 4, 2009. (RICK TIBBOTT / Courier Staff Photographer)
Cindy Ramer, a certified nursing assistant in Denver, Iowa, “lives a precarious existence for one simple reason: for more than 20 years she has not been able to afford quality health care, “ wrote the Waterloo Courier in a profile on Ramer published earlier this month.
Ramer, who declared bankruptcy due to medical debt from her late husband’s illness, lives in constant fear of getting sick. “I worry about it,” she said. “I hope my health doesn’t get bad.”
Ramer works nights and weekends as a CNA taking care of those whose health requires that they need Ramer’s care. Yet she goes without health insurance herself because her employer has a difficult time finding health insurance that is affordable for both the employees and employer.
Becky Lohrbach, Ramer’s employer’s benefits manager, explained, “It becomes very difficult to be able to meet the participation requirements that the insurance companies have set up to even have a group plan,” she said. Many of the workers at Ramer’s agency either use their spouses insurance or are eligible for Medicaid or Medicare.
It is not that Ramer doesn’t want insurance or is unwilling to pay for it. She simple wants to be able to buy insurance that she can afford and that will cover her medical needs. Until that day arrives, Ramer is dedicated to telling her story and advocating for state and federal reform that works for direct-care workers.
Allison Lee
National Campaign Manager
HCHCW
alee@phinational.org
Looking for more information on national reform? Visit HCHCW’s Health Reform Resource Center for legislation, fact sheets, and organizations. Get armed with the facts and spread the word that Congress must take action this fall.
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