Linda Holden, Family Caregiver, East Haven, Vermont
Linda Holden of East Haven, Vermont, knows how lucky she is to have the government-sponsored program called Green Mountain Care. Linda was able to secure health coverage for herself at a cost she could afford. But it wasn’t always this way.
“When my husband was stricken with a debilitating stroke eight years ago, I had to leave my job in the school district and care for him full-time,” Linda said. “Up until then I always had employer coverage, and at the time wasn’t really thinking about the effect that leaving my job — and the health insurance it provided — would have on my life.”
Although she was eligible to receive some compensation for the home care services she was providing through Vermont’s Attendant Services Program, Linda couldn’t afford either the COBRA plan available to her — nearly $700 per month — or individual private coverage. She tried a private health discount program, but doctors didn’t recognize it. Until she found Green Mountain Care and its Catamount Health plan, she really didn’t have any viable health insurance options.
“I know I’m lucky,” Linda said. “But I also know that a strong public option that’s affordable for low- and moderate-income people in Vermont isn’t available to most people living in the rest of our nation. Coverage that’s affordable: that’s all Americans are looking for.”
Public Insurance You Can Count On
Many direct-care workers share Linda’s experience with private insurance. It can be too expensive, unreliable — and the types that are affordable don’t really provide coverage. That’s why Congress needs to ensure that, like in Vermont, a public health insurance plan is available to all Americans.
- Choice. A public plan provides choice, competition, and an alternative to private insurance that is fully accountable.
- Affordability. Research shows that a public plan could provide more affordable coverage through savings from lower administrative costs and innovative payment methods.
- Access. A public plan — like Medicaid — could fill important gaps for direct-care workers and other low-income Americans without employer-sponsored insurance. Four out of ten direct-care workers live in households that rely on public benefits to make ends meet. Without Medicaid, the number of uninsured direct-care workers — currently nearly 30 percent — would be even higher.
Lower costs, more choices, and affordable coverage: that’s all that most Americans are looking for.
The PHI Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign urges Congress to:
- Include a public health insurance option, make it available nationwide on day one, offer it inside and outside a proposed national insurance exchange, and give it the authority to establish rates that pay providers fairly.
- Support the House provision that would extend Medicaid coverage to those with incomes up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level (or $27,465 for a family of three).
By 2016, direct-care workers will number 4 million, America’s single largest occupation. Health care reform that is good for direct-care workers is good for America.
For more information, contact:
Carol Regan, PHI Government Affairs Director, 202.223.8355, cregan@PHInational.org
Steve Edelstein, PHI National Policy Director, 718.402.7413, sedelstein@PHInational.org
Also see PHI PolicyWorks, our policy website.
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