Last week, Health Care for Health Care Workers (HCHCW) staff and other PHI employees met with ten long-term care employers (pictured) in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The goal of the meeting was to familiarize providers in the region about PHI’s Nine Elements of a Quality Job and its HCHCW campaign.
The longterm goal of this outreach is to help group members become leaders in advocating for issues surrounding long-term care and the direct-care workforce — and familiarize them with PHI as a resource on health care and training programs.
At the beginning of the day, providers shared their public policy and advocacy experiences. Some had a great deal of experience in advocating around licensing, culture change, women’s issues, or patient rights, while others had never engaged in advocacy.
Then they discussed their concerns about the direct-care workforce. Most expressed dismay at being unable to raise wages or provide benefits because it is not affordable. In addition, some expressed concern about the work ethic of younger employees, while others said we need to do more to honor and value direct-care workers. There was also a discussion about inconsistent hours and inconsistent funding sources.
Continue reading ‘HCHCW Convenes SW PA Employers for Advocacy, Action’
When the General Assembly reconvenes the last week in September, four important pieces of business relating to health care, which were left unfinished when the legislators headed home for the summer, will be at the top of the agenda. Between now and then, we want your help engaging Pennsylvania’s direct-care workers in this debate.
The four issues:
- Health insurance for the uninsured;
- Health insurance market reform for small businesses and individuals;
- Reauthorization of the PA Health Care Cost Containment Council, the agency that assesses data like the cost and quality of health care; and
- Malpractice insurance premium reductions for hospitals and doctors
The four were not addressed because Senate leaders kept SB 1137, PA- Access to Basic Care, bottled up for three months in the Senate committee that allows bills to come up for a vote. PA-ABC, as it is called, would provide affordable health care coverage – including prescription drug and behavioral health care – for uninsured Pennsylvanians. It was passed by the House in March. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee finally held a hearing on the bill in June, but no further action was taken.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans unveiled an outline of an entirely different health care plan built around free medical care, volunteer doctors, and tax credits and grants for community health clinics. That plan, known as Health Net, would do little to help cover the uninsured. It would also be difficult to implement, since its success would depend on being able to serving the uninsured with volunteers and extend existing COBRA plans. It also calls for providing a few thousand people in a very high risk pool with minimal coverage for $10 million — an optimistic goal, since this would be an extremely costly group to insure.
Continue reading ‘Pennsylvania Has Unfinished Business on Health Care’
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.
Recent Comments