Health Care for Health Care Workers

The National Nursing Assistant Survey (NNAS) is the first national study of nursing assistants working in nursing facilities in the United States. About 5,000 nursing assistants were chosen for the NNAS from about 800 nursing homes across the country.  NNAS was conducted as a telephone interview with a sample of workers who provide care to nursing home residents.

The survey included information on whether workers plan to continue working in their present positions and what factors affect their decisions, including job satisfaction, nature of the work environment, training, advancement opportunities, benefits, working conditions, and personal or family demands.

HCHCW reviewed tables[1] on health insurance benefits available on the website and found the following:

• Nearly 16% of nursing assistants have no insurance coverage.
• 89.7% were offered health insurance from their employer; 9.0% were not (1.4% unknown)
• Nearly one in four nurse aides (23.2%) are receiving some type of government health plan (Medicare, Medicaid or other)
• The offering of coverage varied slightly by the affiliation of facility - 91.2% working for chains were offered coverage compared to 87.9% working for independent facilities, and by ownership - 87.3% of those working for proprietary homes, 92.7% working for voluntary non-profit homes and 94.0% working for government or other facilities.
• For all facilities, only 54% of those offered coverage enrolled in the coverage. Enrollment was higher in the northeast - 67.4%, for those working for independent facilities - 59.9%, and for those working for voluntary non-profit and government facilities - 63.1% and 71.8% respectively.

In-depth analyses on different topics are underway by researchers and we can expect to report on those studies in the months ahead.

Carol Regan
Director
Health Care for Health Care Workers
cregan@phinational.org