Health Care for Health Care Workers

A testimonial by Helen Hanson, a home care worker in Maine.

I am Helen Hanson, a direct-care worker with Home Care for Maine. I have been working at my home care job for five years. I help keep elderly folk living in their homes. I help them with grocery shopping, taking them to medical appointments, to the bank, getting errands done. I help them keep their homes clean and tidy. I also help them with personal care like bathing and dressing.

They look forward to my visits every week. I look forward to seeing them too. I enjoy their company and I enjoy this job.

As a direct-care worker, I do not make tons of money. There’s no paid sick time, paid vacations, or paid holidays. Most important, there’s no health insurance.

When I took this job, I had health care coverage through my husband. Circumstances changed, and we now buy our own catastrophic coverage. It doesn’t pay much and is very expensive — $300 per month, with a $10,000 annual deductible per family member. The way I see it, we won’t lose our home if one of us should become very sick. We won’t have to file bankruptcy to pay our medical bills.

I’ve lived with the threat of cancer all my life.

I am now 43, just a bit older than my mom was when she died of breast cancer. Since November 2007, I have had three abdominal ultrasounds and my annual mammogram - all screenings to detect cancer. The cost of these screenings plus the doctors’ consultations and visits is over $3,000. All of this is out-of-pocket cost to me.

I am very healthy and grateful that I’m so far cancer free. If one of my doctors should tell me that I have cancer, I will have to leave this job in search of one with health insurance. That would mean that the three consumers I have would be out of a worker until another worker could be found – if one would be found at all.

If I was in the position I’m in now back when I took this job, I would not have been able to take it. What keeps me at it is the fact that I’m helping someone in need. There’s something to be said for that. I enjoy what I do a lot. It is more than cleaning for someone; it is the satisfaction of knowing I’m making a difference for them.

But Maine’s direct-care workers need health insurance. Our disabled and elderly folk rely on the quality care that direct-care workers provide. As the number of folks needing assistance increases, where are the workers coming from? Right now, people needing assistance are on waiting lists.

Why is there a shortage of workers? Why is there such a turnover in workers? Low pay and no health care insurance are part of the answer.

If better wages and health insurance were in the picture, maybe direct-care workers would or could afford to stay at their jobs. Maybe younger people looking into the health care field would think about direct care as an opportunity.

It is hard on low wages to pay for the things you need, such as oil to heat your home, food to feed your family, and routine check-ups and yearly medical exams to help keep you healthy.

I know there’s a lot of work ahead in order to obtain health insurance for direct-care workers. I come before you today in an effort to educate you on this very important issue.

Thank you for listening to my story.

Helen has shared her story many times, including testifying in front of Maine’s Insurance and Financial Services Committee in support of LD 1687 this past winter.  She is also an active member of the workgroup convened this summer by the Maine Superintendent of Insurance to address health care coverage for direct-care workers.

Helen is also president of Local 771 of the Maine State Employees Association’s direct-care worker union, representing 1,700 fellow direct-care workers.

The blog she maintainsfor the union has a strong focus on healthcare for health care workers.