National Call-In Day TODAY!

Dear Direct-Care Workforce Advocates:

Some opponents of health reform would like us to think that last week’s election in Massachusetts signals the demise of national reform. While the number of Democrats in the Senate may have changed, unfortunately nothing has changed for the 800,000 direct-care workers that today have no health insurance coverage. Our message back to our elected officials must be, “We can’t wait. Finish the job now and do it right: for quality, affordable health care for all American families.”

Nothing has changed for Cindy Ramer, a certified nurse’s aide from Iowa. Cindy is still unable to afford her employers’ coverage, and because she has a “pre-existing condition,” she is priced out of affordable coverage in the private market. Cindy can’t wait for reform.

Today PHI Health Care for Health Care Workers is participating in a national call-in day to let our elected leaders know that Cindy and hundreds of thousands of direct-care workers have been waiting long enough. These workers, mainly women, provide services and supports every day to millions of elders and persons with disabilities, earning wages that are often too low to afford insurance when it is offered to them. Yet they are the backbone of our long-term services and supports system.

Eldercare and disability services employ 3.2 million workers, and that workforce needs to grow by another 1.1 million in the next 8 years to meet consumer needs. Jobs without health coverage will not attract the new workers this country is depending on.

Now is the time to get the job done.