The Maine Bureau of Insurance recently issues its long awaited report Health Insurance Coverage for Maine’s Direct Care Workers (pdf) and recommends the development of a pilot program to cover a segment of the direct-care workforce. The report was the work of a working group convened over the summer by the Superitendent of Insurance at the direction of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee. Several direct care workers, providers and advocates participated in the group. Continue reading ‘Maine Bureau of Insurance Recommends Pilot Program for Health Insurance’
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I hear it all the time when I talk to co-workers. “We need health insurance,” they always say to me. The drawback is the funding. With Maine’s budget the way it is, I honestly will be very surprised to see if the Legislature follows Ms. Kofman’s recommendation on the pilot. But I am hopeful.
The Bureau of Insurance report on options for providing health insurance to Maine’s direct care workers is finally complete and recommends that a pilot program be developed for covering direct care workers in our state. Having been involved in the process of producing the report, I think the recommendation of a pilot is great as it would be a way to show employers and policy makers that health insurance is important to this workforce.
Continue reading ‘My View: Helen Hanson on Advocacy and the Maine Report’
Last Wednesday, the summer working group heard presentations on four models for health care coverage, three for members of a specific workforce and one for employees of small businesses. It also heard an argument for tailoring a health care plan to address obstacles encountered by all low-wage workers, not just one particular workforce.
Continue reading ‘Maine: Coverage Models Presented to Summer Working Group’
At its last meeting, the Direct Care Worker Coalition (DCWC) expressed a desire to return its discussion with the state’s Bureau of Insurance (BOI) to specifics. The goal is to build a better understanding of why this workforce deserves special consideration — and of the challenges the BOI group has to grapple with.
Following up on those wishes, Elise Scala took the initiative to build an agenda, in conjunction with Bureau of Insurance staff, for presentations to the BOI on the direct-care workforce.
Using the full two hours of the latest summer BOI meeting, members of the DCWC presented information on:
- the composition and importance of the direct-care workforce
- the results of various surveys
- the obstacles faced by direct-care workers in obtaining health insurance
- the testimonials of specific providers, consumers, and workers.
Continue reading ‘Maine Worker Coalition Members Make Their Case to the Bureau of Insurance’
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. Continue reading ‘Living With the Threat of Cancer’
Health Care for America Now, a national grassroots campaign seeking to win affordable, quality health care for all Americans, launched on July 8 with events across the country. PHI’s Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign recently joined the new campaign.
In three key HCHCW states, HCHCW staff and partners participated in launch events, seizing the opportunity to focus attention on the health care needs of direct-care workers:
- Pennsylvania. HCHCW Community Organizer Simone Baer spoke about the thousands of direct-care workers caring for the state’s most vulnerable citizens who lack health care coverage of their own. The event was covered by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
- Iowa. Iowa’s HCHCW partner, the Iowa CareGivers Association, participated in the launch on the steps of the state capitol. The ICA is one of 18 initial members of a growing campaign in Iowa that is working to assure that the next President and Congress pass legislation guaranteeing quality, affordable health care for all. ”As a key battleground state in the Presidential election, Iowa will be a focal point for debate over the respective candidates’ plans to reform the health care system,” said ICA Policy Director John Hale. “The ICA and direct-care workers will be involved in those debates, and will insure that the candidates recognize the unique needs of direct-care workers in getting and keeping adequate and affordable health care coverage.”
- Maine. Helen Hanson, a direct-care worker from China, Maine, represented the Maine Direct-Care Worker Coalition, a HCHCW partner, at the launch event on the steps of her state’s capitol. Helen spoke of her struggle with health care bills after routine tests that were not covered by her catastrophic coverage plan. Another HCHCW partner, the Maine Center for Ecomomic Policy, also participated in the launch event, which was covered by the Portland Press Herald.
Things will be heating up as the Presidential campaign moves toward November. Visit the Health Care for America Now website to find out how you can get involved.
Allison Lee, HCHCW National Campaign Manager
alee@phinational.org
While the first BOI meeting was largely a round of introductions and a broad overview of the work ahead, at this last meeting BOI staff delved into the nitty-gritty of the Maine Insurance Code. The point of this exercise was to see if there was already an existing model/structure that would allow the Direct Care workforce to organize some kind of insurance purchasing pool or entity that could acquire coverage through the private markets (or form their own, independent insurance pool that essentially would act as an insurance company specifically for Maine’s direct-care workers (DCWs). Continue reading ‘Update on Maine Board of Insurance Workgroup Meeting’
On June 17, the first meeting of the summer working group organized by Maine Superintendent of Insurance Mila Kofman was convened. The working group was established to look into how affordable health coverage can be made available to all of Maine’s direct-care workforce.
The first meeting was a useful start. A somewhat formal set of introductory remarks set out the scope and intent of the summer’s discussions. The meeting was attended by several members of the Direct Care Worker Coalition (DCWC), including Helen Hanson, Joyce Gagnon, Mollie Baldwin, and me. There were also representatives from Harvard Pilgrim, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, MaineCare/DHHS, Dirigo Health, and the Governor’s Office (Karynlee Harrington and Trish Riley), as well as five or six members of the Bureau of Insurance (BOI) staff.
Senator Sullivan of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee and Representative Campbell of the Health and Human Services Committee also attended, both speaking at length and in strong support of direct-care workers and the need to find a real solution to the question of affordable coverage. Continue reading ‘Maine Seeks New Solutions to Health Care Coverage for Workers’
The departure of Lisa Pohlmann from the Maine Center for Economic Policy has left the Maine HCHCW campaign with a new leader. Kurt Wise, who recently joined MECEP as its fiscal policy analyst, is the new facilitator of the Maine Direct Care Worker Coalition and co-leader – along with Barbara Asnes of Maine PASA – of the Maine HCHCW campaign.
“The HCHCW campaign is grateful to Lisa for her passion, policy acumen, and effective leadership,” said Allison Lee, national campaign manager for HCHCW. Pohlmann was instrumental in raising the awareness of the direct-care workforce among legislators and administrators, helping to move the state toward implementing policies to improve the quality of direct-care jobs. She left MECEP on January 14, after 13 years of service, to become deputy director of the Natural Resource Council of Maine.
After being kept alive with the help of Maine PASA (see below), LD 1687 was considered by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee on October 30. Committee members voiced considerable support for improving compensation for direct-care workers, but the state’s revenue situation remains gloomy, with significant revenue shortfalls forecast for 2008.
As a result, the Direct Care Worker Coalition recommended removing the MaineCare demonstration program, which was not likely to be recommended for funding, and asking the Insurance and Financial Services (IFS) Committee to conduct a hearing on the Dirigo Health proposals in the bill next session. These proposals also require funding subsidies for low-income direct-care workers, but they may be considered as part of the larger debate on continuing Dirigo Health funding.
Key members off the IFS committee have expressed their support for the bill, and several HHS committee members have agreed to testify before the IFS committee in favor of the Dirigo revisions. The Direct Care Worker Coalition is now planning its advocacy work with the IFS committee and other members of the legislature when they convene in January.
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