I am my husband’s caregiver. He suffered from a debilitating stroke 10 years ago when he was 61 years old. My full time job is to take care of my husband, and because of the failing economy, the state’s ability to pay my wages is now in jeopardy. What I get from the state pays for my bills, and leaves little extra for anything else.
I have Ladies First. Ladies First is a state program that covers mammograms at a discounted price, on an annual basis. I qualify for that because of my income, and because I don’t have any other health insurance. Continue reading ‘Caught In the Gap without Health Coverage’
This past summer, HCHCW expanded into Vermont with an outreach campaign to direct-care workers about a new health care program in the state – Catamount Health. Catamount Health, in conjunction with Medicaid, the Vermont Health Access Program (VHAP) and Dr. Dynosaur (a program to insure children), offers subsidized, comprehensive health insurance to Vermonters with incomes of up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (or individuals with a gross monthly income of $2,613). This group of programs is known as Green Mountain Care. Catamount Health went into effect in the fall of 2007. Continue reading ‘HCHCW Expands to Vermont’
A new Vermont fact sheet (pdf) from the Health Care for Health Care Workers Campaign shows that one in four direct-care workers in Vermont lacks health insurance. Even more startling, is the fact that 50% of the workers who are uninsured work full-time.
While Vermont has been a national leader in creating health insurance options that are affordable and comprehensive, the HCHCW campaign has found that reaching direct-care workers to inform them about those options is difficult since no centralized list of workers exists. In the last few months, HCHCW has partnered with AARP-Vermont, the Vermont Association of Professional Care Providers, and the Vermont Campaign for Health Security to implement a worker and employer outreach campaign to spread the work about the various health care options that are available.
“From what we know about direct-care worker wages, most of the uninsured workers in Vermont are eligible for one of the state-funded health care programs at little or no cost per month, “said Alex Olins, New England Policy Director for PHI. “The challenge is reaching them. I hope that by combining our efforts we’ll be able to reach significant numbers of workers and tell them about these great programs.”
HCHCW Vermont hopes to work with policy makers to develop solutions for both outreach and tracking of health care enrollment by occupation, an additional problem, in the coming year.
Allison Lee
National Campaign Manager
HCHCW
alee@phinational.org
I am my husband’s caregiver. He suffered from a debilitating stroke 10 years ago when he was 61 years old. My full time job is to take care of my husband, and because of the failing economy, the state’s ability to pay my wages is now in jeopardy. What I get from the state pays for my bills, and leaves little extra for anything else.
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