LD 1059 Meets with Success in Insurance and Financial Services

I am so glad to report that we have another small victory in this ongoing battle to gain health care insurance for Maine's DCWs! Yesterday at the work session, Geoff Green, Deputy Commissioner of DHHS spoke in support of our efforts. He said, "DHHS is strongly supportive." DHHS wants to do a further study into the Montana Plan. He said that Medicaid does not allow a draw down match to start up a pilot. He said the Department wants to work further with the Center for Medicare Services to figure this out. He asked for more time and said the Department is "willing to commit." He told the committee that more time is needed to develop this, more time than this legislative session allows. The committee wants DHHS to come back with specifics on the plan. Green told them that pilots are hard to set up, he wants to work with stakeholders, it is early in the process, and that it is hard to say how long this will take. Here's the best part, IFS voted unanimously to carry over LD 1059 until the next session. We did it! I say this is a small victory because never before has DHHS even offered to look into this for Maine's direct care workers. Everyone who has worked on this a lot longer than I have has told me that this is the closest we've ever gotten. To have gained that commitment from DHHS is a big deal. I know that we still have a long way to go before insurance is actually implemented, but every small victory counts. This is a hill we've been climbing for a while now, we are one more step closer to the top. Joyce Gagnon, from Maine PASA, Roy Gedat from the Direct Care Alliance, and I are sending thank you notes to all those involved in this, from the staffers in the Speaker's and Senate President's offices, to those on the Insurance and Financial Services Committee, to Insurance Superintendent Mila Kofman, Trish Riley from the Governor's office, DHHS Commissioner Brenda Harvey, DHHS Deputy Commissioner Geoff Green, and our bill sponsor, Senator Nancy Sullivan. The Direct Care Worker Coalition's next steps are to keep DHHS on task, and try to get more providers on board. Again, I am willing to do what I can to keep this moving. I hear from so many workers that health insurance is important to them, they need it. This is great news. I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter Sunday.