My Trip to DC with the Driect Care Alliance: A Home Care Worker’s Report

I just got back from a trip to DC with the Direct Care Alliance. It was a great start to achieving the FLSA rule change and to achieving health care reform that keeps direct care workers in the conversation. I think we started something that will just get bigger and keep raising awareness. What is unique is that the Direct Care Alliance is having us workers talk to members of Congress. They need to hear from us - not the policy experts or service providers, but the hands on, day-to-day workers. I never would have thought a couple of years ago that I’d be on Capitol Hill, talking with my congressional delegation about my job and the tough work issues I and my fellow workers face every day. The DCA has made that possible for me. I got the opportunity to personally thank Congresswoman Linda Sanchez and Congressman Mike Michaud for sponsoring our “Dear Colleague” letter to Secretary of Labor Solis. I am so honored that I got the chance to do that.

Seated, DCA Board Member, Dennis Fitzgibbons; L to R, Helen Hanson, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Julie Moulton

But the highlight of the visit for me was getting to talk with Congresswoman Chellie Pingree herself. Congresswoman Pingree was very supportive of the workforce and agreed direct care workers need to be included in health care reform. She also wanted to know more about the FLSA. She sounded as if she’ll probably sign the letter. We encouraged her to talk to her congressional colleagues about the FLSA, and we’ll do some follow-up with her. We were also scheduled to visit Senator Susan Collins, but that visit got cancelled because her health care staffer, Priscilla Hanley, was in a hearing on the swine flu problem. But after talking with Jackie Merkel, another of the direct care workers in town for the visits, Julie Moulton and I decided to go to Senator Collins’ office anyway. Jackie said we should go so the senator would know that we were in DC and see the packet from her Maine constituents and the Direct Care Alliance. So we did just that. We also told the staffer that we would follow up with Patricia Hanley from home, which we plan to start doing next week. The next visit for us was with Senator Olympia Snowe’s health care staffer, Bill Pewen. We were concerned about our flight so we stopped by Senator Snowe’s office early. The staffer we talked to was great. She got Bill Pewen’s assistant, Scott Nolan, who talked with us for about half an hour. The meeting went well, despite the fact that Scott did not know much about direct care workers. Julie kept hammering the FSLA and I kept hammering that the direct care workforce must be part of health care reform, as we are a vital part of the health care system. Julie told Scott that workers in home care are not guaranteed minimum wage and paid overtime. She said that it is a shame because this workforce is vital to keeping elders and disabled healthy and home, where they want to be. He was surprised when she told him that someone working as a cashier at Wal Mart is guaranteed at least minimum wage, but home care workers aren’t. She was fantastic! At first when we talked about health care reform, Scott talked about how reform will focus on the health insurance industry, possibly drawing some nationwide standards as to what is covered. He said long term care is under the radar in the current plans for health care reform, meaning that it is not included at all. He gave us a brief overview of what health care reform might look like, saying that it might require all employers to purchase health insurance for their employees and give employees a subsidy to help pay for the coverage if they can’t afford what their employers offer. To me, it sounded a lot like what the state of Massachusetts has done. Maine’s Dirigo Health came into the conversation, much to my surprise. I told Scott that whenever I’m involved with trying to gain health insurance for direct care workers back home, someone always brings up Dirigo and says it was designed for workers like me. I tell them yes it is, but it simply is not working. Agencies like the one I used to work for cannot get on Dirigo because they have too many employees. And individuals who wish to get on to Dirigo and who need a subsidy to help pay for it also have a hard time getting on it. I told him that every year, the savings offset payment is figured, and then it is challenged in court by organizations like the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and Anthem, and that drags out the process even further. I also told him that I was a bit miffed when the stimulus provided help to laid off workers by helping them with COBRA payments. I told him that I am working, still employed, and cannot get health insurance through my job. It is such an injustice. Helen Hanson Home care worker