Op-ed: Washington Legislature should ensure home-care workers have health care

Wednesday, April 7

WHEN President Obama signed the health-care bill, he committed to providing health-care coverage to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured.

Valerie Anderson-Webb, a 43-year-old home-care aide in Spokane, is celebrating this victory because she knows that home-care workers like her have a lot to gain from this legislation. A cancer survivor, Valerie knows what it is like to be one of those 32 million Americans without coverage. "It's like a roller-coaster ride that you don't want to get on," she says.

Tens of thousands of workers like Valerie provide support to low-income seniors and people with disabilities — providing dignity to individuals at the end of life and preventing more expensive institutionalization. For this physically and emotionally demanding work, home-care workers earn just over minimum wage and only receive health benefits if they work at least half time. And even then, they receive benefits only for themselves, not for their families.

But just as the promise of health-care reform and affordable health care is on the horizon, home-care workers like Valerie face losing what little they currently have.

Click here to read the full op-ed on the Seattle Times' web site.

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