President Barack Obama

President Obama has released a proposed budget outline for 2010 that includes a downpayment on universal health care coverage. Obama identified eight key principles for health care reform:

• Aim for universality
• Maintain choice of insurance and doctors
• Ensure affordable coverage
• Protect Americans financial health
• Invest in prevention and wellness
• Improve patient safety and quality of care
• Be fiscally responsible and sustainable
• Provide portability

Carol Regan, director of PHI’s Health Care for Health Care Workers initiative, applauded the budget: “This is a signficant step forward, and I urge Congress to act this year to ensure quality affordable health care for all Americans, including tens of thousands of uninsured direct-care workers.” Continue Reading

As Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is considered for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, an AP story that appeared in The Kansas City Star on Feb. 11 (“Invisible Kansans”) highlights the predicament of the nearly 4,000 Kansas residents who suffer from developmental disabilities and fear the state’s current budget troubles will result in a failure of services. Continue Reading

The Pioneer Network is offering a webinar series for those interested in learning more about attached and detached small houses and smaller environments as ways to create home for those needing long-term care.

The three-part webinar series starts March 5 and is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Topics include:

• The Essential Elements of Small Houses
• Lessons Learned from Small House Models
• Policy, Regulatory and Reimbursement Issues

Visit the Pioneer Network website for more details and registration information.

Hilda Solis

After weeks of delay caused by concerns over her pro-labor background and her husband’s taxes, the U.S. Senate has finally confirmed Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor. She will manage an agency with an annual budget of about $53 billion and nearly 17,000 employees, according to the Associated Press.

Solis, who had been serving in the U.S. House as a Democratic representative from California, is considered a supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act, federal legislation that would make it easier for workers to organize and that is strongly opposed by many in the business sector. Continue Reading

The Center for Personal Assistance Services (PASC) has issued a report titled Home and Community-Based Services: Public Policies to Improve Access, Cost, and Quality that offers suggestions for improving policy at both the state and federal levels.

Continue Reading

Karen Kahn

A guest commentary by PHI communications director Karen Kahn called “Now Is the Time to Invest in America’s Caregivers” has been published at Women’s eNews. A global feminist news service, Women’s eNews has been closely covering the impact of the worldwide economic crisis and proposed recovery strategies on women.

Kahn says of  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

“Among what I see as a bright point: States may use some of the additional $4 billion in work-force development funds to expand and improve training for the nation’s direct-care workers.”

On the growth of direct-care within the health care sector:

“Direct-care jobs–nursing assistants, home health aides and personal care attendants–are the employment core of this industry, and all three of these jobs are among the top 10 fastest-growing jobs in the country.”

On direct-care wages and benefits:

“Annual earnings average about $17,000 and 1 in 4 direct-care workers do not have health insurance. Their training is often inadequate and they have few opportunities for career growth. As a result, 40 percent of direct-care workers live in households that receive some form of public benefits.”

At the end of the piece, Kahn includes a quote from President Obama, who, after spending a day with home care worker Pauline Beck while on the campaign trail, said this:

“There’s a lot of good people like Pauline who aren’t asking for much. They just want a living wage. They want health care, so they aren’t bankrupt when they get sick. They want a good education for their children and their grandchildren. They want to be able to retire with a little dignity and respect. That’s not too much to ask for in a country as wealthy as ours.”

Kahn follows this quote — and ends the piece — with this simple directive: “Obama now leads the federal government. We must push him to follow through.”