Advocacy Work Pays off with Maine Grant to Cover Uninsured Direct Care Workers

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Maine $8.5 million this year to expand coverage to up to 3,500 low-income people without insurance. “These are much needed funds that enable the Dirigo Health Agency to serve more uninsured part-time, seasonal and direct-care workers,” said Governor John E. Baldacci in a press release about the grant. The state can renew the grant for the next four years, for a total of $42.5 million.

The funding will allow the Dirigo Health Agency to grant vouchers to part time, seasonal and direct care workers in firms with more than 50 employees who have access to employer-sponsored coverage but can’t afford the premiums and copays. The program will be established as of next January.

This victory comes after almost five years of work by hundreds of advocates working together to get the state government’s attention and garner support from the legislature and governor’s office. While the road has been long, it does go to prove: Persistence pays, and keeping a clear and specific focus on advocacy is crucial.

As one of the organizations behind the effort, we at the DCA want to thank all our partners, including the Maine Personal Assistance Services Association (Maine PASA), PHI’s Health Care for Health Care Workers initiative, and the Maine Direct Care Worker Coalition (DCWC).

We also congratulate the individual direct care workers we have worked with, who led the charge to improve health care coverage for Maine’s direct care workers. These include 2008 Voices Institute National Leadership Program graduate Helen Hanson, 2009 VI NLP class member Ted Rippy, and many others.

Advocating for better health care coverage has been the number one priority of the DCA’s work in Maine. In addition to supporting and training direct care worker leaders like Helen and Ted, we have testified at hearings, met with legislators, served on committees and task forces, and participated as an active member of the DCWC. We have provided significant financial support to Maine PASA.

There’s still a lot more work for us and our partners. We need to nurture new relationships with policymakers, work with the state department of human services, and, of course, advocate for continued legislative action.

But for now, we can all take a moment to celebrate. Victories like this don’t come along too often, so let’s savor this one together.

Roy Gedat
National Advocacy Director
Direct Care Alliance