Helen Hanson
Update: We did it! The Senate passed its version of the health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, on December 24.
As a direct care worker working with a quadreplegic in her home, I receive no health care benefits. I help this lady maintain her independence by providing personal care, dressing her, and doing the other things she cannot do for herself, things that people without disabilities take for granted.
It is a shame that such a noble profession – helping people maintain their independence and dignity – carries no health care benefit. So many of us direct care workers provide health care without being able to obtain affordable coverage ourselves.
The Senate is planning to vote on health care reform this Thursday, before the Christmas break. Before they vote, our senators need to hear from direct care workers. They need to hear what it is like to do this kind of work and not have any health care benefit themselves.
I urge workers who support reform to call their senators and tell them we need health care reform. The last time anyone tried to fix health care was during the early years of the Clinton administration, when my 18-year-old daughter was just a baby. We cannot wait until I’m a grandmother – or later – to fix our broken health care system. We need to make things better now, while we have the chance.
Please call Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at 202-224-3542 to ask him to support health care reform. Also call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to locate your senator and ask him or her to do the same.
Helen Hanson
Home Care Worker
Graduate, 2009 Voices Institute National Leadership Program
