The Direct Care News 
For direct care workers and their allies March 27, 2012
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Supreme Court Decision to Affect Close to a Million Direct Care Workers
|  Two years ago, President Obama signed landmark health care reform legislation into law. Known as the Affordable Care Act, the law will extend health insurance coverage to an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans.
The new law is particularly beneficial for direct care workers and others in jobs that pay modest wages and provide limited benefits. According to PHI, about 900,000 direct care workers--nearly 30 percent of the workforce--were uninsured as of 2009. Once the new law is fully implemented, most currently uninsured direct care workers will be insured.
However, parts of the law have been challenged in the courts. The Supreme Court is now hearing arguments about the law. Read more from Shawn Fremstad, Senior Research Associate, Center for Economic and Policy Research.
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Direct from Washington, DC
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Public comment period ends for home care rule: Many thanks to all our constituents and allies who made their voices heard in support of basic labor protections for home care workers! After two extensions, the public comment period for the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) proposed rule to extend minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers concluded on March 21. Thousands of comments were submitted, and it appears that the overwhelming majority voice support for the rule. DOL is expected to announce a final rule in the coming weeks or months. Check out DCA's Respect for Home Care Workers page for updates.
Just 2 days left to tell the Supreme Court you support health care reform: More than 13,000 activists have signed the People's Amicus Brief, telling the U.S. Supreme Court justices that the Affordable Care Act is helping millions of American families and will help millions more if the law is fully implemented. Sign the brief.
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What I Heard at the Hearing on the Proposed Home Care Rule
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Last Wednesday, the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing on the proposed rule to grant basic labor protections to home care workers. Clara Glenn, a home care worker from Philadelphia, went to Washington, D.C. for the hearing. Here is her story, as told to the DCA. | | Clara Glenn |
I was glad I got to hear it, but the chairman of the subcommittee [Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI)] did a lot of talking, and it was hard to listen to him. He really doesn't understand the health care workforce. He just seems to think you can balance the budget on the backs of us workers. But the woman who was in charge of the Democrats in the subcommittee [Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)] was good. She asked a lot of good questions. Read more from Clara--and link to a video of the hearing and copies of the testimonials that were read there.
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Direct Care Workers Needed for Survey on what Motivates Caregivers
|  Direct care workers are needed to fill in an online survey on what factors motivate people to specialize in caring for older adults. The survey is being conducted by a graduate student in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, a City University of New York (CUNY).
All data is confidential, and respondents are not asked to provide their name or any identifiable information. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. It will be open until Friday, April 6, 2012.
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