Brenda Nachtway

If you're a direct care worker, you know all about the challenges facing your profession, including low wages, poor benefits, limited training opportunities, and a widespread and demoralizing lack of respect. Wouldn't you like to do something to help make things better?

By becoming a member of the Direct Care Alliance, you can join your fellow direct care workers in the fight for change. Read more from DCA's Brenda Nachtway.

President Obama demands that Congress raise the debt ceiling: The U.S. hit its debt ceiling (the country's current authorized borrowing limit) of $16.4 trillion at the end of last year, as it continued to spend more than it receives in revenue. Congress has the ability to increase the debt ceiling, and Congressional Republicans want to tie such an increase to significant spending cuts, potentially to programs such as Medicaid and Social Security, which provide important health care and financial support to millions of older adults, individuals with disabilities and low-income Americans. On January 14, the President called upon Congress to raise the debt ceiling and said he would not negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt limit.

Senator Rockefeller to retire next year: On January 11, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) announced he would not seek reelection in 2014. Senator Rockefeller has served five terms in the U.S. Senate and has been a champion for low-income families, older adults, and disabled individuals, in part by supporting programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Senator Rockefeller has also been a champion of healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act, which takes important steps to ensure that millions of Americans--including hundreds of thousands of direct care workers--have access to affordable, accessible, quality health care. Learn more about Senator Rockefeller's work.

Mohan Varghese

"I, and many fellow South Dakota direct care workers, do not have health insurance. Imagine that. In a country as great and as wealthy as the U.S., health care workers must do without health care," writes DCA member and home care worker Mohan Varghese in an op-ed published last week.

Varghese's editorial, which was published in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Argus Leader, calls on South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard to "do the right thing for us and other hard-working South Dakotans by expanding our state Medicaid program" under the Affordable Care Act.

The governor has said he is opposed to the idea of expanding Medicaid, though doing so would provide affordable health care coverage for thousands of South Dakotan direct care and other low-wage workers--those who earn a little too much to qualify for current Medicaid coverage but too little to afford private insurance premiums. Read Mohan's op-ed.

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• Donate to DCA 
• Learn about the home care rule 
• Our personal care and support credential 
• Past issues of this newsletter 
• Visit our Voices blog 
• Our search for a new executive director 

The Direct Care Alliance is the national advocacy voice of direct care workers in long-term care. We empower workers to speak out for better wages, benefits, respect, and working conditions, so more people can commit to direct care as a career. We also convene powerful allies nationwide to build consensus for change. 

If you have comments on this issue of The Direct Care News or ideas for future issues, please contact Elise Nakhnikian at 646-823-7434, enakhnikian@directcarealliance.org.