Celebrating Health Reform

March 23 marks the first anniversary of the passage of the health reform law.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and its companion legislation, the Health Care and Education Act of 2010, have already begun to make health coverage more accessible and change how health care is delivered in the United States.

Dozens of organizations throughout the nation, including the National Council on Aging, National Partnership for Women and Families, and Small Business Majority, are sponsoring events to celebrate the anniversary. The events will highlight the many protections afforded under health reform to people with low incomes, women, children, the elderly, people with pre-existing health conditions, and small businesses.

The “Moving Forward” events will be organized around the following themes:

• March 21: Protecting Small Business’s Care
• March 22: Protecting Seniors’ Care
• March 23: Protecting Patients’ Rights
• March 24: Protecting Women’s Care
• March 25: Protecting Young Adults’ Care

Details of the events will be released before each day. Contact Carol Regan, PHI director of government affairs and the Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign, for event information.

Health Reform and Direct-Care Workers

While the health reform law contains many general provisions that benefit direct-care workers, some of the items specifically address community-based long-term care services and support the direct-care workforce, including:

• Demonstration grants to develop and pilot competency-based training curricula for personal and home care aides.
• Establishment of a Personal Care Attendant Advisory Panel at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of the creation of the new voluntary long-term care insurance program called the CLASS Act.
• Additional demonstration provisions to extend the Money Follows the Person rebalancing demonstration, Independence at Home demonstration program, and community-based collaborative care networks and transition programs (pdf).
• Grants to provide career ladders for new and incumbent workers and to help state develop comprehensive health care workforce development strategies (pdf).

Health Reform Law Resources

Visit the PHI Health Reform Resource Center and Health Care for Health Care Workers websites for more information about the law, including the Health Reform Fact Sheet series and a complete PHIsummary of direct-care workforce and long-term care provisions (pdf).

– by Deane Beebe