Home health care workers’ struggles for better pay and health benefits continues to capture the mainstream media’s gaze, with NPR being the latest news outlet to spotlight the plight these workers face in their day-to-day lives.
In an article, NPR calls attention to several home health workers in Ohio, each grappling with affording essentials like health insurance and paying taxes on stagnant wages.
One of those individuals is Jasmine Almodovar, 35, a home health care worker in Cleveland who earns $9.50 an hour. While that is just above average for a home health worker in Ohio, affording health insurance remains out of reach.
Estimating her annual earnings at about $21,000, Almodovar makes too much to qualify for Medicaid, however, paying for a plan on Ohio’s federal exchange does not fit into her monthly budget, either.
“I don’t have a retirement plan, I don’t have life insurance, I don’t have medical,” she says. “Because by a government basis, I’m 90% above the poverty level—but I’m in poverty.”
Read the full story at NPR.
Written by Jason Oliva
