Fresno home care providers face a life-or-death crisis after Fresno Board of Supervisors threaten to eliminate healthcare!
For Fresno County IHSS provider Mark Blodgett, his work is not a job; it’s a calling. Mark has spent his 23 years as an IHSS provider taking care of a disabled man named Nicholas, who has used a wheelchair since he was a small child. Mark’s other care recipient is a disabled woman named Janice, who he has been taking care of for about a year now. Janice went through several other care providers, until she found one she was able to click with. That someone happened to be Mark, and the two of them are genuine friends.
Mark got his start as a caregiver when he first began taking care of his grandparents, decades ago. His grandmother had dementia, and his grandfather had diabetes and needed to use a catheter. Mark would cook, clean, and run errands for them. That’s how he fell in love with caregiving and knew that it was his calling. In fact, Mark prides himself on being able to connect with his recipients and intuitively understand what it is that they need from him, be it physically or emotionally.
Mark works hard, but the system works against him.
Unfortunately, even though he works very hard for both of his recipients, Mark’s IHSS health insurance is woefully inadequate. Intensive dental work recently cost him thousands of dollars in co-pay, and he’s even had to pay out of pocket for glasses that he needs to read and properly navigate the world. These are enormous expenses when you only earn pennies over minimum wage.
Mark also has diabetes and almost died from a diabetic coma/cardiac arrest a few years back. He even flat-lined for a few minutes and suffered from pneumonia and blood infection during this time. Mark was in the ICU for a week. His insurance made sure that he didn’t go bankrupt, but it was still a huge financial hardship.
Mark struggles with financial issues.
“I am 62. Frankly, medical care is too expensive — especially since I don’t make a whole lot — but I need it at this age. Sad thing is, it would cost me almost $200 a month to get better dental insurance. Cost of living is going up and going up, but they don’t want to give us a raise? We caregivers need adequate healthcare and wages we can survive on.”
Like many other places in California, Fresno is relatively expensive to live in. Mark only makes $16 an hour. For him, that’s barely enough money to make ends meet, let alone live comfortably. As noted earlier, Mark is often left frustrated by how his wages don’t keep up with the ever-rising cost of living in today’s world.
Mark wants the BOS to negotiate in good faith.
Because of the Board of Supervisors’ threats to take away IHSS provider’s health care, a worried Mark recently called Kaiser to see how much being uninsured would cost him. Currently Mark pays only $18 a month through his SEIU 2015 insurance, funded by the County. Kaiser informed Mark that he’d be looking at an estimated $1,300 a month in insurance fees. Mark then called Covered California. Their plan would cost Mark $800 a month in insurance fees.
“What I do is really difficult work. It takes blood, sweat, tears — all of that. It’s a difficult job that not everybody is cut out for. And this isn’t me complaining. I love what I do. I just wish I could get paid in a way that shows how hard I work. But not just me. It’s all caregivers. We all need better pay and better insurance, if this system is going stay upright. Something’s got to change, at this point, and I’m happy to fight for that change.”
This is why Mark and other home care providers in Fresno County are asking the Board of Supervisors to refrain from eliminating their healthcare. Board members say that they want everyone to be covered…but their “solution” is to continue to pay poverty wages, eliminate the healthcare provided in the IHSS contract, and push IHSS providers onto gov’t assistance: the Medi-Cal system. Increasing the county’s investment in healthcare for our members is the only equitable solution to long-term care for all.
