Health Coverage OKd for Home Care Aides
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After months of debate, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved granting basic health care coverage to almost 6,000 workers who care for the elderly, sick and disabled at home.
The plan, which takes effect in January, will cover those who work at least 112 hours a month--the equivalent of 28 hours a week. It covers only a fraction of the more than 30,000 in-home health aides who officials say are uninsured because most do not work enough hours to meet the threshold.
Some of the aides complained to the board that they had been attending to others’ needs for decades without having the benefit of health care themselves.
Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky, Don Knabe and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke voted for the measure. Supervisors Gloria Molina and Mike Antonovich abstained, saying they did not agree with granting coverage to workers who logged so few hours while other county employees have to meet a higher threshold.
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