The Daily Delegate

by Lucy Hohn

Forum Media

Recently, the forum Welfare and Government Benefits committee worked collectively to form a bill ensuring healthcare benefits for the families of caretakers. This bill will help our society recognize caretakers as beneficial factors in our communities. The issue that this bill is looking to work on and fix is dealing with uninsured caretakers. It would benefit anyone, paid or unpaid, who looks after another person. The bill states, “There are approximately 5 million caregivers in California providing unpaid care to adults and or children with special needs at any given time.” This bill would provide money for healthcare and insurance through government benefits. 

There are many caretakers who spend their time and life helping others with special needs. However, those caretakers are not guaranteed insurance and do not have it. Currently, 7% of Californians under the age of 65 are uninsured. This means approximately 350,000 residents of California are uninsured, or 1 in 114 uninsured. The bill states that the average monthly insurance cost is $400-$600 per person which adds up to $4800-$7200 dollars annually. Some things that this bill would provide for are financial relief by providing caretakers a way to afford medicine and doctor visits for their patients. It would also reduce emergency room visits, especially if families can’t afford to go to expensive doctors appointments or  the emergency room, by providing money to pay for them . Finally, it would improve social equity because it ensures that these caretakers have the same access to healthcare as others in California. 

This bill would be implemented through the government giving 1.68 billion dollars to caretakers around California. This means 4,800 dollars for the 350,000 residents, and caretakers, that are uninsured. Approving this bill would improve equity between caretakers and other residents, and give them a basic human right that should be accessible and available.