This Thursday, 2/28, the Connector Board will vote on raising copays and premiums for CommCare. The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) has done an excellent job of gathering CommCare consumer stories and their real-life budgets. Read Yolanda’s letter to Gov. Patrick below to learn how raising copays and premiums will affect her life.
Community Partners created a two minute survey to poll opinions of CommCare enrollees, the outreach and enrollment community, and providers who service the CommCare population. Please take the survey if you are in one of these categories or pass it along to your network. The survey will close Tuesday at 12:00pm.
We will post more consumer stories on the ACT!! webpage and the Blog throughout the week. Check back here and the website for new updates!
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February 21, 2008
Dear Governor Patrick, Connector Board members and Legislators,
My name is Yolanda Pires and I live in Jamaica Plain. I am 52 years old. I work as a family day care provider in my home. I have been doing this work for 20 years.
I had free care for almost 10 years. I now have Commonwealth Care and I pay $74.98 each month. And I also pay $10 a month in co-pays for my medicines.
I am worried that the prices for Commonwealth Care are going up. My income fluctuates depending on how many children I am caring for. I have attached my budget to this letter.
As you can see, I don’t have a lot of extra money each month. I live alone and therefore I must pay for everything myself. While some months I can afford all of my bills, unfortunately, there are many months that I can’t so, I just wait to pay it. I would like to own a car, but I can’t afford it. I am glad to have a job and I know that I can pay the bills at some time. But I am not able to save.
It would be very hard for me to pay more for Commonwealth Care. I only see a doctor maybe 3-4 times a year. Thank goodness I am healthy. Please do not raise the prices.
Sincerely,
Yolanda Pires
Yolanda Pires: my monthly budget
Income: varies from $1400-$1600.00 a month after taxes
Rent $574.00
Gas Heat: $167.45
Electricity: $84.69
Food: $250.00
Household supplies, prescription co-pays, : $50.00
Commonwealth Care: $74.98
Phone: $99.67
Paying for an assistant to help me with the kids at my daycare. (varies)$300.00
Bus/Train $10.00
Total spending: $1,610.79
How shameful to trot out the intimate details of this woman’s life and use her to prop up this fake reform. The whole approach STINKS and so does anyone who tries to pretend that it does not.
The only reform that will work is a plan that puts people before profits. Improved Medicare-For-All.
But “Health Care For All” doesn’t want to bite the hand that feeds them–Blue Cross Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgram/UnitedHealth HMO, Partners HealthCare…–so they prop up fake reforms like Chapter 58 and the individual mandate and use people like Yolanda in the process. Shameful. They will not get away with it forever.
Thank you Beth Vance for showing the ripoff to the taxpayers.The citizens cannot afford the insurance because all the money going to the Commonwealth Connector and all the committees and councils and on and on till the state is bankrupt and we still don’t have affordable insurance!
Please explain to Ms Pires and the rest of us what merits these hugely inflated salaries for Connector staff.
http://www.bostonherald.com/projects/payroll/cca/
This is taxpayer money that should be going to medical care. Looks like pork-barrel medicine to me.