Gary Soares

Personal Care Attendant (PCA) / MA

Gary works as a personal care attendant (PCA). His employer--the state of Massachusetts-- doesn’t offer healthcare coverage. Right now, because of the exceptionally high number of hours he works, Gary earns too much to buy lower-cost insurance under Massachusetts state healthcare reform for himself and his child, and not enough to be able to afford comprehensive insurance on the open market.

He’s caught in the middle like so many working families throughout America.

“It’s outrageous,” Gary says. “We have caregivers throughout the healthcare industry who have no healthcare themselves.”

Under both the Senate and House versions of the healthcare reform bills, Gary will have a new place to turn for coverage for himself and his child. Massachusetts will be able to expand the number of people it can assist by offering lower-cost, high quality insurance plans. Gary would be able to find quality healthcare coverage at a premium of about 10 percent of his income under both bills, but would qualify for better coverage with lower out-of-pocket costs under the House bill.