Child Care Providers Left in the Lurch on Health Insurance Needs

by Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy
National Women’s Law Center

While our nation’s leaders debate the necessity for major changes to America’s health care system, Rhode Island, which once offered a rare model of affordable health care for child care providers working in centers and in family child care homes, is moving backward on health care. More than 10 years ago, Rhode Island became a state to emulate when it began to support the cost of health insurance to child care providers caring for low-income children. Now, the Governor has recommended and the legislature has approved a cut to the state’s budget, which will eliminate the two programs that helped to make Rhode Island one of the “Ten Best States” for child care according to Working Mother magazine in 1999.

As a result, 225 family child care providers, along with their children, and 600 adults in 65 child care centers are now left with no help in paying for their health insurance costs. These numbers may sound small, but for more than 800 child care providers and their children — the majority of whom are women who earn an average of $9.05 per hour — these cuts will make a huge difference in their budgets and their access to health care.

Penny wise and pound foolish, Rhode Island’s move ignores the fact that child care is a basic that helps our nation’s children, families, and communities prosper. Healthy caregivers are key in providing high-quality care to children in their earliest and most vulnerable years. Plus, research has shown that the availability of health insurance improves job retention among low-income mothers — so making insurance available to child care providers is likely to increase retention in the field, leading to improved quality and continuity among caregivers.

Rhode Island, the tiny state that was once a shining example of how child care systems can benefits families, providers, and children, has taken a step in the wrong direction.