Healthcare victory for child care providers!
SEIU Child Care Health Fund takes off
Illinois child care providers were the first in the country to win a voice on the job with SEIU and a historic first contract with the state guaranteeing improvements for providers in the Child Care Assistance Program.
Child care providers identified access to quality, affordable healthcare as a top priority when we negotiated our first contract in 2005. It was a long and difficult fight to win it—but we succeeded.
Who is eligible to receive healthcare?
Illinois home child care providers who:
- Have been providing child care for a minimum of one year in the Child Care Assistance Program;
- Billed the state for at least 185 days of care over 3 consecutive months, for three consecutive quarters; and
- are currently providing child care
For healthcare information & eligibility questions, contact the SEIU Child Care Health Fund at 877-SEIU-KID (877-734-8543).
Now, thousands of home child care providers in the Illinois Child Care Assistance Program are eligible to receive quality, affordable healthcare through the SEIU Healthcare Illinois Home Care & Child Care Fund. Thousands of providers are enrolling now in our own union health fund to receive comprehensive health insurance.
The launch of our Fund is a victory for all child care providers—but this is only the beginning. The $27 million we won in our first contract provides the foundation to establish our health fund and begin providing quality health insurance to thousands of providers—but to improve and expand these benefits to cover all providers who need them, we must keep up the fight for quality, affordable healthcare.
As Illinois home child care providers prepare now to negotiate our next contract with the state, we know that winning more for our health fund must be a top priority.
Maria Velazquez
Child Care Provider
We need to stay healthy to be at our best for the children we care for. That’s why we made winning quality, affordable healthcare a top priority for our first contract. Whether we’re working to elect a president who will make national healthcare reform a priority, or fighting for more funding for healthcare in our next contract, child care providers are committed to making affordable healthcare for all a reality.