FEMA has 9,106 disaster assistance employees. Only 770 get federal health insurance (WaPo)

[OneGrassRoot]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/11/03/fema-has-9106-disaster-assistance-employees-only-770-get-federal-health-insurance/

FEMA has 9,981 disaster assistance employees, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this year. That same report estimated that the reservists make up about 57 percent of the agency’s total workers. As temporary employees of the government, they do not qualify for health benefits.

There are 1,900 FEMA personnel working on Hurricane Sandy. A FEMA spokeswoman did not have data on how many disaster assistance employees have been, or will be, deployed for Hurricane Sandy, nor did they have information on what services they would provide.

Working in disaster assistance isn’t exactly easy. FEMA notes that disaster assistance employees should be able to “pick up and leave home, sometimes with 24 to 48 hours notice” and expect to work long hours, sometimes seven days straight. The employee I spoke with recalls working 16-hour days in Joplin. During Hurricane Katrina, she slept in a storage bunker.

“The hours can be long and the conditions are sometimes difficult,” one FEMA page on the program notes. “But the payoff is the satisfaction of knowing you have brought aid, relief and comfort to those individuals affected by a disaster or an emergency.”

[font size="3"]PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE:[/font] http://chn.ge/RqYMdQ (also link w/in article)

[freemay20]

1. Need a change

WOW, and to think of all the benefits the House and Senate members get. I mean think about it, they get full health and life insurance while the whole time working a job that most would consider part time. These FEMA people need the same health and life benefits given to other Federal Employees. This is a disgrace. We have them go into places to help others, then if they get hurt helping others we say, "Eat the expenses yourself". This is a joke! We have people in congress that hurt Americans and get benefits, we need to support the safety and health of those that actually help fellow Americans. Sign the Petition!!!!!!

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Gracias :)

[marmar]

3. k/r.....shameful.