Andreya Chapman is 34, runs the Vandercook Lake site of Early Impressions in Jackson, and walked out of a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday carrying more bills than answers. She juggles full-time classroom duties with raising her 8-year-old son and says that, on the wages her program can offer, consistent health coverage feels like something other people get. Her story mirrors a statewide reality that has pushed many early-education workers onto Medicaid or into individual insurance plans that strain already thin paychecks.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Chapman’s visit to a Mid-Michigan health center is one of several from Jackson-area staff that show how medical costs collide with limited employer benefits. The Vandercook Lake program is operated by Early Impressions inside Townsend Elementary, where lead teacher Julissa Garcia Milukhin has been in a preschool classroom for more than twenty years. The Free Press profile lays out the daily math many providers are doing as they weigh wages, hours, and whether they can risk a coverage gap.
Insurance Gaps Stretch Far Beyond Jackson
National data show this is not just a Michigan problem. Roughly 13.2% of child care workers were uninsured in recent analyses, and those in states that have not expanded Medicaid are far more likely to go without coverage, according to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. The Urban Institute has likewise found that workers in child care centers and licensed home-based programs have historically had much higher uninsured rates than public-school teachers, a gap that helps explain why recruiting and keeping staff has become so difficult. In practice, those numbers translate into skipped appointments, mounting medical debt, and experienced educators walking away from the field.
State Pilot Offers A Partial Lifeline
The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential has launched the Nurture Benefits pilot to expand access to health, life, and retirement coverage for child care professionals. MiLEAP announced a $4.4 million investment to get the program off the ground, and a follow-up release reported that open enrollment began Nov. 15, 2025, with coverage taking effect Jan. 1, 2026. The agency said only about 35% of child care providers currently receive employer-sponsored health insurance, a shortfall the pilot is explicitly designed to address.
How The Pilot Is Supposed To Work
Under the Nurture Benefits model, the Small Business Association of Michigan will run the program and offer tiered plans so that small centers can tap into group rates and bundled retirement options, Bridge Michigan reports. Bridge Michigan notes that the state subsidy is intended to cover most of a base-level plan, with employers or employees able to pay more for richer benefits, and that behavioral health and pharmacy coverage are baked into the core designs. Organizers say pooling many small employers should push premiums down and make offering benefits logistically possible for centers that have never been able to do so.
Back in Jackson, lead teacher Julissa Garcia Milukhin told the Detroit Free Press that more than two decades in the classroom have not shielded her or her colleagues from medical and financial uncertainty, and that some job candidates simply walk away when they hear benefits are not included. Chapman and other staff say Nurture Benefits could finally take a major barrier off the table, provided the plans are truly affordable, and someone helps them navigate enrollment. Directors, however, warn that the real test will be whether subsidy levels, outreach, and paperwork are manageable enough to reduce turnover instead of just shifting costs around.
The pilot is also paired with neighborhood-level supports through a MiLEAP and Kresge Foundation partnership that focuses on layering benefits, professional development, and other coordinated resources in selected ZIP codes, according to the Kresge Foundation. Advocates say they will be watching enrollment counts, subsidy use, and staff retention figures to see whether Michigan’s experiment with subsidized, pooled plans can stabilize the workforce and keep child care slots open for families. For workers like Chapman, the wish list is not complicated: they want health care that is predictable instead of panic-inducing, a basic benefit that finally matches the essential work they do.
