SEARCH
AFL-CIO Executive Council: Universal Health Care Should Be Built on Medicare Blueprint |
The 47-member AFL-CIO Executive Council today says because the nation is in desperate need of a universal health care system, such a system should be built upon:
The nation’s most successful universal health coverage plan for seniors—Medicare.
In a statement addressing the nation’s health care crisis, council members say:
It is time to mobilize America behind a concrete plan to enact universal health care and the AFL-CIO commits its full resources to asserting leadership in this historic effort.
The council, meeting in Las Vegas for its annual winter meeting, approved a statement that outlines a health agenda that includes universal coverage; comprehensive and affordable coverage; choice of providers; financing through shared responsibility; effect cost control; and a plan that, until it goes into effect, does not undermine existing coverage.
The council statement says that Medicare meets those targets:
In its 40-year history, Medicare has delivered substantial advances for the health care of older Americans and people with disabilities. Medicare has guaranteed coverage, made health care more affordable, included a form of shared financial responsibility, significantly reduced administrative costs compared with those of private plans and has been the largely unheralded financer of America’s medical science advances. Medicare also has been a leader in advancing quality care and improvements in health care service delivery in the United States.
Such an approach would require updating and expanding Medicare benefits to fit the working population and children, as well as negotiating prices with physicians and providers that families—and the country—can afford. It would encourage innovation in health care services and medical technology. Employers’ responsibility for health care financing would be broadly and equitably shared, substantially reducing burdens on all businesses and reducing disadvantages currently faced in the global marketplace. In building on Medicare to move toward a universal program, we can find a practical, achievable and affordable solution to our country’s health care crisis.
Click here to read the full statement.
5 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
At last, someone who recognizes that a governmental organization is better suited to administer health care than the plethora of private companies that have driven up costs while simultaneously restricting access to care. With Medicare in charge the citizen-clients would have broad oversight of the program. However, I’d like to go a step further. Let’s leave private health care providers out of it. Why should we pay the salaries of all those multi-million dollar CEOs every time we have the misfortune of getting sick or being injured? Private health care companies got us in this mess: they are the problem and will make a good solution impossible.
Hell-low! I’ve been wanting someone to create tv ads for years based upon the Sesame Street segment, “Three of these things belong together…one of these things is not like the others…” using health care personnel and places v. insurance issues. Informational crawls ought to talk about the insurance profits, the percentage of our health dollar going to administration, the number of payment errors caused by so many insurance companies, the fact that sick people can’t get insurance, and, of course, the increasing number of folks who lack coverage.
This is a major step forward for the health care reform movement. The AFL-CIO should be commended for a very clear statement about the need for progressive, public financing to pay for health insurance by expanding Medicare to cover everyone. While acknowledging the important role of state reform efforts at this time, it condemns individual mandates and commits the AFL-CIO to using its resources to work on a campaign to win Medicare for All reform. Hooray!
The Executive Council statement is a vital step to build a stronger union movement and a healthier nation. Bravo! Our unions must lead the way on single payer health care!
Every local union can help to build the movement by endorsing HR 676 and urging their congressperson to co-sponsor this bill.
HR 676, introduced by Congressman John Conyers, would cover every person in the U. S. for all necessary medical care by expanding and improving Medicare for all.
HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs.
HR 676 has been endorsed by 248 union organizations in 40 states including 65 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 17 state AFL-CIOs (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO & MN).
For further information, a complete list of union endorsers, or a sample endorsement resolution, contact:
Kay Tillow
All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care-HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 636 1551
Email: nursenpo@aol.com
Now that the statement has been made, let the action begin. It is time for the AFL-CIO to sign onto legislation that accomplishes what has been stated. H.R. 676 would be a good beginning.
The Massachusetts Mandate Movement is quickly becoming the band-aide approach being lauded across the country. This approach may address the immediate concerns of the uninsured but never addresses the true problem of what is causing so many to become uninsured.
The current system of health insurance has destroyed good union jobs through concessionary bargaining, threatens to rob retirees of their benefits , has eliminated job growth in heavily union represented sectors in spite of all the flexibilty displayed by unions. All because we must preserve some system of health insurance the provides good CEO Salaries, and 30% administrative waste, and allows Pharmaceutical companies to spend 4 times more on advertising than it does on research and developement .
We look forward to joining in the fight with the AFL-CIO to make Medicare fo All a reality.