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After 60 Years, Time to Say ‘Yes’ to Health Care Reform
This afternoon, the AFL-CIO Executive Council said waiting 60 years for health care reform is long enough. Council members agreed to actively support President Obama’s health care bill and called on Congress to pass the legislation, which the U.S. House is set to vote on this Sunday.
Nearly every president since Harry Truman has sought health care reform. But powerful opposition from the insurance industry and others has scuttled each attempt. In a video message to working families, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:
We can’t miss this opportunity. We’ve been fighting for health care for 60 years. When I look at the years we have put into fighting for health care and what it means to working families to start down the path of comprehensive reform, I know the time to step forward is now.
Trumka urged union members to call their representatives and tell them to pass the bill (call toll free 1-877-3-AFLCIO). He acknowledges many people have been “conflicted” about the bill. In a press conference call, he told reporters:
It is not a perfect bill. But we are realistic enough to know it’s time for the deliberations to stop and for progress to begin. And we are idealistic enough to believe this is an opportunity to change history we can’t afford to miss.
Trumka says action by working families during the health care debate “has made the health care bill stronger,” much to the dismay of the insurance industry that has:
plastered their money and lobbyists across Capitol Hill to try to stop this bill because it’s a game-changer for them. It ends what is literally a reign of insurance company terror.
Among other provisions, the bill:
- Immediately stops greed-driven insurance company abuse such as denying care based on pre-existing conditions.
- Toughens penalties on employers that try to run from their responsibilities.
- Puts the burden of paying for health care where it belongs–on the wealthy.
- Gets life-saving health coverage to 30 million more people and improves coverage for millions more.
- Reduces prescription drug costs for seniors and saves money for small businesses.
Trumka told reporters:
Rising health care costs are crushing families and businesses. Middle-class families are losing health care coverage faster than any other group today.
This bill is a solid first step in changing that.
Be sure to call your representative at 1-877-3-AFLCIO and tell him or her to pass the health care reform bill.
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21 Comments
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“Puts the burden of paying for health care where it belongs-on the wealthy”…that is one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve heard. Why would I expect the wealthy to pay for my health care? Its my responsibility to take care of myself not anyone else.
According to the IRS the richest 1% in this country pay 39.9% of the country’s total income tax bill, the top 10% pay 71% of the tab. The bottom 50% of wage earners pay less than 3% of the income taxes. So when you look at the facts, the whole wealth envy mind set of organized labor falls flat on its face.
Here is another fact, the profit margin of health care companies is around 3.5% maybe a little more. That is low compared to other industries. I don’t understand why making a profit is such a bad thing to organized labor? It’s the reason we all have jobs because the companies we work for make a profit unless you’re Chrysler,GM or Wall Street.
We don’t need the government running the health care industry, we need people to start taking responsibility for their own lives again. That is what made this country great.
dear visionary, After all the Bush tax breaks the wealthy has enjoyed($ +one trillion $, it is pay-back time during these hard times for the middle class ,it is time for the wealthy to step forward ,just as most middle class do in times of war and do your share ! Stop whining and do something patriotic for your brother and sister Amerians…
If I am reading your post correctly you mistake me for a whining wealthy person. I am a 30 year union member making less that $50k armed with facts. Redistribution of wealth is not patriotic but upholding the U.S. Constitution is. Sure it would great to have more money but I want to earn it not have it given to me by government.
Modern day progressives and liberals believe that more government is better, that is moving to fascism not capitalism.
Our rights are given to us by God and our founding fathers wrote the constitution to protect us from government taking away those rights. This health care bill is just one more example of government taking away those rights.
wow, sounds like oxy contin R. Limbaugh speaking follower, with a heavy dos of clear channel. instead of a union labor mem. with that kind of info, thats just what ur ceo wants. because they dont care about u. profit n r o e thats thier concern. and dont blink and eye collecting thier 6 figure bonus off ur union labor. only sad thing about this is a repub voting misguided mem. that gives his local stance a verb beat dwn. just what ur repub ceo’s wants, a union termite. yes ibelive in prosperity for all. n yes thats constitutional. oh yes thier this about God, oh yes we should love one another as we love our self. self? wow, how does a self righteous, name calling, stone throwing , mind manipulating repub deal with that. wow! its better to give than receive.?????Help, oh! its better to be in the stewardship of being the one to give, than it is to have to beg or ask for. the only thing thats killing this country is n yes other country’s is repub. oh yes serial killers all have patterns. n so do repubs, n oh yes, what got us here. um oh yea it started with weapons of mass distruction n a balance budget. oh, a repub has thier pattern. oh, yea whats that? W A R!
stop your verb attack n abouse of ur union brothers n sisters, thats all a repub knows. u need to quit getting ur info from clear channel, repub h q’s. or repub cult houses, what use to be churches. thats if ur even a union mem. sounds like repub plant, called a superviser dingle berry. prob have kin in management. if not u need to get with the labor views. profit is our share of the pie. and our right.
I cannot in good faith ask fellow members to vote on a healthcare
bill when there are under the table deals going in it. I know this is
the way Washington is but, Obama said he wanted change and I
voted for him and nothing has changed.
Mills are closing, people losing their jobs and homes and he’s bailing out the banks. There are things in this bill that have nothing to do with healthcare and I don’t want my kids and grandkids paying for my governments greed!
If the current health care bill passes, affordable, efficient health care still won’t be guaranteed for all of us.
To achieve this guarantee, the AFL-CIO and 579 unions have endorsed a single-payer plan, that is Medicare — much improved — for all ages. (www.unionsforsinglepayer.org)
Imagine the lives saved and bankruptcies prevented if we work together successfully to achieve this guarantee of our right to health care!
Unbelievable how the DEM party machine and all their affiliates are coming together in this hoax of so-called ‘health care reform”.
For working Americans, it is the biggest swindle, making them buy health insurance (not necessarily health care), keeping them indentured to their jobs with declining wages simply to have health care and making them wait FOUR YEARS to be relieved of pre-existing conditions.
Some reform!
Sea Star RN
member of CSU-EU
San Francisco
formerly a DEM voter, now a decline-to-state
Guys the rank and file union folks out here are bleeding. Access to health care NOT INSURANCE is what they need. I understand the need to make progress but this fully compromised piece of legislation will boomerrang back to clobber the union movement and the party that negotiated it.
We needed to negotiate from a stronger position yet we capitulated before the battle was truly joined. I hope for the best but will continue to work hard for Universal Single payer reform!
During the Democratic Primary and National Election, President Obama promised CHANGE. This is change if the health care legislation is passed by the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. It’s not the health care reform Americans need. It falls far short of it. The politicians in Congress showed their true colors through this long process wheeling and dealing among themselves and the greedy special interest groups throughout Corporate America, Health Insurance Companies and the Pharmacy Industry. It’s the best Congress could do and it isn’t good enough. Americans deserve better, especially our seniors. Michael Zullo, Upper Eastside, Manhattan.
Problems take teamwork and time to fix.
I totally agree with the other 7 comments stated in this Blog.
What this bill does not do is to restore health benefits that were earned over many years by union people in most telephone companies and replicated in many industries like IBM where wages were lowered by 35 % and promised to be for retirement benefits. As such this also reduced Pensions by 35 % as well.
Hr 1322 was planned to be included in the Health bill to restore these health benefits, but is not – Why? This like stealing from the poor. These are earned benefits that were discussed at yearly employee meetings as promised benefits.
Reducing low Medicare doctors fees by an additional 21% will make my search for a good doctor even harder. I have already had my primary care doctor give up his 60 hour per week Medicare practice because of the long hours and pay of $25 / hour with calls 24/7. This is not fair or the American dream.
I’m disturbed and disheartened by the ludicrous statement “Put the burden of paying for health care where it belongs—on the wealthy”. I’ve been a professional firefighter for more than twenty years. I’m pretty sure that I’ll never be wealthy. I can’t understand the rationale behind a statement like that. Just because someone makes 3x more money than I do doesn’t mean they should pay more for their health care. Wasn’t the whole point of the health care legislation to provide quality health care to all Americans? I must have missed the part about people who work hard to make a great living being “burdened” with paying for it. Your statement is disgusting and divisive, and I’m embarrassed to be affiliated with this Organization.
You’ve studied the bill? At this very second the bill continues to change, as behind-the-scenes deals are made in an effort to soften legislators into voting for it. It seems that Democratic leaders are clamoring to put out a bill, ANY bill, so that it looks like they’re doing something. Stimulus, anyone?
I couldn’t agree more. I not only have a problem with the statement “Put the burden of paying for health care where it belongs—on the wealthy”, but I am equally disturbed by the assertion in the statement “Toughens penalties on employers that try to run from their responsibilities. When did it become the “responsibility” of business to provide health care for workers? This is a direct result of the union movement of the past. A business that chooses to do so should be allowed to do so of its own volition, not by some government or social mandate. It is one thing to negotiate such a benefit, it is quite another to expect it as a “right.” We have created this mess by deferring our own responsibilities as human beings and allowing others to dictate our lives for us. It is time to step up and accept the responsibility to care for ourselves and stop whining for someone else to provide for us. Americans of the past were a proud an resilient people. Only when we return to this and the other values that made America great will we be truly free again.
Before you can fix a problem you must have a starting point.No contract ever gave us everything we would like to have and it never will.If this legislation goes down you will never see it come this close again.I don’t like some parts of this bill but others parts are really needed.This will at least give us something to work with Any and all parts of it will be subject to change in the future.To say it is just trash is ignorance.I have called and e-mailed my representives and ask them to vote for it.
Some 10,000 Dayton ,Onio union workers have lost their contractural cadilac health care insurance as of the first of this year( 2010)do to the General Motors bankruptcy. Most of these Americans were retired and thousands have castrophic only health care insurance now that they pay for out of their fixed incomes. Until they are 65 they will not have preventive care and will most likely become severe health care risk. Seems the wealthy and the poor have access to health care. It is the working class that have been screwed, it is the middle class that is without quality heath care. Many of us fought for our country too and have found that Bush in 2003 took our veterans benefits away from us pre 1975 veterans. What is wrong with this picture??? after too many years of republican governmnetal controll ,the middle class needs help NOW, not next month,next year,or the next generation! This health care reform bill is not much, but it is a start!
All this talk about being appalled that the wealthy should pay more tax is quite a curiosity to me.
I feel that the wealthy have made their money largely off the backs of the working people. If not them, their family before them. I’ve been told that most wealthy people receive their riches through inheritance.
The tax reduction craze set forth in the Reagan years was to provide wealth that would “trickle down” to the working class. All that it created was the financial spectulation mania that eventually got us in the mess we are in today. Add to this the offshoring of our manufacturing base. Now that was bright.
The years prior to Reagan and the tax reduction craze were called the “Golden Age of Capitalism.” I believe we were far better off then.
Tax the rich, bring back our manufacturing base, and please workers, drop the greedy indifference of the Ayn Rand mentality.
It does not serve your best interests or the interests of the labor movement.
Labor needs to dump the Democrats. If we do not form a party of the working class we are doomed.
Dump the Dems, and work to organize. Use our power of direct resistance through general strike to press our point and provide the leaverage.
If we continue to live on “hope” we are finished. John Pilger quoting Woody Allen stated ” I felt so much better when I gave up hope.”
Work for a seat at government, otherwise the pro-business Republicans and Democrats will chip away at our rights to the point of non-existance. We will be in name only.
what? the only thing labor needs to dump is its repub ticket voting ways. wow what a moral lying mind job. they have done. but they are all about bussiness minded people. thats what they do, market to sell. and what a sell job they done on working people.and were do u find these votes oh yea church. oh, what was formally known as church. now just repub cult house. iam a democrate n proud of it. i have repented from my repub voting ways. n i hope us democrate’s can save this country from its 24 yrs of repub destruction. uh, what was the price of oil when jr went into office n where was it when this country voted repubs out, thank God for democrate’s. oh yea trying to cln up another repub travasty n run this country, and world policy.
The ALF-CIO as always has failed to take a principled stand. Any society worth maintaining must start with maintaining the good health of all citizens for everyone’s sake. In America, the upper 5% own more wealth than the lower 95%, so it should follow that they pay 95% of the taxes, not 50 or even 71%. The ridiculous notion that the government should not care about the health of its citizens has led us to where we are now – numerous endless wars of conquest, with no regard for caring for the war’s victims, even American soldiers, who are thrown to the wolves once they are too hurt to fight. If you Palinites win out with your wild west mentality, I guess I will have to bring a gun to the hospital and get health care like John Q. Your answer to every problem is more guns and give more money to the rich.
It would have been easy to get public support for expanding medicare to everyone. Its simple, and hard for insurance companies to distort, but the Dems let the Reps and Insurance companies turn it into a useless hodeg-podge of mush only a PHD can understand. Great.
By the way, your tax calculations as usual take into account only federal income taxes. Most of the taxes we pay are regressive taxes on the poor, like on your phone and cable bill, tollways, sales tax, license fees, parking a traffic tickets, the lottery, etc., etc., etc. You are paying taxes every time you do anything, and they have you accepting that because they have snuck it in and gotten you used to it. The rich are getting away with murder. They have control over all of our money, our jobs, ‘our’ government, our health care, or lack thereof, our chances of a secure retirement, our homes and the politicians, courts and the media, and they could not care less whether we live or die.
I care