Working America, Union Members Deliver for Health Care Reform
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In Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota, Delaware, Arkansas and Indiana this week, Working America members and union volunteers are sending a message to their senators: You need to pass real health care reform.
Working America and union members delivered thousands of handwritten letters to senators in these key states. On Tuesday in Louisiana, Wednesday in Arkansas and yesterday in four other states, these activists brought more than 15,000 letters to their senators in support of health care reform that expands coverage, doesn’t raise costs for middle-class families because it doesn’t tax their benefits and includes a public health insurance option to help hold insurance companies accountable.
You can join the fight and demand a Senate debate on health care reform here.
Senate Health Care Bill: Moving in the Right Direction
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Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) officially released the Senate’s version of health care reform legislation, a major step toward the health care reform bill America has been waiting for. The first vote to begin debate on this historic bill could happen as soon as Saturday.
It’s an improved bill from the one passed by the Senate Finance Committee last month. It still falls short of an ideal bill but, like the one passed by the U.S. House earlier this month, it greatly increases coverage, helps make health insurance more affordable and includes a public health insurance option to compete with insurance companies.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says Reid has shown courage and leadership in bringing a good bill to the full Senate. Trumka says the bill is a step in the right direction, because it would cover 31 million people, control costs, include a public option and cut $127 billion from the deficit in the first decade. Trumka notes that unfortunately, while many of the bill’s financing mechanisms are fair, it is still partially funded through a tax on health benefits.
Vote Now for POP Art Winner
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The art on the left is just one of six fantastic submissions to the Public Option Please (POP) contest, launched earlier this fall to cut through the Washington Beltway “insider” clutter and provide a vehicle for artists to make the moral case for health care reform and promote a public health insurance option as a vital part of health care reform.
You can take part in the contest by helping choose a winner from among the six finalists. You have until midnight tomorrow to make your selection in the contest, sponsored by POP, a non-profit, grassroots organization committed to achieving affordable health care for all Americans. Click here to vote.
The six finalists (click here to see all and vote) were selected earlier this month by a panel of judges, including AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker. The Public Choice Award winner will be announced Saturday along with the several juried prizes chosen by the judges. The winning art works will be featured on posters, T-shirts and stickers.
New Polls Show Public Demands a Public Option, and More Health Care News
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We’re watching closely to see if the U.S. Senate begins its debate on health care this week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will unveil the Senate bill tonight and we could see the first vote to begin debate as early as Saturday.
As we make some progress in the Senate, however, let’s remember we need to make sure the bill that passes isn’t just reform in name only, but really helps people. That means we need a public health insurance option to compete with insurance companies and keep health care affordable for everyone.
Across the country, people understand that a public health insurance option matters:
- In a new AP poll: 52 percent support a public health insurance option compared with only 35 percent opposed.
- In a new Washington Post/ABC poll: 53 percent support a public option compared with 43 percent opposed.
- And in a new CBS poll, 61 percent of people said they wanted the choice of a public health insurance option.
Paid Leave Key to Slowing Spread of H1N1
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one worker sick with the H1N1 (swine flu) virus will infect one in 10 co-workers if he or she goes to work while infected with the virus. Even more frightening, another recent study predicted that 63 percent of Americans will be infected with the virus by the end of December.
Today, family advocates and heath care professionals told the House Education and Labor Committee that along with vaccinations, and good hygiene practices, the best way to protect workers and slow the spread of the H1N1 virus is through guaranteed paid sick leave legislation, such as the Healthy Families Act.
The CDC’s guidelines to employers and workers to slow the spread of the virus says workers who suspect they have the swine flu or another influenza-like illness should stay home and employers should allow workers to stay home “without fear of reprisals or…losing their jobs.”
Texans Rally for Reform—and Other Health Care News
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More than 3,000 union members and allies crowded the streets of Austin, Texas, on Saturday to show their support for health care reform.
The demonstrators gathered at the State Capitol to hear from workers, community leaders and lawmakers. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson got the crowd fired up, and leaders and activists from across the union movement encouraged the crowd to stay mobilized.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who voted for the House’s historic health care reform bill a week ago, thanked those present for their activism and said we need to keep fighting to pass real reform legislation. Said Doggett:
We need an engaged citizenry to say we won’t stand for anything less than genuine reform.
Let’s Have a Real Senate Debate on Health Care
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Next week, the U.S. Senate is expected to begin debate on long-promised health care reform legislation. We’ve waited decades and fought hard for this moment—but progress could be blocked if a minority of senators refuses to allow a fair debate and a fair vote.
That’s right: Despite huge wins for pro-working family, pro-health care reform candidates in the House and Senate and the election of a pro-health care reform president, a few senators can do the bidding of insurance companies and prevent a bill from getting to the floor or getting a vote.
Now is the time to contact your senators and tell them: Health care can’t wait. It’s time for action.
Here’s more news from the fight for real health care reform:
- The Alliance for Retired Americans offered thanks to members of the U.S. House who voted to pass a health care reform bill that will improve Medicare and help the young and seniors alike. Alliance members also are protesting insurance companies like Humana that have used scare tactics and falsehoods to try and stop reform.
Unions Can Help Create Good Jobs for People of Color
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Increasing union membership is one of the keys to creating more good jobs for all workers, but especially for people of color and those in low-wage jobs, several experts said today. Many of the 8.1 million jobs lost during the current recession have been good jobs, including union jobs in manufacturing. The jobs now created, mainly in the service sector, are less likely to provide what working families need.
In a new report released today, Algernon Austin, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI’s) program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy, says the United States has too few good jobs. He defines a good job as one with a wage that can support a family, health care benefits and retirement security. Using that minimal standard, Austin found that Hispanics are less than half as likely as non-Hispanic whites to have good jobs, and African Americans about two-thirds as likely.
Health Care Fight Moves to the Senate, and Other Health Care News
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The U.S. House passed historic health care reform legislation on Saturday, and now the next step in the process is for the U.S. Senate to consider its own health reform bill. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate’s majority leader, says he hopes to introduce a bill for consideration on Monday.
The challenge in the Senate is that while bills only need a simple majority to pass, a minority of senators can engage in procedural tactics to block a vote, essentially killing legislation even if it’s favored by the majority. So members of the Senate need to hear from you. Union volunteers across the nation are making calls, writing letters and rallying across the country to let their senators know what real health care reform means for them—and that we can’t wait any longer. These union members have made more than 240,000 phone calls and sent more than 380,000 letters to Congress this year, and we can’t stop now. Click here to take action.
SAG President Joins AFL-CIO Executive Council
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The AFL-CIO Executive Council today welcomed a new member, Ken Howard, president of the Screen Actors (SAG). Howard, who was elected to lead the actor’s union in September 2009, replaces former SAG President Alan Rosenberg.
Convening for a one-day meeting in Washington, D.C., the council heard from Ron Bloom, senior counselor to President Obama for manufacturing policy and a former staff member at the United Steelworkers (USW). The council and union leaders have repeatedly called on the Obama administration to quickly enact a national industrial policy to foster and sustain growth in the nation’s manufacturing industries. Increasing our manufacturing capacity is critical as the world prepares to move toward a green economy.
Pollster Celinda Lake also shared the results of polling on the economy and the political implications of a protracted jobs crisis.
