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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Health Care Reform: The Morning After

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Health Care Reform: The Morning After

— Barbara O’Brien

Many politicians and pundits warned us that the health care reform (HCR) legislation that just became law will destroy America. Government bureaucrats will take over health care decisions, we were told. The old and infirm would be hauled away by death panels. Everything about the way we receive our medical care will change, and change drastically, they said.

Medicare recipients have been frightened by stories that their benefits will be cut. Middle-age people are worried they will lose their jobs when the law’s dreaded regulations, or taxes, or maybe regulations with taxes, would destroy their employers’ businesses.

The truth is, very little will change for most people. If you were insured by employee benefits before HCR, you will be insured by exactly the same policy in exactly the same way after HCR. You will have access to the same doctors on the same terms. “Government bureaucrats” will no more be involved in your health care than they were before.

And the same is true of Medicare, which of course is a government program, although many of the people who opposed the HCR bill don’t seem to know that.

Here are the “cataclysmic” changes to health care that are now in effect, or which will go into effect within the next six months for people who are already in group insurance plans:

• The law says you can’t lose your insurance coverage because you get sick. Before, in many states, if you were stricken with a severe illness such as mesothelioma cancer that would be expensive to treat, your insurer could use just about any excuse to cancel your coverage. That is over.

• HCR has ended lifetime limits on coverage. As long as you are receiving medical care, your insurer pays the bills.

• Your children can be covered on your existing policy until they are 26 years old.

• In six months, insurers cannot refuse to insure people under the age of 19 because of “pre-existing conditions.” This provision will go into effect for everyone in 2014.

And if you are on Medicare, you will be asked to struggle with the following:

• You get a free annual checkup.

• The co-pays and deductibles on many preventive care services are eliminated.

• If you are in the Medicare D “doughnut hole,” you will get a $250 rebate check in a few weeks. The hole itself will be closed gradually and will be gone by 2020.

But what about all those terrible regulations and taxes that are about to drive businesses out of business? Um, there really isn’t much to report. Oh, wait, here’s one — a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps will go into effect July 1. That’s about it.

However, beginning this year a tax credit will be available for some small businesses to help provide insurance coverage for employees.

Soon the politicians and pundits will start trying to frighten you about the provisions that will go into effect after this year. I assure you they are about as scary as the provisions that go into effect this year, but I will discuss them in a follow-up post.

— Barbara O’Brien

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

How About More Work for Less Pay?

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The work of government must still get done but the Governor is proposing more shut down days. I can't wait until the legislature adds more to the three the Governor (our friend) is proposing.

American workers both public and private are working smarter and doing more in the same amount of time. Last year alone, productivity rose over 8 percent in the 3rd quarter.

Even with the largest gain in productivity in years, employers continue layoffs and load more work on fewer workers. At the same time pay checks are flat lined, workers are under pressure wondering if they will see the next pink slip.

Nationally, there are more than 15 million workers unemployed, with the real figures probably closer to 21 million.

If the economy as a whole is to benefit, rising productivity must benefit not only the CEO, but must benefit the American worker. For over a decade productivity gains have not been accompanied by wage increases.

Nationally employees are constantly threatened with outsourcing, and in Maine they are told they should be grateful just to have a job while company profits are siphoned out at ten, twenty, even 60 thousand dollars an hour by the system of interlocking board directorates.

In Maine, State Employees have been aware of the rising health care premiums, for years. We have negotiated the retention of our benefits by foregoing raises. Last year the legislature listening the rabid right, said we had maintained too much, and made an attack on health care and benefits ignoring the fact that these benefits had been paid for in advance.

Our Unions and our politicians must hear us! We need those politicians we voted for to do something for the men and women working more and getting paid less. They cannot ask us to solve these financial problems alone, we have been the target of right wing idiots and talk show host for too long. We have paid enough. Our Unions must start an offensive and stop trying to pacify the right. It has never worked and it will never work.

The layers of management, contracting out, and political patronage must be the next targets. One department, OIT has laid off some contractors. This is a great first step, bad for those laid off employees but the fairest solution when there is existing talent to do the work.

These are exactly the conditions that demonstrate the need for the EFCA and strong Unions. Using collective bargaining, Unions negotiate for workers rights and fair wages and benefits. When each of us can be threatened with financial ruin only by working together can we have any power.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Narrow and Contested Victory for NUHW in California

In a narrow victory, on Friday, caregivers at Santa Rosa Memorial hospital, led by former SEIU member Sal Roselli, voted to join (NUHW) the National Union of Healthcare Workers, possibly ending a six-year struggle.

Sal Roselli

The six year fight was not only between the workers and management, but was marked by protracted legal battles between SEIU and NUHW. The fight between the two million strong SEIU and the almost non-existent NUHW drew national attention last year after political leaders and religious leaders rallied with caregivers at the motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, the founding order of St. Joseph Health System, which owns Memorial.

After several years and under growing pressure from the community, the hospital agreed to negotiate with workers’ representatives to establish ground rules for a free and fair union election.

It was a narrow victory, but after six years and massive efforts by SEIU the win was telling. The vote was 283 for NUHW, 263 for No Union, and 13 for SEIU.

On Friday night SEIU, as of 7:00 p.m. was trying to stop the labor board from certifying the results. In question were Seventeen ballots cast by workers not on the board’s list of eligible voters.

SEIU wants those ballots counted in case the “No Union” would be enough to trigger a runoff. 263 against, add 17, if all the votes were for “No Union”, you get 280, I am not sure how this would still not be a loss for SEIU.

If there are any labor law readers out there, please comment on how this would work.

April 2009. A majority of Memorial caregivers petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for an election to join NUHW. The election was delayed more than five months to resolve “blocking charges” filed by SEIU. Thelabor board denied the charges and SEIU then gained a spot on the ballot.

The rival Unions could not reach an agreement on ground rules which delayed negotiations. During the delay, hospital management mounted an aggressive, and possibly illegal anti-union campaign.

Religious leaders, the North Bay Labor Council, and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich asked SEIU to negotiate ground rules, but were rebuffed.

NUHW has filed labor Board charges against both the hospital and SEIU. SEIU has counter charges still pending against NUHW. This won't be over quickly as SEIU sees this loss as the first dominoe in a long line.

SEIU gauged the lack of support for wearing the purple correctly and sent employees mailers and visited them constantly at home and at work, urging them not to vote for NUHW, claiming the rival Union was not in their best interest.

If this election victory for NUHW with 600 workers is certified it will have little effect on SEIU, but if next month when more than 2,300 Kaiser Permanente professionals in Southern California vote whether they want to remain with SEIU or quit and join NUHW, SEIU loses it opens the door to further pending elections that could potentially affect elections affecting up to 100,000 workers at facilities across California.

It seems such a waste of resources. We are Union members and we should have been able to negotiate something that did not lead to this internal warfare. SEIU is having continuing success in California taking on the government over furloughs, shut down days, and lay offs. Just think how much more could have been done if we could remain united.

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