By Harry Kelber
The Labor Educator
When the AFL-CIO Executive Council meets March 6-8 in Las Vegas, it will be deciding what to do about the nation’s most important domestic problem, health insurance for all Americans. It should recognize the wishes of millions of union members and endorse and campaign for the United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676) that would establish a single-payer health insurance system with guaranteed coverage for all Americans.
The Council will surely be impressed by the grass-roots, extraordinary support for H.R. 676. Union members in 40 states, represented by 239 labor organizations that include four international unions, 17 state federations, 63 central labor councils and scores of local unions, favor the single-payer measure, which eliminates profiteering by insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and HMOs.
H.R. 676 would create a publicly-financed, privately-delivered health care system that uses the already existing Medicare program by expanding it and improving it for all U.S. residents. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that all Americans, regardless of employment, income or health care status, will have a legal guarantee for access to the highest quality and cost effective health care services.
The four AFL-CIO international unions that have officially endorsed H.R. 676 are: United Auto Workers, International Longshore Workers Union, United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, and the National Association of Letter Carriers. In addition, there are many members in virtually every international union who support the bill.
The 17 state federations that have signed on for H.R. 676 (originally introduced by Rep. John Conyers, a pro-labor congressman from Michigan) are: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington State, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
AFL-CIO Can Reclaim Image as Workers’ Champion
The Council’s endorsement would put the single-payer plan in the forefront of the national debate about how to reform the health care system. It would make organized labor a principal player in the debate, giving new hope to the 47 million Americans that have no health care coverage and the millions who are being exploited by insurance and drug companies.
An AFL-CIO campaign for H.R. 676 would receive an immediate and enthusiastic response from tens of thousands of union members across the country, who would gladly volunteer for a cause that means so much for working families. The “talking points” for H.R. 676. are numerous and persuasive: Under single-payer, everyone is guaranteed choice of physician, as well as comprehensive and uniform coverage. Whether you’re rich or poor, you get the same level of treatment.
Even if you are unemployed or lose or change your job, your health coverage goes with you. It ends the insurance companies’ interference with care. There is no denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions or cancellation of policies for “unreported” minor health problems.
The amount of money that single-payer can save will be enormous. Insurance agencies and drug companies are notorious for their high administrative costs, exorbitant executive salaries, and profits for the stockholders. And perhaps best of all, the single-payer system doesn’t have to start from scratch. It builds on Medicare, which has served millions of Americans for four decades.
All of the current proposals on health care, including President Bush’s, rely on “market forces,” allowing the for-profit companies to continue their exploitive control of an industry that serves a vital human need.
By endorsing H.R. 676 and waging a full-scale campaign for its passage, the AFL-CIO can regain the respectful attention it once had in Washington and across the country. It could probably serve as a boost for the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Executive Council’s decision on national health insurance may be as important as any it has made in years. Let’s hope it is the right one.
Our two weekly columns and their archives (LaborTalk and The World of Labor) can be viewed and downloaded at our website: http://www.laboreducator.org.