Guaranteed Healthcare

As a union member for 41 years, I served the membership in a variety of ways when I wasn’t actually working on the job. Much of what I did was on a voluntary basis, but for nearly ten years I was elected to various paid positions. Included in my official job description and duties was the responsibility of being a “trustee” to pension and health care plans. Over the course of my time in the union I participated in face to face bargaining with employers about 730 days. That’s two years! One might say I know my way around the bargaining table. What’s more, I took it upon myself to delve into every facet of medical care coverage that I could find. It was in 1988 or 1989 that I thus discovered Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Although being an advocate for health care for everyone for many years, PNHP provided me with a realistic foundation on which to stand while building single-payer alliances. In my opinion, plenty of roadblocks were and are thrown up. I discovered there were recalcitrant employers who would rather remain ignorant instead of investigating options that could benefit both employees and employers alike. Then there were the politically or ideologically challenged bosses; they opposed anything and everything that didn’t bear the seal of the National Association of Manufacturers, or some such similar employer lobbying group. Other obstacles included trustee foundations that offered seminars. Nothing wrong with that, except the setting of agendas - and talking points - were almost always the sole purview of insurance companies, health care “consultants”, and of course for-profit providers. It may come as no surprise to you if I report that shifting some of the costs for health insurance onto the backs of workers, and/or reducing their benefits, were typical “solutions” proffered by seminar “facilitators” to deal with rising health care costs. At more than one seminar workshop I challenged the veracity of what was being peddled by health care industry spokespeople. Not used to being confronted with contrary findings, or unable to answer rather simple questions, the spokespeople often threw a shoe while attempting to cross the finish line. That was not my objective for them, but then again, looking back down the track and seeing what they had left behind, it was an apt conclusion to a rigged race. All this is offered as a backdrop to get to my real point: No honest advocate for workers would dare enter negotiations demanding half of what is needed by the very people they represent. Two important words appear in the foregoing sentence: “honest” and “advocate”. Unfortunately, too many in labor are willing to settle for much less than what is needed, and regrettably, there are a few faux-advocates who reduce demands prior to presenting them to the employer! Allegorically, let’s suppose your daughter is running a fever. You take her to the doctor’s office. After going through the rigmarole of checking in, showing your insurance card, and filling out some forms you’re told to take a seat. After 40 minutes you are called and directed to Room #3. You and your eight year old wait ten more minutes. A nurse enters, asks some questions, takes your daughters temperature, and announces something you’ve known…she has a fever! She leaves while telling you the doctor will be in shortly. Ten minutes later a Physician Assistant walks in. He asks some questions, takes your daughter’s temp again, and tells you she has a fever due to an infection that is “going around”. You inquire what should be done to help her. The PA says that 100mg of a certain drug in tablet form will resolve the infection and the fever in three days. You’re elated! Your dear baby girl will be better soon! Then comes the bombshell. The PA tells you that he’s only going to prescribe 50mg, and that “may” bring the fever down and resolve the infection “within two weeks”. Understandably, you go ballistic! You demand the 100mg so that your daughter can recover as soon as possible. That’s when you learn that your insurance company will only approve 50mg, “to see if that will work”. If you’re anything like me, you wouldn’t dare leave that clinic until your daughter received everything she required. Period! You would not settle for half of what she needed. You’d walk out with a prescription for 100mg! Why, then, are some labor representatives and way too many politicians willing to settle for half of what is needed? Don’t get me wrong. They never settle for less than what they need. Neither do their children. They get all the health care they require or desire. The half that they are willing to sacrifice is your half and the halves of the tens and tens of millions of people just like you and me. Single-payer health care, and specifically HR 676, is what we need. 25 State Labor Federations understand that. More than 250 labor and faith-based and community organizations understand it, so what’s with the labor people and the politicians who “don’t understand it”. The last three words are in quotes for a reason. They really do understand it! But for reasons that are either unsavory or unenlightened they alibi that trying to get what is needed is not in the cards. They tell you it is too expensive! Or they tell you that HR 676 is “socialized medicine” [Anecdote: Such people are poster “children” for why national health care is so sorely needed. They don’t know the difference between “socialism” and rheumatism, but with the comprehensive care offered in HR 676, they would have the opportunity to be treated for perception deprivation.) Presidential candidates and other politicians – and labor “representatives” wishing to remain cozy with the lot in Congress - who advocate band-aids to treat the heart attack of our national health care crisis, must be challenged Follow the money! Follow the money! You’ll discover insurance companies and for-profit hospitals and pharmaceutical firms all toss bags full of money through the open transoms of Congressional offices in the dead of night. In other words, the health care industry rains seas of cash into the outstretched arms of too many lawmakers. Corporate America has its own agenda. By keeping us in a constant state of economic insecurity, they are able to control us! We are told that we must work harder to compete with foreign companies. We are never told, however, that many of the very U.S. corporations telling us to work harder, in one form or another own those foreign companies! Such is the snake oil of “globalization”. (One thing has had me puzzled for quite awhile: Automakers claim they must add $1500 to the cost of each auto just to pay for employee health benefits. If that is so, how are they able to afford the $2500 - $5000 rebates they offer?) Every industrialized nation (except ours) has a national health care plan. Most industrialized nations (but not ours) have mandated vacations and holidays for workers. Some industrialized nations (not us) have 35.5 hour workweeks. Somehow, someway they are able to compete globally! That defies everything we are told! We here in the U.S. work more and earn less. If we are lucky we do no more than struggle to maintain health coverage. The unlucky ones (the uninsured) die at the rate of 18,000 souls each year. They die because they cannot afford the care or prescription drugs they need to stay alive. The first few words in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States are, “We the people…” not “Me the people…” Those of us who do the heavy lifting in America understand that we are indeed a We nation. Unfortunately, far too many politicians, and too many advocates for working men and women do not get it. In closing: Anyone who tells you that HR 676 is not possible is lying. Anyone who tells you that HR 676 is too expensive is lying. Anyone who tells you that HR 676 is socialized medicine is lying. Anyone who tells you HR 676 is not in the cards is either motivated by greed or power. And they’ll lie to protect either! I am sick and tired of labor faking pie cards, and on-the-take politicians telling us that we cannot have (or do not deserve) the same level of health care coverage they enjoy as a matter of routine. Just who the hell do they think they are? This is our country, not theirs to do with as they please! What prompted me to write this message is to call attention to the duplicity in our nation. Another – and even more compelling – reason is that health care is a right, not a privilege. Each of us dies a little bit when anyone needlessly perishes because they could not get the medical care they needed to stay alive. You wouldn’t settle for half of what your daughter needs. Nobody else should have to settle for half of what is needed either. Rich Aged 66 Retired