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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2006)
Single-payer government health care bill gains union backers By MARK GRUENBERG WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bill es- tablishing a government-run Canadian- style single-payer health care system for the U.S., built on Medicare, is gaining union backers. The measure, H.R. 676 by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), would eliminate the private, for-profit health insurance industry by establishing a government- run system. The “United States National Health Insurance Act” would be funded through the federal budget, says a fact Local Motion April 2006 Union election activity in Oregon and SW Washington, according to the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board Elections held Results: Company Date Union Location McCabe’s Quality Foods 4/12 Teamsters Local 162 Union No Union Portland 11 39 Eugene 24 1 Rural Metro of Oregon 4/14 Nat. Emergency Medical Services Assn. Salem 30 8 Oregon Potato Company (decertification) 4/14 Teamsters Local 670 Boardman 20 21 Lane County 4/13 Fed. Ore. Parole Officers Elections requested Company Union Location # of employees KINK Radio (decertification) American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Portland 20 General Distributors (decertification) Teamsters Local 162 Portland 22 KKEX 1190 AM & KPOJ 620 AM (decertification) American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Portland 21 City of Forest Grove (decertification) AFSCME Council 75 Forest Grove 49 Pendleton Umatilla County (Sheriff’s Department) 80 Umatilla County Law Enforcement Assn vs. SEIU Local 503 St. Helens Columbia County (parole and probation) 12 Fed. of Ore. Parole & Probation Officers vs. AFSCME Council 75 The Dalles Wasco County (parole and probation) 5 Fed. of Ore. Parole & Probation Officers vs. AFSCME Council 75 Deschutes County (parole and probation) Fed. of Ore. Parole & Probation Officers vs. AFSCME Council 75 Armadillo Underground Communications Workers of America Local 7906 Beko Membrane Technology Machinists Woodworkers District Lodge 1 Center Point Graphics Graphic Communications District Council 2 Local 747-M Cove School District Oregon School Employees Association sheet from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which covers health issues. Momentum for Conyers’bill comes just after the Massachusetts Legislature voted to require every state resident to buy insurance. Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, who plans to seek his party’s presidential nomination, signed the bill, but used his line-item veto to axe its provisions that required corporations to pay their fair share of health care insurance. That prompted AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to say “it is simply ridiculous” for Romney to “try to solve Massachu- setts’ health care problems by dumping them on the backs of working people.” “An individual mandate to buy in- surance can only work if it is paired with a guarantee of affordable, compre- hensive coverage, and the legislation falls dangerously short of that goal,” Sweeney added. He said the result is that a single worker earning $28,000 a year would have to pay $350 a month — or 15 per- cent of pre-tax income — for health in- surance. Health care now takes slightly more than one-sixth of U.S. gross do- mestic product — the measurement of the value of all goods and services in the country. The latest backers of Conyers’ bill were United Auto Workers Local 1155 in Birmingham, Alabama; Machinists Lodge 1145, representing railroad ma- chinists in Selkirk and DeWitt, NY; and American Federation of Teachers Lo- cal 2334, which represents more than 20,000 faculty and staff at City Univer- sity of New York. The Ohio legislative board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, an affiliate of the Team- sters also endorsed the bill. The union said it will take the cause to its confer- ence convention in June and, if it wins, to the Teamsters convention immedi- ately afterwards. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 825, which represents bus drivers, me- chanics and other workers at New Jer- sey Transit, also voted to ask its parent international to back Conyers’ bill. HR 676 has been endorsed by 131 union organizations, including 23 cen- Broadway Floral for the BEST flowers call 503-288-5537 1638 NE Broadway, Portland Bend 16 Portland 45 Cove 11 Quarry 8” Safety toe or reg. Gortex/Vibram. Black Try a pair on, you’ll like them. Tough boots for the Northwest. BENNETT HARTMAN MORRIS & KAPLAN, LLP Attorneys at Law Representing Unions and Workers Since 1960 S ERIOUS I NJURY AND D EATH C ASES • C ONSTRUCTION I NJURIES • A UTOMOBILE A CCIDENTS • M EDICAL , D ENTAL AND L EGAL M ALPRACTICE • U NSAFE P RODUCTS • B ICYCLE AND M OTORCYCLE A CCIDENTS • P EDESTRIAN A CCIDENTS • P REMISES L IABILITY ( INJURIES ON PROPERTY ) 111 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1650, Portland, Oregon 97204 503 227-4600 www.bennetthartman.com AL’S SHOES 5811 SE 82nd, Portland 503-771-2130 Mon-Fri 10-7:30 Sat 10-5:30 Sun 12-6 MAY 19, 2006 “No cost-sharing would be imposed and benefits would only be available from public or non-profit providers,” it adds. “Non-profit HMOs that deliver care in their own facilities and employ clinicians on a salaried basis could par- ticipate.” And there would be no insurance premiums. Hospitals and nursing homes would get monthly lump-sum payments while doctors and nurses would get fee-for- service payments under a negotiated fee schedule based initially on current pre- vailing fees or reimbursement, the foun- dation says. Data from America’s Agenda: Health Care For All, a group headed by former United Food and Commercial Workers President Doug Dority, shows health insurance premiums rose 60 per- cent since the year 2000, but “the pro- portion of premiums that insurers paid out for medical costs declined” in the same time. The money went into insurers’ prof- its and claims processing — paperwork. Other data shows private insurers spend approximately one-fifth of their revenue on overhead, including processing. Medicare — the basis for Conyers’ bill — spends three percent. • W ORKERS ’ C OMPENSATION I NJURIES Salem 7 Bend 7 tral labor councils and two state AFL- CIO federations (Kentucky and Penn- sylvania). Conyers’bill also has 68 U.S. House co-sponsors. None are from Oregon and only Jim McDermott has co-sposnred from Washington. But Conyers’ bill may not see the light of day in the Republican-con- trolled Congress, which instead is con- sidering legislation in the Senate that would supposedly help small busi- nesses band together to get health in- surance. In reality, the AFL-CIO said, that measure, pushed by the National Fed- eration of Independent Business, could raise the premiums on people who are insured and increase the number of the uninsured, now 46 million. Conyers’ bill would mandate com- prehensive coverage of “all medically necessary services:” primary care and prevention, inpatient and outpatient care, long-term care, emergency care, mental health services, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, full dental services (except cosmetic den- tistry), substance abuse treatment, chi- ropractic services and basic vision care and vision correction, the summary says. NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS (Our Legal Staff are Proud Members of UFCW Local 555) PAGE 9
