AFL-CIO will campaign for ‘Medicare for
All’ to replace current insurance-run system
LAS VEGAS (PAI) — Armed with
universal denunciation of the broken
health care system, the national AFL-
CIO Executive Council voted unani-
mously last month to campaign for a
massive change: Expanding Medicare
to the entire country.
Union leaders ranging from those
representing public employees to in-
dustrial unions and construction work-
ers with multi-employer health care
plans jointly run by unions and man-
agement, blasted the present setup.
The vote puts the AFL-CIO on
record with a specific universal health
care plan that would involve payments
from individuals, government and busi-
ness — with government running it to
cut administrative costs and bargain
prices, just as it now runs Medicare.
It also marks a notable break from
the past, as unions helped construct the
present system, but watched it become
increasingly and overly expensive for
workers and companies — even while
47 million people are uninsured and
millions more are underinsured.
Companies are dropping health care
coverage for workers and retirees, and
health care is the No. 1 battle in bar-
gaining.
“The time for talking about this cri-
sis is past,” the AFL-CIO said. “All
families deserve the security of a uni-
versal health care system that guaran-
tees access based on need rather than
income. Health care is a fundamental
human right and an important measure
of social justice.”
The Executive Council statement
laid down principles of universal cov-
erage, that “government, as the voice
of all of us, must play the central role
in regulating, financing and providing
health care,” that coverage “should be
accessible through the largest possible
groups to ensure coverage” for all, and
that everyone — including employers
— must share responsibility for health
care financing.
It then said that “one concrete plan
that meets the test of comprehensive,
universal health coverage would build
on our nation’s successful universal
health coverage plan for seniors:
Medicare.”
‘All families deserve the
security of a universal
health care system that
guarantees access based
on need rather than
income. Health care is a
fundamental human right
and an important
measure of social justice.’
“We tried to look for fundamental
principles for cost-efficient, high-qual-
ity universal coverage, taking the load
off employers, while we can create the
largest pool” of clients “and have gov-
ernment play the lead role,” said Leo
Gerard, president of the United Steel-
workers Union and chair of the federa-
tion’s Legislation Committee.
After lauding Medicare, which has
the federal government provide univer-
sal coverage paid for through payroll
taxes, and with seniors having a choice
of doctors, the AFL-CIO adds expand-
ing it to all “would require updating
and expanding Medicare benefits to fit
the working population and children,
as well as negotiating prices with
physicians and providers that families
and the country can afford.”
In passing the resolution, the AFL-
CIO rejected the Bush Administra-
tion’s scheme to tax workers who get
what Bush calls “gold-plated” health
insurance. Bush would tax those plans,
pushing many companies to dump
them.
“Until comprehensive national re-
form is enacted, we will continue to
defend health benefits workers have
fought and sacrificed to establish over
the last 50 years,” the AFL-CIO said.
While the union leaders did not en-
dorse any specific bill to change the na-
tion’s health care system, AFL-CIO
health care policy specialist Gerald
Shea said several fit its proposal.
They include the single-payer gov-
ernment-run health care system bill
(HR 676) by Rep. John Conyers (D-
Mich.) and Medicare-for-all bills
crafted by Senate Labor Committee
Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-
Mass.), House Commerce Committee
Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) and
House Health Subcommittee Chair-
man Pete Stark (D-Calif.).
“Conyers would put single-payer in
place, while the others would build on
Medicare,” Shea said. Those other bills
would extend Medicare to the whole
country, but still leave a role for private
insurers, said Walter and Kay Tillow,
who handle communications for the
Louisville-based Nurses Professional
Organization/All-Unions Committee
for Single-Payer Health Care.
That group has convinced at least
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The Tillows said they welcome the
national AFL-CIO statement as “a big
advance” over the present system, but
criticized leaving a role for the private
insurers.
Shea said the key to the federation’s
getting support for extending Medicare
to all is to recruit some employers. Em-
ployers in the aerospace, telecommuni-
cations, steel and paper industries have
talked to their unions about backing the
Medicare-for-all plan, but nothing has
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