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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2017)
PAGE 26 | August 18, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS AFL-CIO Executive Council backs ‘Medicare for All’ By Mark Gruenberg Press Associates Inc. SILVER SPRING, Md. (PAI)— A strong endorsement of gov- ernment-run single-payer Medicare for All as the ultimate solution to U.S. health care ills highlighted position statements from the summer AFL-CIO Ex- ecutive Council meeting. The council’s health care statement, issued from the three- day meeting in late July at the George Meany Center in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring, Md., first denounced congressional Republicans for trashing the Affordable Care Act. “If Congress and President Trump are truly interested in im- proving health care for working people, there are many things they could do,” the fed’s state- ment said. Those Affordable Care Act fixes include tackling “hol- lowed-out coverage with de- ductibles that are far too high for the typical person,” reining in prescription drug prices, and re- peal of the “Cadillac Tax” on high-cost health plans, many of which unions have negotiated in contracts. Lawmakers should also ex- plore patient-centered alterna- tives to the private insurance system — with single-payer Medicare for All topping the list, the statement adds. “Our core goal is to move ex- peditiously toward a single- payer system, like Medicare for All, that retains a role for work- ers’ health plans and in which access to quality, affordable health care is indeed a right for everyone in this country,” it de- clares. Even as the council blasted the GOP maneuvering to repeal the ACA, that effort went down in flames in the U.S. Senate. Three Republicans — Arizona’s John McCain, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, and Maine’s Susan Collins — listened to their con- “Our core goal is to move expeditiously to- ward a single-payer sys- tem, like Medicare for All, that retains a role for workers’ health plans and in which access to quality, affordable health care is indeed a right for everyone in this country,” it declares.” — National AFL-CIO Executive Council stituents and defied the party line by opposing all versions of the so-called ACA “replace- ment” bill. Together with all 46 Democ- rats and both independents, their three votes were enough to sink the legislation. The other 49 Re- publicans voted for it. Endorsement of single-payer government-paid health care as the ultimate goal of the labor movement marked a new phase in labor’s crusade to reform the U.S. health care system. At least 20 unions have cam- paigned for single-payer for years. The AFL-CIO endorsed it as a potential objective in prior health care statements. In past years, though, Con- gress — and even its Democrats — turned a deaf ear to calls for single-payer. Former Rep. Den- nis Kucinich (D-Ohio) pushed a single-payer option through one committee during construction of the ACA, but his plan was later dropped. And a push for single-payer in California, the nation’s largest state, has been stymied by the Democratic State Assembly speaker. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, also questions how the state would pay for it. But now the AFL-CIO wants to revive the drive. And it may be gaining public support, as a recent opinion poll shows 53 percent of the public back sin- gle-payer. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., re- cently reported that even his Re- publican constituents were ask- ing him about — and backing —single-payer. The AFL-CIO’s other Execu- tive Council statements: ■ Denounced the Trump Administration’s rollback of government regulations — including dumping of a rule requiring full disclosure from union-busters ■ Reiterated pro-worker goals for negotiating a “new NAFTA” ■ Blasted the denial of voting rights through so-called Voter ID laws and said the stacked “election fraud” commission Trump named is probing a problem that doesn’t exist ■ Defended the rights of undocumented people, including more than 1 million covered under the Obama Administration’s program for protecting teenagers and young adults brought to the U.S. as children, as well as other workers under “Temporary Protected Status”
