AFL-CIO Labor Convention to Push for Health Care Public Option

[Better Believe It]

A.F.L.-C.I.O. to Push for Overhaul With Public Option
By Steven Greenhouse
September 14, 2009

The federation’s delegates are set to approve a resolution that says the nation’s health care system is badly broken and that backs a far-reaching overhaul that would include a government-run option to compete with private insurers.

The labor federation — representing nearly 10 million workers and one of the most powerful lobbying forces in the nation — is scheduled to approve the resolution the same day that Mr. Obama speaks at the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s convention here.

The resolution strongly backs the public option, saying it would force private insurance to cut costs and premiums.

“A public health insurance plan is crucial to making health care coverage more affordable for working families, business and government,” the resolution states. “A public plan would have lower administrative costs than private plans and would not have to earn a profit. These features, combined with its ability to establish payment rates, would result in lower premiums for the public plan.”

Not surprisingly, the federation calls for a surtax on the wealthiest taxpayers to help finance health care reform. At the same time, the resolution opposes proposals to tax employer-provided health benefits over a certain monetary amount as a way to help finance reform: “Employers likely would respond by increasing employee cost-sharing to a level at which benefits would become unaffordable for low-wage workers, or by eliminating benefits altogether.”

The federation is also expected to back a secondary resolution that endorses creation of a single-payer health plan, much like Canada’s.

Please read the complete article at:

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/afl-cio-to-push-for-overhaul-with-public-option/

[joeycola]

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[oasis]

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[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

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