Summary materials distributed:
What Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Would Mean for Organized
Labor
Health insurance is off the bargaining table because everybody, including spouses and children, has it
Better benefits: all necessary medical care covered under one plan
Lower cost: no premiums, deductibles, co-pays, insurance, or non-covered services; most people would pay less
Progressive financing: those who have more pay more, those who have less pay less
Money used to purchase health care instead of going to administrative overhead including insurance company profits and executive compensation
Complete choice of providers
No insurance company interference between patients and doctors Portable throughout the United States
No interruptions in coverage for periods of lay-off or other unemployment, no matter how lengthy, including job loss
Need for health insurance not a barrier to changing jobs or careers
Need for health insurance not a barrier to early retirement, or to opening one’s own business or becoming a full-time volunteer; so jobs freed up for younger people
No tax penalties for having good health insurance
No treatment delays while workers comp and regular insurance fight to avoid responsibility
Cost of health insurance not an incentive to employers to reduce hours or shift to temp workers to avoid paying for health insurance
No change in benefits or providers at retirement
Employers save all the costs associated with administrating health insurance
Gets rid of the competitive disadvantage for employers who offer health insurance compared to those who don’t
No one with a contagious disease unable to get care No one goes bankrupt over medical bills
Patients and families don’t waste time fighting with insurance companies; anxiety over medical bills doesn’t interfere with recovery
Improved general population health
Enhanced social solidarity: we are all in the same system instead of being pitted against each other; we all have an incentive to fight for a high quality system
Problems with Obamacare for organized labor
Incentives to employers to stop offering health insurance, reduce hours, and switch to temp workers
Some workers, especially low wage workers especially may suffer “chum,” that is, shift between eligibility for Medicaid and eligibility for subsidies on the exchanges
Tax on plans that offer better coverage, falsely called “Cadillac plans”
No cost controls, so total health care costs will continue to rise, and those costs will be paid by workers
Threats to multi-employer plans (Taft-Hartley plans) include adverse selection, that is. Loss of younger workers as employers drop insurance
So-called “wellness programs” penalize lower wage workers and minorities, who have greater risks of poor health, and sick people in general
Those who have relatively good insurance pitted against those who have poor insurance or none
The Medicaid expansion will be used by the health insurance industry to further Medicaid privatization—forcing recipients into for-profit HMOs; this will set the stage for further privatization of more and more public services
Gives more money and power to the health insurance industry, which will use them to further tilt the playing field toward its own interests and against the interests of the people
Unaffordable under-insurance becomes the standard that pulls everybody down
What we need: Medicare for all, for life.
Everybody in, nobody out. One nation one health plan.
Compiled by Anne Scheetz MD, annescheetz@gmail.com for ISPC, March 2013. Printed in-house with donated labor.
Health care is a human right!
How Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Will Work
What are other names for Expanded and Improved Medicare for All? Single-payer health care, national health insurance, national health program.
Who will be covered under this kind of health insurance? Every person who lives in the United States, from birth to death.
How will I get a doctor?
Because everybody will have the same insurance, you can choose any doctor, dentist, pharmacy, hospital, and other health care professional and institution that you want.
Will I have an insurance card? How will I get it?
Once the program is started, the first time you go for any kind of medical care, you will receive a simple enrollment form to fill out. Once you get your national health insurance card, you will use it whenever you need health care. Until your card comes, you will still receive all the care you need.
What kind of care will be covered?
Preventive care, nurse practitioners, doctors, midwives, hospital, dental, vision, hearing, mental health, prescription medications, chemotherapy, surgery, rehabilitation, wheelchairs and other medical equipment, and all other necessary care.
How much money will I have to pay to see a doctor or dentist? How about prescriptions? How about if I have to go to the emergency room or the hospital?
You will not have to pay anything when you go for any kind of medically necessary care.
What will my insurance premiums be? There will be no health insurance premiums.
Then how does it get paid for?
Everybody who can afford it will pay a tax based on income: the more money you make, the more you pay; the less money you make, the less you pay.
When can I start?
Unfortunately, single-payer health care, or Medicare for All, for life, does not exist yet. We will have to fight for it. To join us in this fight, go to our web site (at top), or to pnhp.org. Or, for more information or to have someone speak to your house party, church, club, or other group, contact Anne Scheetz, 773-486-6276 or armescheetz@gmail.com.
Printed in-house with donated labor.
afscmeretirees161.com (version 0320) 