From editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org Mon Jul 1 22:45:10 2013 From: editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org (Single Payer News) Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2013 22:45:10 -0400 Subject: Idaho AFL-CIO endorses HR 676, National Single Payer Health Care Message-ID: Idaho AFL-CIO endorses HR 676, National Single Payer Health Care Rian Van Leuven, President of the Idaho State AFL-CIO, announced that on June 12, 2013, the delegates to the 55th Annual Idaho State AFL-CIO Convention passed a resolution to publicly endorse and support H.R. 676, Single Payer Healthcare. Further the resolution states "That the Idaho State AFL-CIO will develop working relationships with community organizations in Idaho which advocate for single-payer healthcare and Medicaid expansion." Louis Schlickman, MD, an Idaho physician who practices in Meridian and is Co Chair of the Physicians for a National Health Program state chapter, showed the movie Escape Fire and made a single payer presentation to the convention prior to the passage of the resolution. After the resolution for HR 676 was passed by the Idaho State AFL-CIO Convention, Dr. Schlickman stated that, ?Collectively we are all realizing that unions in general can play a huge role in helping others, not just union workers, see the merit in a single payer financing system of care.? Dr. Schlickman observed that union members ?have seen how one unexpected illness or injury leads to significant catastrophes of health and income status. And most important, they understand the issue of solidarity.? Idaho is the 43rd State AFL-CIO Federation to endorse HR 676, which was introduced into the 113th Congress by Representative John Conyers (D MI). The bill is subtitled Expanded and Improved Medicare for All. #30# HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system by expanding a greatly improved Medicare to everyone residing in the U. S. HR 676 would cover every person for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental (including oral surgery, periodontics, endodontics), mental health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care and correction, hearing services including hearing aids, chiropractic, durable medical equipment, palliative care, podiatric care, and long term care. HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save hundreds of billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs. In the current Congress, HR 676 has 43 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers. HR 676 has been endorsed by 604 union organizations including 145 Central Labor Councils/Area Labor Federations and 43 state AFL-CIO's (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA, AK, MI, MT, NE, NJ, NY, NV, MA, RI, NH, & ID). For further information, a list of union endorsers, or a sample endorsement resolution, contact: Kay Tillow All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo at aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayer.org 7/01/13 To STOP receiving these emails reply with REMOVE in subject line. From editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org Fri Jul 5 12:14:58 2013 From: editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org (Single Payer News) Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 12:14:58 -0400 Subject: As Obamacare insurance exchanges near launch, labor braces for impact Message-ID: As Obamacare insurance exchanges near launch, labor braces for impact http://nwlaborpress.org/2013/06/obamacare-insurance-exchanges-near-launch/ By DON McINTOSH, Associate Editor Organized labor ? entirely left out of the legislation that became known as Obamacare ? has spent years behind the scenes patiently pleading with the Obama Administration to be allowed to benefit from the law?s implementation. Now, four months before the law?s mandated state insurance exchanges launch, it appears that while some union members will benefit, many others may actually be harmed. The state-by-state health insurance exchanges, which launch Oct. 1, 2013, are the linchpin of Obamacare?s plan to cover the uninsured. The exchanges will benefit a minority of low-wage union members who don?t currently have employer-provided health insurance. But they may harm many other union members who are covered through union-affiliated multi-employer health trusts ? which are prevalent in construction and in low-wage industries like grocery and janitorial. The harm would come chiefly because union members and their employers won?t have access to individual subsidies, or to small-employer tax credits, for insurance purchased on the exchanges. But their nonunion competitors will. How unions are shut out of the state insurance exchanges The state exchanges will begin selling insurance Oct. 1 to individuals and small businesses, with coverage to take effect Jan. 1, 2014. All otherwise uninsured individuals will be required to purchase health insurance, or else face a tax penalty that starts at 1 percent of income and rises to 2.5 percent by 2016. Those earning up to four times the poverty level will get some amount of subsidy when they purchase on the exchanges. And the poorest ? those earning less than 133 percent of the poverty level ? will have their insurance paid for entirely. But individuals won?t be allowed to buy insurance on the exchanges if their employer provides health insurance. And most union employers do provide health insurance. Unionized janitorial and security contractors in Portland, for example, recently signed five-year contracts committing them to provide insurance. Nonunion employers that currently provide insurance could decide to drop coverage, and give raises to cover their workers? individual premiums for insurance bought on the exchanges. But union employers wouldn?t have that option while their current contracts continued. Meanwhile, small businesses (less than 50 employees) don?t have to provide insurance under the new law. But they get a tax credit reimbursing them 50 percent of the cost if they purchase insurance on the exchanges for their employees. Yet unionized small businesses that purchase insurance through union health trusts won?t get that tax credit. The tax credit only goes for insurance that?s sold on the exchanges. And the trusts can?t sell on the exchanges. The trusts are neither insurers nor employers, strictly speaking; they?re more like jointly-run purchasing pools that self-insure or purchase group insurance plans. Union trusts forced to subsidize insurance companies, while employers face pressure to cut hours, benefits That?s not all. Union health trusts will actually have to pay a temporary tax to subsidize private insurance companies selling individual coverage on the exchanges. In the exchanges, insurance companies have to take all comers, and are barred from denying coverage based on ?pre-existing conditions.? To compensate them for any losses that might cause, the government is creating a ?reinsurance? pool, funded by $20 billion in taxes that will be levied on all group health plans over a three-year period. The tax will be $63 per covered individual for the first year, and four-fifths of that amount will go to pay for the reinsurance program. Lastly, large businesses (more than 50 employees) that don?t provide insurance will face a tax penalty of a little under $2,000 a year per full-time worker. But they face no penalty for not providing insurance to part-time workers. That gives large employers a powerful incentive to reduce hours to less than 30 a week ? particularly if their employees are low-wage, and thus would qualify for subsidized coverage on the exchange. But again, that won?t be the case with large unionized employers ? if they?re locked into multi-year collective bargaining agreements under which they provide health benefits to part-time workers. United Food and Commercial Workers spokesperson Tim Schlittner said those union employers are going to feel increased competitive pressure to drop coverage for part-timers. If that happens, those workers will be able to get coverage on the exchanges, but benefits won?t be nearly as good. ?Now, that will obviously be subject to the negotiations at the bargaining table,? Schlittner said, ?and we?re going to work to ensure we get the best health care possible for our members. But we want a level playing field, and we want to get rid of this incentive that?s driving companies to drop coverage.? For some union employers, there?s more to come. Starting in 2018, the government will levy a 40 percent excise tax on so-called ?Cadillac? health plans: Any employer or health insurer that offers a plan that costs more than $10,200 a year for an individual or $27,500 for a family would pay the tax on any amount exceeding that threshold. The expectation is not that the tax would actually be collected. Rather, any employer faced with throwing away 40 cents on the dollar would take whatever measures needed to lower premiums. They would do that by lowering benefits. Done with private pleading With labor locked out of Obamacare?s benefits, and forced to pay its costs, some labor leaders are getting vocal. On April 24, Roofers Union President Kinsey Robinson called for repeal, or complete reform, of the law. Concerns expressed by his union about certain provisions of the ACA have been totally ignored, Robinson said in a press statement: ?These provisions jeopardize our multi-employer health plans, have the potential to cause a loss of work for our members, create an unfair bidding advantage for those contractors who do not provide health coverage to their workers, and in the worst case, may cause our members and their families to lose the benefits they currently enjoy as participants in multi-employer health plans.? Premiums for family coverage provided by union health trusts averages about $16,000 a year, said Randy DeFrehn, executive director of the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP) ? a trade association for the union trusts. That works out to over $7 an hour for a full-time employee, DeFrehn said, and it?s a labor cost that has to be covered when an employer contributing to these plans is head to head in a competitive bidding situation. President Obama?s promise to labor ? if you like the health plan you?ve got now, you can keep it ? ?is simply not true for millions of workers,? said UFCW President Joseph Hansen, who?s also chair of the Change to Win labor federation, in a May 20 op-ed in The Hill newspaper. ?All we want is equality ? where our plans are treated the same as for-profit insurers,? Hansen wrote. ?We?d be open to a legislative fix, but ultimately this is the administration?s responsibility. They are leading the regulatory process. It?s their signature law.? As many as 20 million people ? union workers, retirees and dependents ? get health insurance through union-affiliated multi-employer trusts, says NCCMP?s DeFrehn. For two years, DeFrehn?s group pushed the Obama administration to interpret the law in such a way that the union health trusts could be deemed ?qualified health plans? in the exchange ? so that participating small employers could receive the tax credit. But DeFrehn told the Labor Press his group has given up on that approach, having gotten nowhere. Instead, NCCMP is now readying a proposal to let union health plans redefine eligibility ? dropping lower-income individuals from coverage ? so that they would be eligible for the subsidized coverage on the exchange. Employers could still contribute to pay for the employee share of the premium purchased on the exchange, just not through the trust. DeFrehn said that proposal is still under consideration, but time is running out. The exchanges open in just over 100 days. Jun 19, 2013 #30# Distributed by: All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo at aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayer.org 7/08/13 To STOP receiving these emails reply with REMOVE in subject line. From editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org Wed Jul 17 21:55:59 2013 From: editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org (Single Payer News) Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 21:55:59 -0400 Subject: No subject Message-ID: <69465b1a12e0f8459a96320390a6e06d.squirrel@unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org> Three Union Presidents write to Reid and Pelosi demanding an ?equitable fix? for Obamacare The presidents of three international unions, IBT, UFCW and UNITE-HERE, have sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi expressing deep concern over the impact Obamacare will have on workers. The full text of their letter follows. Dear Leader Reid and Leader Pelosi: When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class. Like millions of other Americans, our members are front-line workers in the American economy. We have been strong supporters of the notion that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. We have also been strong supporters of you. In campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure this vision. Now this vision has come back to haunt us. Since the ACA was enacted, we have been bringing our deep concerns to the Administration, seeking reasonable regulatory interpretations to the statute that would help prevent the destruction of non-profit health plans. As you both know first-hand, our persuasive arguments have been disregarded and met with a stone wall by the White House and the pertinent agencies. This is especially stinging because other stakeholders have repeatedly received successful interpretations for their respective grievances. Most disconcerting of course is last week?s huge accommodation for the employer community ? extending the statutorily mandated ?December 31, 2013? deadline for the employer mandate and penalties. Time is running out: Congress wrote this law; we voted for you. We have a problem; you need to fix it. The unintended consequences of the ACA are severe. Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios: First, the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees? work hours below 30 hours a week. Numerous employers have begun to cut workers? hours to avoid this obligation, and many of them are doing so openly. The impact is two-fold: fewer hours means less pay while also losing our current health benefits. Second, millions of Americans are covered by non-profit health insurance plans like the ones in which most of our members participate. These non-profit plans are governed jointly by unions and companies under the Taft-Hartley Act. Our health plans have been built over decades by working men and women. Under the ACA as interpreted by the Administration, our employees will treated differently and not be eligible for subsidies afforded other citizens. As such, many employees will be relegated to second-class status and shut out of the help the law offers to for-profit insurance plans. And finally, even though non-profit plans like ours won?t receive the same subsidies as for-profit plans, they?ll be taxed to pay for those subsidies. Taken together, these restrictions will make non-profit plans like ours unsustainable, and will undermine the health-care market of viable alternatives to the big health insurance companies. On behalf of the millions of working men and women we represent and the families they support, we can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care Act that will destroy the very health and well-being of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans. We believe that there are common-sense corrections that can be made within the existing statute that will allow our members to continue to keep their current health plans and benefits just as you and the President pledged. Unless changes are made, however, that promise is hollow. We continue to stand behind real health care reform, but the law as it stands will hurt millions of Americans including the members of our respective unions. We are looking to you to make sure these changes are made. James P. Hoffa General President International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joseph Hansen International President UFCW D. Taylor President UNITE-HERE http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/07/12/union-letter-obamacare-will-destroy-the-very-health-and-wellbeing-of-workers/ Distributed by: All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo at aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayer.org 7/17/13 To STOP receiving these emails reply with REMOVE in subject line From editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org Wed Jul 17 22:00:06 2013 From: editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org (Single Payer News) Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 22:00:06 -0400 Subject: Three Union Presidents write to Reid and Pelosi demanding an =?iso-8859-1?Q?=93equitable_fix=94_for_Obamacare?= Message-ID: <18295a3957936f77cf120387e1eb195f.squirrel@unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org> Three Union Presidents write to Reid and Pelosi demanding an ?equitable fix? for Obamacare The presidents of three international unions, IBT, UFCW and UNITE-HERE, have sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi expressing deep concern over the impact Obamacare will have on workers. The full text of their letter follows. Dear Leader Reid and Leader Pelosi: When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class. Like millions of other Americans, our members are front-line workers in the American economy. We have been strong supporters of the notion that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. We have also been strong supporters of you. In campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure this vision. Now this vision has come back to haunt us. Since the ACA was enacted, we have been bringing our deep concerns to the Administration, seeking reasonable regulatory interpretations to the statute that would help prevent the destruction of non-profit health plans. As you both know first-hand, our persuasive arguments have been disregarded and met with a stone wall by the White House and the pertinent agencies. This is especially stinging because other stakeholders have repeatedly received successful interpretations for their respective grievances. Most disconcerting of course is last week?s huge accommodation for the employer community ? extending the statutorily mandated ?December 31, 2013? deadline for the employer mandate and penalties. Time is running out: Congress wrote this law; we voted for you. We have a problem; you need to fix it. The unintended consequences of the ACA are severe. Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios: First, the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees? work hours below 30 hours a week. Numerous employers have begun to cut workers? hours to avoid this obligation, and many of them are doing so openly. The impact is two-fold: fewer hours means less pay while also losing our current health benefits. Second, millions of Americans are covered by non-profit health insurance plans like the ones in which most of our members participate. These non-profit plans are governed jointly by unions and companies under the Taft-Hartley Act. Our health plans have been built over decades by working men and women. Under the ACA as interpreted by the Administration, our employees will treated differently and not be eligible for subsidies afforded other citizens. As such, many employees will be relegated to second-class status and shut out of the help the law offers to for-profit insurance plans. And finally, even though non-profit plans like ours won?t receive the same subsidies as for-profit plans, they?ll be taxed to pay for those subsidies. Taken together, these restrictions will make non-profit plans like ours unsustainable, and will undermine the health-care market of viable alternatives to the big health insurance companies. On behalf of the millions of working men and women we represent and the families they support, we can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care Act that will destroy the very health and well-being of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans. We believe that there are common-sense corrections that can be made within the existing statute that will allow our members to continue to keep their current health plans and benefits just as you and the President pledged. Unless changes are made, however, that promise is hollow. We continue to stand behind real health care reform, but the law as it stands will hurt millions of Americans including the members of our respective unions. We are looking to you to make sure these changes are made. James P. Hoffa General President International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joseph Hansen International President UFCW D. Taylor President UNITE-HERE http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/07/12/union-letter-obamacare-will-destroy-the-very-health-and-wellbeing-of-workers/ Distributed by: All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo at aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayer.org 7/17/13 To STOP receiving these emails reply with REMOVE in subject line From editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org Sun Jul 21 22:56:34 2013 From: editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org (Single Payer News) Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 22:56:34 -0400 Subject: New York City Labor Council Endorses HR 676, National Single Payer Health Care Message-ID: New York City Labor Council Endorses HR 676, National Single Payer Health Care The Executive Board of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, unanimously approved a resolution supporting HR 676, national single payer health care legislation, sponsored by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). NYC CLC President Vincent Alvarez calls this resolution ?Labor?s way of standing up for the health and well-being of working men and women and their families,? noting ?The national legislation is a true means of controlling ever-increasing healthcare costs, while ensuring that Americans get the medical care they so desperately need.? In the resolution, the Council notes that almost every union is forced to battle and sacrifice to sustain healthcare benefits for members. The Council also notes that while the United States spends twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as other developed nations, we remain the only industrialized country without universal healthcare coverage. Robert Score, Recording-Corresponding Secretary of IATSE (Theatrical & Stage Employees) Local One, said "As we all know, nobody in the United States should have to choose between healthcare and keeping a roof over their heads, food on their table or clothing on their children. HR 676 will prevent such calamities. I am thankful to President Alvarez for guiding the NYC CLC to endorse HR 676." IATSE Local One submitted the resolution that was passed. The NYC CLC, the 146th CLC to endorse HR 676, represents 300 local unions with a total membership of 1.3 million. In other news also, on July 19th Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez of California?s 46th district became the 44th co-sponsor of HR 676. #30# HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system by expanding a greatly improved Medicare to everyone residing in the U. S. HR 676 would cover every person for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental (including oral surgery, periodontics, endodontics), mental health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care and correction, hearing services including hearing aids, chiropractic, durable medical equipment, palliative care, podiatric care, and long term care. HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save hundreds of billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs. In the current Congress, HR 676 has 44 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers. HR 676 has been endorsed by 605 union organizations including 146 Central Labor Councils/Area Labor Federations and 43 state AFL-CIO's (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA, AK, MI, MT, NE, NJ, NY, NV, MA, RI, NH, & ID). For further information, a list of union endorsers, or a sample endorsement resolution, contact: Kay Tillow All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo at aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayer.org 7/21/13 To STOP receiving these emails reply with REMOVE in subject line. From editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org Thu Jul 25 23:15:26 2013 From: editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org (Single Payer News) Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 23:15:26 -0400 Subject: IBEW Calls on the President and Congress to Act on Problems in Obamacare Message-ID: <91a98d2c135153f0b147f72603f04bf4.squirrel@unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org> IBEW Calls on the President and Congress to Act on Problems in Obamacare The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the largest construction union in the AFL-CIO, has launched a full scale campaign to persuade the President and Congress to correct problems in the new healthcare bill which the union claims will seriously hurt its members. The IBEW campaign includes: An article on its website (reprinted below); A full page advertisement which appeared in several newspapers; A ?White Paper?; A short video by IBEW International President Ed Hill. The IBEW White Paper quotes President Obama?s July 16, 2009 statement: ?And that means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what. My view is that health care reform should be guided by a simple principle: fix what?s broken and build on what works.? IBEW Tells Capitol Hill: ?Let us Keep Our Healthcare? http://www.ibew.org/articles/13daily/1307/130711_ACAwhitepaper.htm July 11, 2013 Electrical workers are raising the alarm about loopholes in the Affordable Care Act that threaten to undermine quality coverage for more than 26 million Americans. A new white paper from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers lays out provisions in the law that put multiemployer health plans at risk. For more than 65 years, multiemployer plans have provided affordable, quality coverage for American workers. Found in nearly every industry, the plans allow small businesses to team up with other employers to pool risk and reduce costs in order to provide high-quality health care for workers. But despite President Obama?s promise during the health care debate that Americans could keep their current health care plan, the law would end up forcing millions out of multiemployer plans because small businesses are exempted from the tax on employees that do not provide health benefits under the law. ?The IBEW is a strong supporter of the Affordable Care Act because the goal of making sure every American has access to quality and affordable health coverage has been a legislative priority for the IBEW since our founding,? says Hill. ?But our members and allies employers have worked hard for the healthcare they have, and Obama must move now to guarantee that his signature law will not cost them their coverage.? The problem is that the ACA?s definition of a small business ? one that employs fewer than 50 employees ? exempts large parts of the American economy from the health care mandate. For example, approximately 90 percent of construction contractors employ less than 50 workers, which gives low-road companies in construction and other industries an incentive to not provide their employees? health care, putting additional pressure on employers that do. Workers who are not covered are eligible for a federal subsidy to purchase their own health care ? an option not available to employees covered by multiemployer plans. ?Businesses that did the right thing all along will be punished while employers who helped contribute to the health care crisis will be rewarded,? says IBEW President Edwin D. Hill. ?It goes against the whole spirit of the legislation to begin with.? The IBEW are calling on the Obama administration to make regulatory changes so workers covered by multiemployer plans are eligible for federal subsidies ? just like workers covered by for-profit plans. ?It is a question of fairness,? says Hill. ?Multiemployer plans are genuine health care success stories and they deserve the same federal support private insurance companies get.? Hill is also calling on Congress to amend the Affordable Care Act by lowering the employee threshold to level the playing field in industries dominated by companies with less than 50 workers. Click here to read the white paper. http://www.acawhitepaper.org/The%20Affordable%20Care%20Act%20FINAL.pdf And click here to see the IBEW?s ad currently running in multiple Washington, D.C., publications. http://www.acawhitepaper.org/IBEW%20fullpage%20fullcolor%20ad.pdf There is also a 3 minute video of IBEW President Ed Hill speaking on the ACA here: http://www.ibew.org/ Distributed by: All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo at aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayer.org 7/25/13 To STOP receiving these emails reply with REMOVE in subject line. From editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org Mon Jul 29 23:22:33 2013 From: editor at unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org (Single Payer News) Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 23:22:33 -0400 Subject: Congressional Single Payer Supporters Plan to Celebrate =?iso-8859-1?Q?Medicare=92s_48th_Birthday?= Message-ID: <164c79b5180c9e7af4c16dd074f78f22.squirrel@unionsforsinglepayerhealthcare.org> Congressional Single Payer Supporters Plan to Celebrate Medicare?s 48th Birthday Washington, DC On Wednesday, July 31, 2013, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and other congressional supporters of a single payer healthcare system have planned several events in Washington to celebrate the 48th anniversary of Medicare and to call for improvement and expansion of Medicare to all. In cities across the nation over 30 single payer groups will also be holding local ?Happy Birthday Medicare? events. Conyers, who is the author of HR 676, national single payer health care legislation, has scheduled a congressional briefing with Professor Gerald Friedman from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who will release the results of his study on the financing of the single-payer plan in H.R. 676, The Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act. This briefing, which is open to the public, is hosted by Public Citizen and Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and will take place: 11 a.m. to 12 noon, Wednesday, July 31 Cannon House Office Building, Room 121 1st and Independence Ave, SE The briefing will conclude with an opportunity to ask questions. The study will later be available on the PNHP website at www.pnhp.org. Following the briefing, Rep. Conyers, Sen. Sanders, and other co-sponsors of HR 676 will hold a News Conference on Defending and Expanding Medicare to All. 1 p.m.?1:45 p.m., Wednesday, July 31 House Triangle The grassy triangle on the House side of the Capitol?s East Front Those in the Washington area are invited to attend these events. For further information, please contact Dave Sterrett of Public Citizen (202) 454 5132 Distributed by: All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo at aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayer.org 7/29/13 To STOP receiving these emails reply with REMOVE in subject line.