BY LINDA BENTLEY | AUGUST 28, 2013
Nevada State AFL-CIO issue harsh resolution contesting Obamacare
‘The President said in no uncertain terms that we would be able to keep our current health care plans as currently managed’
CARSON CITY, Nev. – The promises President Barack Obama made about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, included lower insurance premiums along with the statement if people like their doctors and their insurance, they’ll be able to keep them.
Opponents to the ACA worried the opposite would occur and it would turn into a government controlled single-payer health care system.
Obama insisted that wasn’t so.
Despite what Obama promised, a few weeks ago when Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., appeared on PBS’ Nevada Week in Review and was asked if his goal was to turn Obamacare into a single-payer system, he responded, “Yes, yes. Absolutely, yes.”
And now that many of the details of Obamacare have come to light, it’s become abundantly clear those promises will not be kept.
Last week, the AFL-CIO in Reid’s home state made their displeasure public by passing a resolution urging the president and Congress to uphold their promise for unions, which supported Obamacare when it was in Congress, to keep their current health care plans under the ACA.
In a press release issued by Nevada State AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Danny Thompson, the resolution passed on Aug. 21.
It states its members and their families originally offered strong political and moral support for the promise of the ACA on the grounds “it would expand health care coverage for more Americans, help strengthen the American economy, and help America compete in the global economy.”
The Nevada AFL-CIO said it supported the ACA in the interests of the uninsured to secure many of the benefits its members enjoy under their Taft-Hartley plans, while pointing out, “The President said in no uncertain terms that we would be able to keep our current health care plans as currently managed.”
The resolution goes on to state for two years they have sought interpretations to the ACA from the Administration and Congress that merely allows its members to keep the health plans they currently have, stating, “nothing more, nothing less,” claiming they are not asking for any special treatment.
However, to date, while the Administration has only postured on proposals to address the problem, no proposals have been introduced to actually solve the problem and the AFL-CIO claims its health plans only get worse.
Due to the Administration’s inaction to correct the problem, the resolution states, “the unintended consequences of the ACA will lead to the destruction of the 40 hour work weeks, higher taxes and force union members onto more costly plans – eventually destroying the Taft-Hartly Funds completely.
Asserting again they are only seeking to keep the health care plans currently provided; the plans they worked hard to secure for the 65 years they have been governed under the Taft-Hartley law – nothing more, nothing less, the AFL-CIO says it is not asking for any special treatment or additions to what is currently provided by their Taft-Hartley Plans.
While Congress and the Obama Administration have demonstrated they have the authority and power to make dozens of corrections to the ACA, “including taking care of big business and well-paid congressional staff members,” the AFL-CIO said they have yet to provide their union with any relief to allow their health care plans to continue as they have for over 65 years.
The resolution goes on to state the ACA should include interpretations that protect the health coverage of the Taft-Hartley plans provided for its members, not threaten the 40-hour work week and the existence of collectively bargained health care plans.
It asks that the Taft-Hartley plans to be treated like other health plans with access to the subsidies that other plans have.
The resolution urgently supports Congress and Obama to undertake immediate changes to the implantation and regulation of the ACA while reserving the right to protect the Taft-Hartley Plans currently in place.
In conclusion, the resolution states the AFL-CIO will view any solution that does not fully address the outlined issues as unacceptable.
The Labor-Management Relations Act, informally known as the Taft-Hartley Act was enacted June 23, 1947 to monitor the activities and power of labor unions.
The Act was passed by overriding President Harry S. Truman’s veto.
Labor leaders referred to the Act as the “slave-labor bill” while Truman believed it was a “dangerous intrusion on free speech” stating it would “conflict with important principles of our democratic society.”
The Taft-Hartley Act amended the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, to guarantee basic rights of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining for better working conditions and terms of employment, and take collective action, including striking, when deemed necessary.
