Twenty-seven U.S. labor unions, including TCU, announced their opposition to the $829 billion health-care measure passed by the Senate Finance Committee.
The full-page newspaper advertisement placed recently in many large circulation newspapers say that lawmakers need to make “substantial” changes to the bill or they will urge their members to seek its defeat on the Senate floor.
Labor was a major force in the election of President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress, and has made real health-care reform a top priority. But as the ad says “That’s not the change America voted for.” TCU opposes elements of the bill approved by the Senate committee, including a tax on the most-expensive insurance plans. TCU members have health benefits worth enough to be affected.
The current proposed legislation will add “more taxes on the middle class, who through a lifetime of negotiations, work and even going on strike, already have employer-provided coverage.” said TCU International President Bob Scardelletti.
The measure would impose a 40 percent excise tax on insurers of employer-sponsored health plans with benefits exceeding $8,000 for individual coverage and $21,000 for families.
All the unions listed in the ad want Congress to create a public option, a government health plan that would compete with private insurers, and require that employers provide health care or contribute to a fund subsidizing coverage. Neither is currently in the measure that the Finance Committee approved.
Click here to write Congress and tell them to support real health care reform and not to tax our benefits.
Click here to view the AFL-CIO health care blog.