Unions Fight New York Single-Payer Health Care Plan

[DGUtley]

City unions say they dread impact of single-payer proposal in Albany. Public-sector unions are gearing up to fight legislation that would establish New York State as the health insurance provider for all
residents, worried the sweeping bill (https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/08/01/rand-study-finds-single-payer-viable-in-new-york-but-with-big-caveats-536072) would curtail their benefits and negotiating power. Labor leaders worry the bill would invalidate their collective bargaining leverage around health plans, thereby nixing the city’s roughly $1,500-per-employee contribution to individual union funds. New York City labor leaders gathered in the Lower Manhattan offices of District Council 37 Monday to relay their concerns about the bill to its sponsors, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, several sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO. The conflict puts unions at odds with an issue popular in the liberal wing of the Democratic party.

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/11/28/city-unions-say-they-dread-impact-of-single-payer-proposal-in-albany-717096

24790

[Peter1469]

Can the state afford it?


It will still be a challenge to convince Gov. Andrew Cuomo to take on such a costly initiative, which would require federal funding and a state tax increase. The state would have to raise $139 billion in new tax revenue each year to pay for the plan, according to a RAND Corporation report (https://www.politico.com/states/f/?id=00000164-f261-d556-a1ec-ff759d100001) released this year.



And that doesn't count federal funding, although I am not clear on why NY thinks the federal government is going to give them money each year for this.

[Common]

Everyone is at odds with the liberal wing of the democrat party, unions will abandon them but continue to weaken

[Common]

Can the state afford it?



And that doesn't count federal funding, although I am not clear on why NY thinks the federal government is going to give them money each year for this.
Because they won the house, they will all have their hands out, I cant wait to see what the house does with sanctuary cities

[donttread]

City unions say they dread impact of single-payer proposal in Albany. Public-sector unions are gearing up to fight legislation that would establish New York State as the health insurance provider for all
residents, worried the sweeping bill (https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/08/01/rand-study-finds-single-payer-viable-in-new-york-but-with-big-caveats-536072) would curtail their benefits and negotiating power. Labor leaders worry the bill would invalidate their collective bargaining leverage around health plans, thereby nixing the city’s roughly $1,500-per-employee contribution to individual union funds. New York City labor leaders gathered in the Lower Manhattan offices of District Council 37 Monday to relay their concerns about the bill to its sponsors, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, several sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO. The conflict puts unions at odds with an issue popular in the liberal wing of the Democratic party.

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/11/28/city-unions-say-they-dread-impact-of-single-payer-proposal-in-albany-717096

24790

I wonder how much of that 1,500.00 per person winds up in pockets it doesn't belong in?

[gamewell45]

City unions say they dread impact of single-payer proposal in Albany. Public-sector unions are gearing up to fight legislation that would establish New York State as the health insurance provider for all
residents, worried the sweeping bill (https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/08/01/rand-study-finds-single-payer-viable-in-new-york-but-with-big-caveats-536072) would curtail their benefits and negotiating power. Labor leaders worry the bill would invalidate their collective bargaining leverage around health plans, thereby nixing the city’s roughly $1,500-per-employee contribution to individual union funds. New York City labor leaders gathered in the Lower Manhattan offices of District Council 37 Monday to relay their concerns about the bill to its sponsors, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, several sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO. The conflict puts unions at odds with an issue popular in the liberal wing of the Democratic party.

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/11/28/city-unions-say-they-dread-impact-of-single-payer-proposal-in-albany-717096

24790

I don't think it puts all unions at odds in the liberal wing of the democratic party; just the public sector unions. The private sector unions are all for this since it has no negative impact on them for the most part and their members stand to benefit from passage of this law.

[gamewell45]

I wonder how much of that 1,500.00 per person winds up in pockets it doesn't belong in?
Probably very little since there are watchdog agencies that keep an eye on how the money is spent plus unions get audited on a regular basis and are held accountable for the monies spent.

[Common]

I don't think it puts all unions at odds in the liberal wing of the democratic party; just the public sector unions. The private sector unions are all for this since it has no negative impact on them for the most part and their members stand to benefit from passage of this law.

Thats not true, the auto unions, trade unions and many others have fantastic health insurance and cadillac retirement health insurance.

medicare for all is going to ruin the quality of healthcare for everyone, plus weve yet to see how Doctors are going to handle this.

The govt has never been able to get VA care right, now they want medicare for all and doctors to work for less

[countryboy]

I don't think it puts all unions at odds in the liberal wing of the democratic party; just the public sector unions. The private sector unions are all for this since it has no negative impact on them for the most part and their members stand to benefit from passage of this law.

Nobody will benefit from single payer.

[Common]

Nobody will benefit from single payer.
American citizens that are poor recieve the best health plan this country has to offer, medicaid. It covers everything plus, dental, eyeglass's an 6,000 hearing aids.

Those that benefit from singlepayer, Everyone that doesnt work on the books, including Pimps, Drug Dealers, Prostitutes, and everyone that doesnt want to work and ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

The caveat is this, the best Drs wont work for single payer they will work for cash from the rich and have a list of clients who they go to do housecalls. There are drs doing that now, it will get more widespread for those that can afford it. Everyone else that has healthcare, the quality of their health care iis going to be like the VA only with much longer waits.

[Common]

I wonder how much of that 1,500.00 per person winds up in pockets it doesn't belong in?

Public Unions have their dues deducted from their payroll checks, every dime is accounted for because monthly every member who wants to know goes to a meeting and it shows exactly how much was collected, what the expenditures were and what the balance is.

[Tahuyaman]

I wonder how much of that 1,500.00 per person winds up in pockets it doesn't belong in?
Little to none.

[Tahuyaman]

Public Unions have their dues deducted from their payroll checks, every dime is accounted for because monthly every member who wants to know goes to a meeting and it shows exactly how much was collected, what the expenditures were and what the balance is.. Correct. I was a member of a public sector union and my beef was what they did with any money they received.

The union leadership completely ignored the will of the membership and supported political candidates and issues the majority of the membership opposed.

[Common]

. Correct. I was a member of a public sector union and my beef was what they did with any money they received.

The union leadership completely ignored the will of the membership and supported political candidates and issues the majority of the membership opposed.

I only addressed the money issue as was my personal experience.

Politically the unions do decide who they are going to support. Our union supported both democrats and republicans when I was active in it.

[gamewell45]

Thats not true, the auto unions, trade unions and many others have fantastic health insurance and cadillac retirement health insurance.

medicare for all is going to ruin the quality of healthcare for everyone, plus weve yet to see how Doctors are going to handle this.

The govt has never been able to get VA care right, now they want medicare for all and doctors to work for less
Keep in mind the key words here are "most part". Of course there will be a few unions where there could be negative impact initially, however they can bargain for supplemental packages that will cover what single payer does not cover. Most smaller unions will benefit greatly since they do not have Cadillac health plans for their membership and depend solely on what they bargain for with the company.

[gamewell45]

Nobody will benefit from single payer.

I disagree; those who cannot afford medical insurance nor those with inferior plans will be the main beneficiaries of single payer.

[Common]

Keep in mind the key words here are "most part". Of course there will be a few unions where there could be negative impact initially, however they can bargain for supplemental packages that will cover what single payer does not cover. Most smaller unions will benefit greatly since they do not have Cadillac health plans for their membership and depend solely on what they bargain for with the company.

wishful thinking once the govt is providing health care garbage that it is, companies will not spend on healthcare because they are going to get taxed to the max to pay for medicare for all as it is.

Democrats running around promising this have one thing left to do. Tell us how they are going to pay for it, when america learns all the details they will turn on this on a dime

[gamewell45]

wishful thinking once the govt is providing health care garbage that it is, companies will not spend on healthcare because they are going to get taxed to the max to pay for medicare for all as it is.

Democrats running around promising this have one thing left to do. Tell us how they are going to pay for it, when america learns all the details they will turn on this on a dime

They'll probably end paying for it by a combination of raising taxes and making cuts elsewhere but also remember the Senate would have to sign off on the bill to make it effective and it's highly unlikely at this point IMO so unless there are Republicans in the Senate who'll support it, it won't go anywhere.

[gamewell45]

. Correct. I was a member of a public sector union and my beef was what they did with any money they received.

The union leadership completely ignored the will of the membership and supported political candidates and issues the majority of the membership opposed.

If that was the case, then why didn't a majority of the union membership vote them out of office?

[Tahuyaman]

If that was the case, then why didn't a majority of the union membership vote them out of office?
We did. We eventually separated and formed our own guild.

[gamewell45]

We did. We eventually separated and formed our own guild.

Good; that's how it should work. We had a union president who just couldn't cut the mustard and we voted him out of office.

[countryboy]

I disagree; those who cannot afford medical insurance nor those with inferior plans will be the main beneficiaries of single payer.

The poor are already covered in this country. Single payer will decimate medical care, like it does, and has everywhere it is implemented. Costs will skyrocket, and quality will suffer.

[Tahuyaman]

Good; that's how it should work. We had a union president who just couldn't cut the mustard and we voted him out of office.

Our issues were more with the national leadership of AFSCME.

[gamewell45]

Our issues were more with the national leadership of AFSCME.

Sometimes it can be tougher to vote them out, if you have the votes, then it can be done. Our President was a local president so for us it was easy to remove him.

[Tahuyaman]

Sometimes it can be tougher to vote them out, if you have the votes, then it can be done. Our President was a local president so for us it was easy to remove him.


Our local was never going to have the ability to vote out the national president of AFSCME. We were 300 people way out in the pacific NW. AFSCME was dominated by big city, east coast liberal elites.