This morning, in Pittsburgh (where yours truly is), everyone is awaiting the speech by John Wilhelm, president of Unite-Here who will announce that the union is re-affiliation with the AFL-CIO. This is probably the first step in the end of Change To Win–I’d guess the Laborers and the UFCW will be soon to follow in the coming months.
Yesterday, I pointed out that Max Baucus’ bill was horrendous for the people. If you are a New Yorker, here’s what this bill does for you:
- Insurers would be permitted to charge older people five times more for their health insurance premiums than younger people. [New York Times, 9/14/09]
- The free rider provision in the bill penalizes employers for hiring low-income workers who are eligible for subsidies. Even worse, the employer pays more if the low-income worker needs subsidies for his family as opposed to just himself. So it not only discriminates against low-income workers, but it particularly discriminates against low-income parents and single mothers. [Ezra Klein, Washington Post, 9/16/09]
- The tax proposed in the legislation targets plans above $21,000 regardless of the reason for the added cost—like age or geographic location. The bill permits seniors to be charged at five times the rate for their premiums, so the tax will hit employers when they enroll older employees. This could lead to discrimination based on age. Further, the tax will disproportionately impact people who live in urban and coastal areas—like New York—where medical costs are higher. [RJ Eskow, Huffington Post, 9/16/09]
A health care bill that leaves seniors, the middle class, low-income families and single mothers disproportionately effected is simply not acceptable. Given Senator Baucus’ failure to secure any meaningful support for this bill, the Senate should get to work crafting legislation to meet the needs of the American people rather than the greedy demands of special interests and the defenders of the status quo.
Of course, this would never have been the issue if we had pushed for single-payer.
