House Approves Historic Health Care Reform

In a historic vote more than 60 years in the making, the U.S. House of Representatives on March 21st, voted to approve what AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka calls a “momentous step toward comprehensive health care.”

The bill survived a $100 million lie-and-distortion campaign by Big Insurance to kill it—the same kind of tactics these groups have aimed at health care proposals for six decades. Trumka say the bill is not “a baby step or half measure,” but a solid step forward to set our country on a path to health care that actually works for working families.

Union Members Made the Difference
Throughout the health care battle, mobilized union members provided a strong and visible counterpoint to the insurance giants’ television and lobbying blitz. Union members made more than 4 million phone calls and sent more than 1 million email messages to lawmakers. Leaders flew to Washington, D.C. and visited members of Congress in their districts, making more than 10,000 contacts.

What Does the Bill Do?
Among other benefits, the health care reform bill bans coverage denials or higher rates due to pre-existing conditions and outlaws the practice of insurers dropping coverage when someone files a claim or is diagnosed with a condition requiring expensive treatment. It covers an additional 32 million people, or 95 percent of the population.

The bill ends gender discrimination in setting insurance rates and establishes a procedure to review insurance premium increases and take action against unreasonable rate hikes.

The bill also cuts brand-name drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries by 50 percent in 2011 and closes the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” completely by 2020.

Trumka says the bill is a “solid foundation” and the union movement will “continue our efforts to improve our health care system.”

We need to do more to bring employers into the system. We need to do more to bring down costs—and one of the best ways to do that is with a public health insurance option. And it will be critical to build on the reforms in the bill designed to change the way health care is delivered, so that we reward value rather than volume.

In Pennsylvania this means…

• 10.7 million PA residents with health insurance will be protected from arbitrary premium hikes and cancellations if they sick

• Tax credits for up to 904,000 families and 151,000 small businesses to help them afford coverage

• Improve Medicare for 2.2 million people in PA

• Extend coverage to the 1.3 million uninsured PA residents

• Guarantee that the more than 500,000 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage

When Massachusetts voters cast their ballots for Scott Brown on Tuesday, they were sending a message to Washington lawmakers that they have not gone far enough to create jobs, reform health care and fix our nation’s economy, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. In a video message, Trumka says voters showed they don’t believe Democrats have overreached—they think that the Democrats under reached. The AFL-CIO conducted a post-election survey of 800 voters in Massachusetts immediately following Tuesday’s election.

The corporate media is spinning the election results to make it appear that voters don’t want health care reform or funding for job creation. But as Trumka states: “Voters haven’t changed their mind. Their two top priorities are jobs and health care.”

Yesterday’s election gave us that opportunity. It said to everybody: “We don’t want excuses. We want action. We want you to fix these problems.”
It’s up to us to fight for those issues, because there’s nothing more important than creating an economy that works for average working people. There’s nothing more important than creating jobs, and there’s nothing more important than putting our people to work. Now’s the time for us to do that. It’s up to us to force both parties to fix the problems for working America.