Mass. Union Leaders Call on Obama to Support "Medicare for All"
More than 40 Massachusetts labor leaders have signed onto a letter to President Obama raising concerns that some policy makers in Washington are backing health care reforms based on the state plan adopted two years ago. The Massachusetts plan features an "individual mandate" requiring all citizens to buy private health insurance. The letter sent today and spearheaded by the Jobs with Justice coalition, states:
"The [Massachusetts plan] is too expensive for many individuals forced to buy health insurance. It has failed to control costs and it has cost the state far more than initially projected. As a result, many critical health care facilities that serve low-income communities are facing huge cuts, while health care premiums continue to rise by double digits year after year. The Massachusetts Plan is widely recognized as unsustainable and now that we are facing an economic crisis, it is even more problematic."
Instead of individual mandates, the letter urges the President to support HR 676, the national "Medicare for All" bill, as the "most fiscally prudent and morally imperative direction for successful health care reform."
In addition to sending the letter to President Obama, the group will also deliver a copy of the letter to Senator Ted Kennedy's office in Boston on Thursday, February 19 at 10:00 a.m.
"Senator Kennedy co-sponsored "Medicare for All" legislation in 2007. We hope he will keep taking a strong stand against the special interest groups that oppose this common sense approach to reform," said Jeff Crosby, president of the North Shore Labor Council and one of the letter's signers.
Crosby is a member of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Health Care advisory board, a group backed by more than 150 labor leaders from more than 30 unions. The letter is just one of many actions in support of HR 676 coordinated by the campaign during the Presidents' week recess.
HR 676 has been endorsed by 39 state AFL-CIO federations, 100 Central Labor Councils, and more than 400 local unions. Last year, the bill had 92 co-sponsors in Congress, more than any other health care reform bill.
Copies of the letter to Pres. Obama may be obtained by emailing Russ Davis at: russ@massjwj.net.
Jobs with Justice is a workers' rights coalition. Our health care campaign links workers' struggles against insurance cost shifting and cuts in health care services to help build a larger movement for comprehensive reforms. Learn more at www.massjwj.net.
Rand Wilson is communications coordinator for the AFL-CIO Organizing Department's Center for Strategic Research and co-chair of the Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Health Care Action Committee.
