Wisconsin Unions Endorse Single Payer Health Care
UHCEF Article of Interest
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Workday Minnesota (click here for link to original article)
3 October 2006
LA CROSSE, Wis. - The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO has become the 12th state labor federation to endorse legislation creating a national single payer health care system.
Acting on a motion submitted by the Western Wisconsin Central Labor Council, the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO endorsed HR 676 at its 24th Biennial Convention, Sept. 25-27 in La Crosse. HR 676, sponsored by Congressman John Conyers, D-Mich., would institute a single payer health care system in the United States by expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to every resident.
The convention also strongly endorsed a state health care bill that the federation had drafted.
“The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO endorsed and helped draft a state-level single-payer bill over 15 years ago,” said Wisconsin AFL-CIO President David Newby. “It never got enough traction in the Legislature, so we developed a new and unique model (the Wisconsin Health Care Partnership Plan) which provides comprehensive, quality-driven, affordable health care for all Wisconsin workers and their families–financed by a flat fee per worker paid by all employers.
“We are developing significant support for this proposal (now a bill with bi-partisan support), and that support includes employers as well as unions and advocacy and community groups. But we’ve never lost sight of the fundamental reality that we need universal health care on a national level. HR 676 embodies that goal, and we support it enthusiastically.”
The Wisconsin AFL-CIO has 1,000 affiliated local unions representing 250,000 union members.
According to the All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care, based in Louisville, Kentucky, HR 676 has been endorsed by 192 union organizations including 44 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 12 state AFL-CIOs (Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Ohio, Delaware, North Dakota, Washington, South Carolina, Wyoming, Vermont, Florida and Wisconsin).
HR 676 now has 77 congressional co-sponsors in addition to John Conyers.
The legislation would cover every person in the United States for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental, mental health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care, chiropractic and long term care. HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments and would save billions of dollars annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs.
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