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(by S.A. Miller, The New York Post) WASHINGTON – President Obama’s labor-union allies once cheered for ObamaCare – but now they’re screaming mad.
“It makes an untruth out of what the president said – that if you like your insurance, you could keep it,” said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. “That is not going to be true for millions of workers now.”
Retail, construction, transportation and trade unions are outraged that the Affordable Care Act, which they used their political muscle to help pass, will undermine their multi-employee medical-insurance plans.
The plans are set to become exceedingly expensive, as ObamaCare requires coverage of pre-existing conditions and workers’ children up to age 26 with no annual or lifetime coverage limits.
Unions fear the higher costs will cause employers to drop the plans and send workers into state-run exchanges established by the law.
Kinsey Robinson, president of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, fumed that labor’s concerns have been “totally ignored.”
“In the rush to achieve its passage, many of the act’s provisions were not fully conceived, resulting in unintended consequences that are inconsistent with the promise that those who were satisfied with their employer-sponsored coverage could keep it,” he said.
The Big Labor backlash could spell trouble for Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections, when they’ll be counting on union help.
Labor isn’t the only force defecting from ObamaCare.
Outgoing Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who helped write the law, has called its implementation a “train wreck.”
Still, the White House and Democrats are hesitating to make changes. The bulk of the law is scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from The New York Post.
Questions
1. Why are labor unions suddenly opposed to ObamaCare?
2. What responsibility do labor unions have for the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)?
3. Members of labor unions have superior medical insurance compared to employees in other occupations. Why are they expected to lose these fantastic medical plans?
4. a) Who is Max Baucus?
b) Why is he opposed to ObamaCare?
5. a) For what reason do you think the unions helped pass ObamaCare?
b) What do you think of the unions’ motive for now opposing this law?
6. Ask a parent: will the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) help or hurt Americans?
Background
Bob Laszewski, a health care industry consultant, said the real fear among unions is that many labor contracts are already very expensive and now employers are going to have an alternative to very expensive labor health benefits.
However, Laszewski said it was unlikely employers would drop the union plans immediately because they are subject to ongoing collective bargaining agreements.
Labor unions have been among the president’s closest allies, spending millions of dollars to help him win re-election and help Democrats keep their majority in the Senate. The wrangling over health care comes as the 2014 elections near and union membership steadily declines amid attacks on public employee unions in state legislatures in Wisconsin and elsewhere across the country. (from an Associated Press report at Foxnews)
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