Should Unions Be Wary of the Proposed NYS Health Law?

Should Unions Be Wary of the Proposed NYS Health Law?

An opposition caucus in the UFT vigorously favors the proposed NYS Health Bill, also called Medicare for All, the bill, the first in the nation would enroll all New Yorkers in a NYS Medicare-like program. 

The bill, originally introduced in 1992  has been reintroduced with changes many times over the years, Dick Gottfried, who chaired the Assembly Health Committee for decades has been the strongest advocate.

For a decade before COVID I traveled to Albany once a month for the Board of Regents meetings and talked with Dick about the bill in a social setting. The bill creates a Board made up of a wide range of appointees from advocacy organizations, medical organizations, etc. plus a few from unions, The law will not spell out the extremely extensive details of the plan, including the funding mechanism. the Board appointed by the governor and legislative leadership will determine the intricacies.

Gottfried said the plan must be created by the field, the representatives and advocates, not legislators 

Before you jump off the diving board check out the depth of the pool.

Unions, who negotiate health plans with management have opposed the plan, and asked, without success, for a “carve out,” allowing unions to continue labor/management negotiations Needless to say the bill is complicated, the bill is an outline, after passage, the appointed members will begin to fill in the blanks, the specifics of the law.

My concern: when the powerful say trust me weaker folks tend to get pregnant, coarse; however, you get my point.

While I have nothing to do with the inner discussions I would suggest a few non-negotiables:

* an algorhythm to determine the cost to employees, to ask unions to support without knowing the cost is a definite deal breaker 

* the ability to arbitrate disputes, complicated, however, to say, “just trust us” is not acceptable 

Critics argue the cost of the plan is astronomical and not viable, and, the huge bureaucracy to run the plan unwieldy and unworkable. .Supporters counter New Yorkers would have a high quality health plan at no cost. Canada does have a nationwide Medicare for All system, the Frasier Institute, a Canadian think tank writes,

The reality of Canadian health is that it is comparatively expensive and imposes enormous costs on Canadians in the form of waiting for services, and limited access to physicians and medical technology. This isn’t something any country should consider replicating.

The American Federation of Teachers, 1.8 million members, 250K are nurses and health care workers, who are battling with hedge funds and organizations gobbling up hospitals and health organizations, also squeezing nurses, increasing staffing ratios, trying to cut contractual benefits, the proposed law does not address this issue.

The cost of health care is skyrocketing, impacting contract salary negotiations as well as retirees health plans.

The AFT is planning to introduce legislation to stabilize retiree health plans, a heavy lift.

Everything, of course, depends on a Harris victory.

The legislature returns in January, time to include changes to address union issues, over the years sponsors have been adamant and resisted union requests.

The water in the pool is far too shallow.