San José, CA – On Monday, March 6, the House of Representatives Republican leadership, backed by President Trump, rolled out their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare). The Republicans hope to ram their bill, known as the American Health Care Act or AHCA, through congress this month, without an analysis of how many people would lose their insurance coverage or how much it would cost.
Republicans in Congress have already voted to cut the taxes that pay for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Up to now these tax cuts have been vetoed by President Obama. But with the inauguration of Donald Trump, Republicans in the Senate and House will be free to cut ACA taxes and give hundreds of billions of dollars to the richest Americans.
St. Paul, MN – Over 300 people gathered in here, August 10, in a show of solidarity with the people of Ferguson, Missouri and to remember the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown at the hands of the police.
Fridley, MN – On July 14, 345 Hospital Workers at Unity Hospital in Fridley, a first ring suburb of Minneapolis, voted by a roughly 60% majority to join SEIU Healthcare MN. The new bargaining unit includes Nursing Assistants, Dietary Aides, Patient Care Techs, Health Unit Coordinators, Environmental Services Aides and other job classes.
San José, CA – On Oct. 1, millions of Americans without health insurance overloaded the opening of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or so-called Obamacare) online exchanges. Almost 3 million people tried to log on to the national www.healthcare.gov web site, while the California web site www.coveredca.com had more than 5 million hits.
Minneapolis, MN – More than 100 University of Minnesota AFSCME workers came together for a spirited march and rally here, August 5. After rallying in front of Morrill Hall, the administration building, workers headed upstairs to the office of President Kahler to deliver about 1300 signed petitions demanding the university drop proposed changes to the health care plan. The administration’s proposed attack on the health care plan would have some workers pay more premiums and significantly increase out of pocket medical costs for all university employees.
A commentary on the tuberculosis outbreak in rural South Carolina
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has been criticized for its slow response to an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) which has infected more than 100 people in rural Greenwood County, South Carolina since last March. More than 400 children at Ninety Six Primary School in Greenwood County were not tested for almost three months after TB was first reported.
Grand Rapids, MI – Giving new meaning to ‘soldiers of solidarity,’ U.S. veterans joined fired health care workers to rally in front of the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans on the afternoon of July 1. The action, involving nearly 100 people, exposed Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s privatization schemes, in this case leading to neglect and abuse of veterans. Longtime resident care aides employed by the state of Michigan were fired, and their jobs privatized by the non-union J2S Group, a for-profit company that refuses to speak on the matter.
In April of 2012, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did a report on the impact of Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, which was later passed by the House of Representatives, on health care. An analysis of the CBO report by Fight Back! shows that this plan would shift the burden of health care to poor, elderly and disabled people. This would cause millions of poor, seniors and disabled people to lose insurance and it would cause millions to pay much more for health care.
Fight for single payer government health insurance must go on
On June 28 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the 2010 Affordable Care Act or ACA. In particular, the Court upheld the “individual mandate” that requires people with incomes above the poverty line to buy private health insurance. While the Court did not accept the government's argument that the mandate itself was constitutional, a slim majority (5-4) said that the fine for not buying insurance was like a tax and therefore was constitutional.
