A Big Thank You to all of the Minnesota and North Dakota area labor councils/regional labor federations who have been working nonstop with affiliates on working families' issues in the past months. Working families have continued to fight for policies that will improve America.
An example of working families' success became apparent in the 2008 election. And we have not skipped a beat. We are working hard for health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. Leveling the playing field for working people and giving more people the opportunity to be healthy and free. But the fight is not over.
While working families continue to strive for a better life and to rebuild the middle class, every little thing activists do builds power, which helps to tip the scales back towards the working class. That's why it is important to keep the pressure on our elected officials. Your phone call is noticed. Your personal letter makes a difference. That lunch conversation with a coworker about supporting a robust public option counts. Soon it will be time to turn up the heat as the 2010 Minnesota Governor's race gets going.
As Samuel Gompers once said, “What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails,more books and less arsenals, more learning and less vice, more constant work and less crime, more leisure and less greed, more justice and less revenge.”
Here are some examples of the actions labor has taken to make a difference:
- Hmmm, it seems that our efforts are starting to pay off as big insurance UnitedHealth Group feels the pressure.
- Western Area Labor Council President Mark Froemke's Op Ed was published in the Grand Forks
Herald last Sunday. October 18. You can read it below.
VIEWPOINT: Failure not an option on health care reform
CROOKSTON — When it comes to health care, the status quo is failing American families.
Too many insurance company denials. Suffocating costs. Too many uninsured.
But if Congress fails to enact reform, things won’t just stay the same — they’ll get worse. And a recent report by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization, underscores just how much worse things will get for our region.
The report indicates that unless we enact changes now, those who manage to keep their coverage will pay an even heftier price over the next 10 years, with individual and family spending on health care increasing by 49 percent in Minnesota and 31.2 percent in North Dakota by 2019.
Nationally, as many as 57 million Americans could find themselves uninsured. And this, according to the report, is the best case scenario.
In Minnesota alone, delaying health care reform would hit our communities hard, with the estimated number of uninsured in Minnesota skyrocketing to 577,000.
Though working families would no doubt be among those most impacted by a failure to enact reform, in the best case, Minnesota businesses would see their premiums balloon by 76.7 percent.
It’s hard to believe we’re talking about the world’s wealthiest country. If we fail to act, even the so-called best-case scenario laid out in the report would do little to help already struggling working families.
The evidence for immediate reform is devastatingly clear.
But we can’t settle for just any reform. We have to enact genuine reform that holds down costs and keeps insurance companies honest. As it stands, insurance companies have a stranglehold on our health care system, driving up costs and coming between middle-class Americans and the care they need.
By injecting competition, a robust public option is the best way to control costs and guarantee quality health care. More competition and choice is in the best interest of consumers and, ultimately, in the best interest of our economy. That’s not a new idea. It’s Capitalism 101.
In recent months, we’ve seen a rising tide of anger directed at insurance companies, fueled in large part by their own worst practices. As insurance companies rake in record profits and dole out extravagant bonus packages to top executives, they continue to deny care to ordinary Americans.
For all of those who have been denied coverage and refused care, it’s not just about the money. It’s a matter of life and death.
In response, people in Minnesota, North Dakota and across the country are raising their voices to demand that insurance companies renounce these worst practices. Insurance companies cannot be allowed to stand between the patient and her/his doctor.
Perhaps even more important, it is impermissible for insurance companies to deny or drop coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions. In every state, rising numbers of Americans are unable to access the coverage they need on the basis of pre-existing conditions. Every day, more and more of these stories come to light, with insurance companies using such “conditions” as pregnancy and even acne to justify withholding coverage.
Many insurance companies even have policies that reward employees who deny care or reject claims.
When it comes to enacting health care reform, it’s clear that failure is simply not an option. Doing nothing now will cost us down the road. The longer Congress waits to pass reform, the worse the situation gets for everyone — Minnesota and North Dakota’s working families, employers and our economy.
It’s time for Congress to act. We literally can’t afford to wait.
Froemke is president of the Northern Valley Labor Council, which represents union members in 11 North Dakota counties and 7 Minnesota counties.