Ensuring Affordable and Accessible Health Care
The labor movement has always fought for affordable healthcare for workers and their families, both through collective bargaining and legislatively.
But even with our ability to bargain, union members far too often must relinquish raises to sustain decent health insurance.
In fact, in a membership survey earlier this year, USW members and retirees rated “affordable healthcare and prescription drugs” as their top issue.
We know from bargaining outcomes that copays and deductibles are too high; prescription drugs cost too much; and some members, like too many Americans, avoid going to the doctor because they can’t afford it – even with insurance coverage.
We Are Fighting for Health Care During the Pandemic
In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the U.S. has seen over 22 million people file for unemployment insurance - tens of thousands of Steelworkers and their family members included.
With health insurance tied to the employment of 55 percent of the American workforce, many newly unemployed and furloughed workers are being offered COBRA insurance coverage by their employers. However, the prohibitively high cost to maintain COBRA benefits is a significant financial burden for workers trying to preserve their vital healthcare coverage.
The Worker Health Coverage Protection Act (H.R. 6514),a piece of legislation the USW is actively supporting, would provide 100 percent federal financing to cover the full cost of COBRA premiums owed by workers who have lost their jobs, who are furloughed, or who have had their hours reduced as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Advocacy on Healthcare Over the Last Few Years Has Focused on Affordability
Repealing the Cadillac Tax
The legislation, which passed with bipartisan support, repeals a 40 percent excise tax on certain employer-sponsored health insurance plans. Many employers were using this tax as a reason to push higher costs onto employees.
Our union fought for years to have the tax repealed.
Protecting Families from Surprise Medical Bills
These are charges that occur when a patient receives care from an out-of-network provider in a situation where they are unable to choose other providers, such as emergency care or urgent medical transport.
Recent studies show that these surprise bills are common; many families experience substantial debt and even bankruptcy as a result of unreasonable charges for medical services. Our union has been advocating strongly for a legislative fix to this issue.
Working to Keep Prescription Drugs Affordable
The PRICED Act addresses healthcare costs and prescription drug prices by eliminating price gouging opportunities for “Big Pharma”.
This legislation helps control the number one issue impacting our bargaining success – rising healthcare costs. Controlling the period of time that a pharmaceutical company can exclusively market new drugs, this will also save Medicare and the taxpayers $7 billion over 10 years.
Keeping Healthcare Affordable for Retirees
The Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) is a 72.5 percent credit for qualified displaced workers in the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program and those receiving benefits through the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC).
The most expensive time for health benefits is between ages 55-64 before those close to retirement or in retirement qualify for Medicare.
The credit almost expired last year but through advocacy by the USW Rapid Response and the USW Legislative & Policy department, we successfully maintained this benefit for another year.
Protecting the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA)
The enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 marked a key moment in expanding health care in America.
While we’ve worked to perfect the bill in that time, others have repeatedly tried to repeal it in its entirety, gutting protections for USW members and retirees, and wreaking havoc on the healthcare of millions of American families.
The Administration is currently arguing for the law to be overturned at the Supreme Court. This case will be heard shortly after the election.
This would mean:
- 20 million People Would Lose Health Insurance - About 20 million people who gained health insurance through the law, both through its expansion of Medicaid and through subsidized private plans on the “exchange,” would lose coverage if it is struck down. The pandemic-related job losses mean that even more people are likely relying on ACA coverage now. States that expanded Medicaid, would also see particularly sharp spikes in the uninsured.
- Pre-Existing Condition Protections Would be Gone - The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that almost 54 million Americans have a pre-existing condition that would lead to them being denied coverage if they could not get insurance through a job and had to try to buy on the individual market without the ACA’s protections. These folks are not statistics – they are our family, neighbors, friends, and coworkers.
- Kids Up to Age 26 Are No Longer Guaranteed Coverage – If the ACA were struck down, that requirement would go away, and it would be up to each employer to decide whether to keep the provision for their health plan. We know what that means: concessions at the table to maintain what the law currently guarantees.
- Lifetime Caps Would Return – The ACA prohibits health plans from putting a lifetime dollar limit on benefits you receive - an issue we would often see at the bargaining table. This was a game changer for those with high treatment costs associated with chronic illnesses like cancer and diabetes. Previous to the ACA, coverage could be terminated once the cap had been reached.
- Retirees and Seniors Will Take a Hit - The ACA reduces prescription drug costs when hitting the “doughnut hole.” Previously, when seniors hit this “hole,” they had to pay 100 percent of costs. Additionally, the ACA provides no-cost preventative screenings, a free wellness exam when joining Medicare, and protections against rising costs and age discrimination.
Whether it’s being able to keep our college aged children on our coverage, not having a lifetime cap on coverage, or worrying about how a pre-existing condition could affect coverage and affordability in the future –we know that there is much at stake should the ACA is overturned by the Supreme Court in November.
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