CWA endorses House health care reform bill, H.R. 3962

Leadership in the House of Representatives unveiled their version of the health reform bill late last week.  It's basically the same as H.R. 3200 already endorsed by CWA.  Because three different House committees passed slightly different versions, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leaders had to merge them into a new single bill.

Instead of taxing benefits, as a Senate bill would, the House bill raises money by a small increase in income tax for individuals making more than $500,000 a year and families making more than $1 million, the New York Times reported.

It also includes a public option to compete with private insurance companies; people who need insurance could shop for a public or private plan through an insurance exchange.  It requires employers (with some exceptions for small ones) to pay their fair share for coverage. And it protects pre-Medicare retirees.

Larry Cohen, president of CWA, and Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers, immediately endorsed the bill in a joint letter to Congress:

"CWA and UAW believe that the foregoing reforms would provide enormous benefits to our nation.  Workers would no longer have to fear the loss of health care for themselves and their families if they are laid off.  Pre-Medicare retirees would be less vulnerable to cutbacks in their health care benefits.  There also would be more effective restraints on the constant escalation in health care costs, which has driven up deductibles, copays and premiums for working families and made American businesses less competitive."

Here are some things the bill would do immediately, according to an announcement from Speaker Pelosi:

• Improves Medicare benefits by ending out-of-pocket charges for preventive services; by beginning to close the Medicare "donut hole," which leaves millions of seniors without prescription coverage for part of each year; and by prohibiting private insurance companies from charging higher co-pays for Medicare services than traditional Medicare does.

• Creates a temporary program to help the uninsured until the exchanges can be set up.

• Stops insurers from putting limits on lifetime coverage and from cancelling policies when members get sick.

• Allows young people to stay on their parents' health plan until they turn 27.
• Discourages excessive price increases by insurance companies through review and disclosure of insurance rate increases.

• Allows those who have lost their jobs to keep their COBRA coverage until the exchange is in place.

• Creates a long-term care insurance program to be financed by voluntary payroll deductions.

• Creates a $10 billon fund to finance a temporary reinsurance program to help offset the costs of expensive health claims for employers that provide health benefits for retirees age 55-64.

• Increases funding for Community Health Centers to allow them to see twice as many patients.

• Provides funds to increase the number of primary care doctors, nurses, and public health professionals.