SWEB and Staff Update 12-22-09
by Kathy Jellison, President
1. Lead Organizer Position – Congratulations to the new Pittsburgh Lead Organizer Brenda Seevers. Brenda will assume her new duties January 1, 2010. She is currently an Organizer in the Pittsburgh office.
2. State Furloughs – after announcing that there were enough revenues to avoid any further furloughs, the Governor has now announced up to 1000 state furloughs if the casino legislation is not passed. We are moving pawns in this entire budget process. PLEASE call your legislators over the holidays and demand that they pass the casino legislation.
3. Healthcare – The Senate Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -early this morning, the Senate made history and health reform cleared its most important hurdle yet – garnering the 60 votes needed to move toward a final vote in that chamber later this week. While we slept, sixty US Senators took action to clear the first of three procedural hurdles before a final vote on the healthcare bill. The final vote of the Senate is expected to take place about 7 pm on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2009. Recently added provisions:
· Between the time when the bill passes and the time when the insurance exchanges are in place, insurance companies who try to raise their rates do so at their own peril – they may be banned from selling plans on the exchanges.
· While insurance companies will be prevented from denying coverage on the basis of per-existing conditions once the exchanges are open, in the meantime there will be a high-risk pool where people with pre-existing conditions can purchase affordable coverage.
· Insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage to children immediately after the bill passes. There is also language that protects the patient’s choice of doctor. And, small businesses will get additional assistance.
· Insurance companies will not be able to drop coverage if you become sick and no longer will Americans have to pay unlimited amounts from their own pocket for needed treatment.
· The bill will strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the program.
· Because it gets rid of waste and inefficiency in our health care system, this will be the largest deficit-reduction plan in over a decade.
· Finally, this plan will extend coverage to more than 30 million Americans who don’t have it.
While the bill is not perfect, it does begin the process of better and stronger laws and protections in the future. There are serious concerns over affordability, an excise tax. on benefits, Employer and employee responsibilities and closing the remaining loopholes. SEIU opposes any tax on healthcare. We expect this to gear up in the first 2 weeks of the New Year headed toward the final plan.
Right now the plan includes an excise tax on high cost healthcare, sometimes dubbed “the Cadillac tax”. There are many reasons a health plan may have high premiums, including the average age and health status of those enrolled, where the plan is located (in some parts of the U.S. health care costs are much higher than others), and whether the plan covers comprehensive benefits with low out-of-pocket costs. In its current form, the excise tax would go into effect in 2013, and would be imposed on any employer plan with a total annual cost above $8500 for single coverage and $23,000 for all other coverage. There are many other details which will be outlined once we see the final version.
4. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Worker Assistance Act – both were set to phase out at the end of 2009. Thanks to all of your actions, Congress and the White House have reauthorized key unemployment provisions of the Recovery Act into 2010. This morning, President Obama signed and enacted reauthorization providing further extensions (all 4 tiers of Emergency Unemployment Compensation plus extended benefits), enhanced COBRA subsidies for jobless workers, and continuation of the additional $25 weekly supplement in all unemployment checks. These provisions, all set to phase out by the end of December, were authorized for another 2 months (until February 28, 2010). This two-month extension is simply a stop gap measure to keep states running their programs without interruption. As soon as Congress returns in the next session, the fight will be on for a bill that extends ARRA at least through the end of 2010.
5. COPE – we are VERY close to reaching our COPE goals for 2009. All state workers and many county workers will get an increment in January 2010 – a great time to up your COPE contribution. 2010 will be a very active year politically for every union member and we must have ammunition to fight this battle. Please consider raising your COPE contribution – every dollar counts. Don’t forget your 2010 goal – at least 5 cards per month at $7 = $35 per month.
Again, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All and a blessed New Year in 2010!