AFTRA

Resolution Re: Health Care

07-CVR-04

Whereas, health care is an important issue that directly impacts our members’ lives and livelihoods; and

Whereas, with health care costs escalating out of control for both employers and employees, the employer based health care system in the U. S. is imploding; and

Whereas, such escalating costs depress wages and the ability to address working conditions issues; and

Whereas, the un- and under-insured now represent a significant portion of the American population whose often uncompensated care raise health care costs for all consumers and health plans, including AFTRA’s plan; and

Former AFTRA New York Local President JR Horne states his views

Whereas, AFTRA members who do not qualify for health coverage under AFTRA’s plan become exposed to the increasingly expensive and over-priced private health insurance market; and

Whereas, AFTRA members who do qualify for health coverage face ever mounting out-of-pocket expenditures; and

Whereas, AFTRA has been on record since 1991 (CVR-37, 7/27/91) as favoring universal, comprehensive national health care reform, preferably a publicly-funded ‘single payer’ system; and

Whereas, AFTRA participated in 2003 with the National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC) to develop broadly agreed upon principles of reform “that must be a national priority, adopted concurrently and introduced system-wide without selective changes for selective patients, payers or providers”; and

Whereas, AFTRA supports the AFL-CIO’s recent Executive Council statement on health care which outlines the necessary elements of successful reform; and

Whereas, AFTRA opposes proposals that utilize Health Savings Accounts, individual tax credits, or mandates for the uninsured to purchase private health insurance as their primary mechanism for reform; and

Whereas, the current path of American health care is financially unsustainable;

Now Therefore Be It Resolved, that the 2007 AFTRA National Convention reaffirms its support of meaningful national health care reform, preferably single-payer; and

Be It Further Resolved, that AFTRA, like the AFL-CIO, supports the goal of national legislation that would provide universal coverage that is comprehensive in nature, genuinely affordable, protecting provider choice, financed through a progressive system of business, labor, and government financing, emphasizing cost controls and efficiencies, and that does not undermine existing coverage or put more people at risk than is already the case; and

Be It Further Resolved, that AFTRA, thru its Locals and local leadership, provide information about the health care crisis and its impact on all AFTRA members, and provide appropriate contact information for member involvement; and

Be It Finally Resolved, that members be encouraged to identify and individually contact their elected representatives, an action critically necessary to achieve meaningful health care reform, with the goal of having a reformed national system in place by 2012.

Submitted by AFTRA Legislative and Public Affairs Committee

Adopted as amended 7/19/07