The response from General Motors was shocking. The automaker, which accepted billions in government bailouts during the last recession, cut off its payment of insurance premiums for the striking workers.
As the news broke, former Vice President Joe Biden was at an AFL-CIO event, campaigning against a single-payer Medicare for All plan that would replace employer-provided insurance. “You’ve broken your neck to get it,” Biden told the crowd. “You’ve given up wages to keep it. And no plan should be able to take it away.”
But what if that’s actually the problem? Why should union workers — or anyone — be breaking their necks to get health care, a basic human right?
Health care has been a constant subject of debate among Democratic presidential candidates. Biden and others have argued that a single-payer system would be unfair to union workers who’ve taken pay cuts in exchange for better health care plans.
But, as GM showed, our current system turns health coverage into leverage for employers. What could unions could fight for if they didn’t have to constantly play defense against employers trying to gut their health care?
If we already had Medicare for All, the United Auto Workers could be using their collective power to fight for higher wages and better benefits. Instead, GM gets to use the health of its employees as a bargaining chip.
Auto workers aren’t the only union workers fighting for health coverage.
West Virginia teachers kicked off a strike wave last year thanks, in large part, to their own fight over insurance. The state offered educators two options: use a fitness-tracking app that forced them to earn a certain number of fitness points, or watch their premiums rise. They chose to strike instead.
Meanwhile, Americans already lose their health insurance all the time. That’s actually one of the biggest problems with the health care system as it stands.
Tying health care to employment is a terrible idea. In addition to failing anyone without a full-time job, it forces people to stay in bad positions just to keep their coverage. And when workers lose their jobs, they lose their insurance too.
That wouldn’t happen under Medicare for All, which would allow workers to make decisions about leaving a job or working part-time without panicking over their insurance coverage.
Then there’s the cost.
Health insurance alone makes up, on average, 8 percent of total wages and benefits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But workers are seeing their share of the costs rise at a higher rate than their wages. They’re getting stuck with a larger chunk than ever before.
Data shows that this burden falls heaviest on low-wage workers, who are already forced to spend a much higher share of their income on extra costs like premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.
By contrast, the Medicare for All plan now before Congress would cover all medically necessary services without co-pays and deductibles — an advantage critics like Biden rarely address.
Right now, the U.S. spends about two times as much as other high-income countries on health care, only to have poorer health outcomes. It’s obvious that the current system isn’t working — for union workers, or for anyone else.
No one should have to bargain for a human right.
I went to a seminar about the 2020 medical plans, Medicare and the advantage plans and the GAP plans in Dearborn, MI a short while ago, and they had sent out reminders of it through the regular mail I believe and the internet. I went because of what I was hearing before hand and wanted to see how they treated it. It was a joke, they expect us to read up on it in manuals and online like that is all we have to do with our lives. I skimmed it and like I said went to the seminar, and it was like they were telling us about the different options available for next year, and it came down to if you need coverage for this ailment then take this medical plan, if you need it for a different ailment then take this plan. I felt very frustrated. in how they were trying to tell us that if we researched every plan out there we can find one that fits our needs. What a line of royal BS. I think there were a number of others who felt as frustrated as I did. I do not want Biden in there he is a plant to make us believe he knows how to get it done, lets ask the younger people.
I hope all other unions are supporting these workers and their cause. I'm a retired postal worker and member of the APWU and they certainly have my support.
Thank you for this article. Let's not forget Bernie Sanders who wrote the bill and whom you can be sure as President will get this legislation through. We will not see Medicare for All, or any legitimate form of Single-Payer, with anyone in the Oval except Sanders.
Unfortunately this is not about pushing a congress beholden to the mega-corporate health insurance industry to pass legislation. That's clearly not going to happen. This is an issue that is directly related to who will be the next President. And on that note, let's not kid ourselves, if elected, Warren has not demonstrated that she will fight the health insurance industry. On the contrary she has repeatedly signaled how she thinks expanding ACA is a priority, which of course is corporate welfare continuing to funnel tax payer dollars into health insurance coffers and CEO pockets.
Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All is the only version of a legitimate Single-Payer system that has been put forward, and this is not the first time he has done so. Sanders has been fighting for us on this issue for decades. Thank you again to address the myths perpetuated around Medicare for All.