“We just witnessed history in the making,” wrote Jessica Kutch on the SEIU’s blog late Sunday night: The House of Representatives had just passed a comprehensive healthcare reform bill. After years of struggle, the U.S. is poised to extend health insurance to 32 million people and curb the worst excesses of the private insurance industry.
“For all those who said “Yes, we can” even when the opposition threw everything it had in our way: It is a new day,” SEIU president Andy Stern said in a statement released immediately after the vote.
Obviously, the passage of healthcare reform is a victory for congressional Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama. But to no small extent, it’s also a victory for the labor movement. From the beginning, unions have been among the strongest voices for reforming the country’s healthcare system. In the final push before this weekend’s vote, senior labor leaders played a key role in whipping recalcitrant members of Congress into shape.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka threw himself into the final drive for House votes last week. Some pro-union Democrats, like Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, were hesitant to support the bill because they didn’t think it did enough for labor. One of Trumka’s main objectives was to give these representatives permission to support the bill.
Last Thursday, Trumka told reporters that the AFL-CIO had voted overwhelmingly to support the final version of the health reform bill. Just a few months earlier, Trumka had warned that his organization wouldn’t support any health reform deal that taxed health insurance plans and didn’t include a public option. The tax is still there and the public option is nowhere to be seen. Even so, the consensus in the labor movement is that the package is good enough, at least for now.
“Today there is light at the end of a dark tunnel for so many in our country who have worked hard to support their families, but still cannot afford the health care they deserve,” Trumka said Sunday night after the House’s vote. “Small businesses, part time employees, those working two and three jobs to get by and seniors can finally find security in the fact that we will soon have comprehensive health care.”
But even with healthcare reform safely out of the House, labor can’t breathe easily just yet. The Senate still has to ratify a package of reforms passed by the House last night in a separate vote. These fixes include modifications of the excise tax on high-cost insurance, one of the aspects of the original bill most strongly opposed by organized labor. Under the “fix” the excise tax would kick in five years later than it would have under the original bill. The fix also raises the threshold above which the tax applies.
“We urge the Senate to act quickly to provide working and middle-class families with the healthcare we all need,” said Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, “We can’t afford to wait any longer.”
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