Over the next few days, I’ll be taking a closer look at the provisions on the House health care bill – H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. As was the case when the original tri-committee bill was released, the House committees have a ton of fact sheets on the bill that are …
A Closer Look at the House Bill: Taking on the Insurance Industry Read More »
“Today, we are about to deliver on the promise of making affordable, quality health care available for all americans,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her statement, announcing the House health care bill. The bill is based on the ideas of opportunity, choice and innovation. Check out her speech live here. You can read the …
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced in a Capitol Hill press conference today that he will send a health care reform bill to the Senate floor that includes a public option. States will have until 2014 to decide if they want to participate in the public plan. Reid said he was optimistic that health …
When Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) suggested she would block health care reform if it included a public option, Maine workers took action: The Maine AFL-CIO put its convention on hold so attendees could call her and tell her that a public option is essential to make reform work. (Recent polls in Maine suggest Mainers strongly …
Maine Union Members Tell Snowe to Support a Public Option, and More Health Care News Read More »
The health care reform legislation approved yesterday by the Senate Finance Committee is “deeply flawed” and unless “substantial” improvements are made in the bill that makes it to the Senate floor, the AFL-CIO and some two dozen unions will oppose it. In full-page ads in the Washington Post, Politico and other dailies, union leaders say …
Today, the Senate Finance Committee voted on two amendments from Senators Schumer and Rockefeller to add a public health insurance option to the Baucus Bill. Both of those amendments were defeated, 8-15 and 10-13 respectively. In a long debate on the amendments, Senators spoke out vigorously in favor of the idea. Rockefeller exhorted his colleagues …
What Today’s Vote on the Public Option in the Senate Finance Committee Means Read More »
The Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform proposal released this morning falls far short of the comprehensive reform that would provide working families with the quality and affordable health they desperately need, say health care advocates. In a statement this morning, outgoing AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the bill “fails to meet the most basic …
Baucus Bill Is Far Short of Real Health Care Reform Read More »
(The following post is part of our Taking Back Labor Day blog series. Many people view Labor Day as just another day off from work, the end of summer, or a fine day for a barbecue. We think that it’s a holiday with a rich history, and an excellent occasion to examine what workers, and …
As Obama Speech Fires Up Base, Insurance CEOs Emerge As New ‘Villains’ Read More »
(Many people view Labor Day as just another day off from work, the end of summer, or a fine day for a barbecue. We think that it’s a holiday with a rich history, and an excellent occasion to examine what workers, and workers rights activism, means to this country. Our Taking Back Labor Day posts …
Obama’s Not Alone: Inviting Cities to the Labor Day Barbecue Read More »
Senator Kennedy’s legacy cannot be defined within one issue, no matter how important. But it would not be an understatement to say that his life’s work revolved around health care for all. He said so himself, calling it “the cause of [his] life” in a passionate Newsweek op-ed published just last month. True to form, …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
