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DanTex

(20,709 posts)
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:08 PM Feb 2020

The "M4A hurts unions" talking point is nonsense.

For a lot of reasons.

But one important point is that Bernie's plan explicitly states that any savings to employers currently providing union-negotiated healthcare must be turned over to workers, by law, either as higher wages or benefits. Which means that, even if it were the case that current union coverage is better than M4A (which, in the Nevada case, it's not), a union could then decide to either have the employer provide supplemental insurance, or else go with the M4A coverage and realize the cost savings as pay raises.

A fair transition to Medicare for All: Bernie will require that resulting healthcare savings from union-negotiated plans result in wage increases and additional benefits for workers during the transition to Medicare for All. When Medicare for All is signed into law, companies with union negotiated health care plans would be required to enter into new contract negotiations overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. Under this plan, all company savings that result from reduced health care contributions from Medicare for All will accrue equitably to workers in the form of increased wages or other benefits. Furthermore, the plan will ensure that union-sponsored clinics and other providers are integrated within the Medicare for All system, and kept available for members. Unions will still be able to negotiate for and provide wrap-around services and other coverage not duplicative of the benefits established under Medicare for All.


https://berniesanders.com/issues/workplace-democracy/
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jmg257

(11,996 posts)
1. Does it have to be just Unions? (We get healthcare from our employer - but are not in a union)
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:10 PM
Feb 2020
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DanTex

(20,709 posts)
3. That provision is specific to unions, because it's mediated through the NLRB.
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:12 PM
Feb 2020

For non-union employers, presumably they will have the choice of what to do with cost savings.

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krissey

(1,205 posts)
2. Sanders, AOC, Sanders staffer all own M4A is a bust.
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:11 PM
Feb 2020
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DanTex

(20,709 posts)
5. FYI Warren is also in favor of M4A.
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:13 PM
Feb 2020
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krissey

(1,205 posts)
6. Warren declared it a bust a couple months ago.
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:13 PM
Feb 2020
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krissey

(1,205 posts)
11. Warren back down M4A and is now stating choice.
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:37 PM
Feb 2020

Come into her plan, or keep what they have. Choice is back down. She has also stated she will back any and all improvement to ACA.

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George II

(67,782 posts)
4. No it isn't! That business about employers giving their savings to employers "by law"....
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:13 PM
Feb 2020

....is simply false, and if a law was passed dictating that (it won't) it'd be thrown out in a New York minute.

Plus, why should "companies with union negotiated health care plans would be required to enter into new contract negotiations" have to do that? Better yet, turning it around, why should unions who have won those negotiations have to renegotiate? They already HAVE their benefits, earned on the hard work and backs of the rank-and-file unions.

Maybe Senator Sanders should have worked in a union shop to understand how this works.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

DanTex

(20,709 posts)
8. Uh, yes, it is. That's exactly what Bernie's M4A plan entails, and it's mediated through the NLRB.
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:15 PM
Feb 2020

I have no idea why you think it would be "thrown out".

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question everything

(47,544 posts)
7. NV The Culinary Union
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:14 PM
Feb 2020

The Culinary Union has about 60,000 members. Its affiliated health center in Las Vegas provides many services free and has doctors, dentists, optometrists, a pharmacy and urgent care. Mr. Sanders, one union flier warns, would “End Culinary Healthcare” and “Require ‘Medicare For All.’” The flier explains that Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Joe Biden would “Protect Culinary Healthcare.”

Another flier doesn’t mention names: “We have fought for 85 years to protect our healthcare. Why would we let politicians take it away?” Some candidates might promise higher wages, but they “have never sat at our bargaining table or been on a 24/7, 6 years, 4 months, and 10 days strike line—like we have to make an employer pay for healthcare.”

This stance has brought blowback from embittered Bernie bros. “It’s disappointing,” a union official said Wednesday, “that Senator Sanders’ supporters have viciously attacked the Culinary Union and working families in Nevada simply because our union has provided facts on what certain healthcare proposals might do to take away the system of care we have built over 8 decades.” Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted support: “Isn’t it better to keep fighting 4 universal health care, than attack those who have concerns?”

Medicare for all will also be bad for seniors. Medicare for All would shunt everyone into a new single-payer program, which also means demolishing today’s Medicare. That includes doing away with private plans under Medicare Advantage, which enroll about 22 million people.

If I were to vote in a presidential
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George II

(67,782 posts)
9. Have you seen the article that actually included the "vicious" attacks? That word is too mild!
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:18 PM
Feb 2020
If I were to vote in a presidential
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calguy

(5,336 posts)
12. Your talking points on MFA are nonsense.
Fri Feb 14, 2020, 05:50 PM
Feb 2020

That is all.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
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