Health Care

Health care is a basic human right.  America’s labor movement has worked for more than a century for guaranteed high-quality health care for everyone.  The Affordable Care Act is a historic milestone on this journey, but we still have a long way to go.

America must continue moving forward toward a more equitable and cost-effective health care system. Moving forward means working with employers to demand health care payment and delivery reforms to control costs, allowing people of all ages to buy into the equivalent of Medicare through a public plan option and allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.  Of course, the most cost-effective and equitable way to provide quality health care is through the social insurance model (“Medicare for All”), as other industrialized countries have shown. 

The worst thing we could do is move backward by repealing the Affordable Care Act or its key provisions; privatizing Medicare or turning it into a voucher program; raising the Medicare eligibility age; increasing Medicare co-pays and deductibles or otherwise cutting Medicare benefits; or taxing employment-based health care benefits. 

More about this issue:

Jul 10

Blood supply levels throughout New York are continually critically low.

Jun 13, 2013 | News Story

On Tuesday, June 12, thousands of City workers rallied at City Hall Park to demand fair contracts.

Jun 12

Striking members of the Legal Services Staff Association will hold Community Voices: Save Legal Services on Wednesday, June 12, at 2:00 PM, on the steps of City Hall featuring clients and community organizers who have benefited from civil legal services provided by the striking a

May 31, 2013 | News Story

On Friday, May 24, 21 Queens “carwasheros,” made history by signing the first ever union contract for carwash workers in New York City.  The carwasheros, members of RWDSU, voted to unionize as a way to protect themselves against wage and tip theft, and as a means of securing a series of raises, s

Jun 12

Join city employees and their community supporters on Wednesday, June 12 at 4:00 PM at City Hall as they demand fair contracts for all and tell the Mayor that workers count and workers vote.

May 21

Join New Yorkers to demand a healthcare system that works for patients, not profits.  Under a state single-payer healthcare program (A5

May 16, 2013 | News Story

Our sisters and brothers who are members of the Legal Services Staff Association, NOLSW, UAW Local 2320 went on strike on the morning of Wednesday, May 15th after working almost a year without a contract.  Despite making historic offers to management to share in the costs of healthcare and forgo

May 8, 2013 | News Story

In a historic vote by the New York City Council, Intro 97-A, the New York City Earned Sick Time Act passed by a margin