Charles Lane (WP):
What the GOP has missed on Obamacare
Explains a bit about why organized labor is nervous about the ACA.
Quote:
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...In truth, there was always tension between the interests of organized labor and the goal of universal health coverage, regardless of employment status.
A 2009 AFL-CIO resolution backed government-run single-payer health care — as long as it did “not diminish the hard-fought benefits currently enjoyed by our members” and permitted unions “to collectively bargain supplemental coverage.” Translation: Unions want health care for all, plus more for them.
In reaction to the unions’ clash with Obamacare, Republicans offer little but rhetoric, the gist of which is “we told you so,” and continue demanding total repeal, as if the unions’ objections were additional valid reasons to oppose the law.
What they seem not to grasp is that the features of the law that the unions hate are those that many Americans, including many who do not currently vote Republican, might like: the end of health insurance “job lock,” say, or bending the cost curve through limits on Cadillac plans.
If Republicans were smart, they might support those aspects of the law, instead of total repeal. But, as we have seen in recent days, that is a very big “if.”
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