Labor Campaign for Single-Payer Healthcare
Healthcare Is A Right — Not A Privilege
SENATE HEALTHCARE BILL: A STEP IN THE WRONG DIRECTION
An analysis by the Labor Campaign for Single Payer
In a last minute flurry of pork barrel deals and capitulation to powerful corporate interests, the U. S. Senate finally passed its version of healthcare reform on December 24. The final bill was roundly condemned by nearly every labor organization in the country.
“The health care bill being considered by the U. S. Senate is inadequate and too tilted toward the insurance industry,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Karen Higgens, RN, Co-President of the 150,000 member National Nurses Union, concurred. “Sadly, we have ended up with legislation that fails to meet the test of true healthcare reform…further locking into place a system that entrenches the chokehold of the profit-making insurance giants on our health.”