From the Blog

• Mar 07 Shutdown of New Jersey Centers Likely to Upset Lives of Most Vulnerable AFSCME is leading an active coalition to keep the Woodbridge and North Jersey developmental centers open.
• Feb 08 Cuts in Mental-Health Funding Pose Risks for States Spotlight on intersection between mental-health disease and gun violence highlights need for more support.
• Jan 31 Governors Who Reject Medicaid Expansion Will Harm Workers, Families Several governors say they will refuse to set up health care purchasing “exchanges.”
• Jan 15 Register Now for Dynamic Legislative Conference Want to raise your voice for workers? Come to Washington, DC, and do just that.
• Dec 19 AFSCME Retiree, 92, Doesn’t Let Age Slow Activism Rosyln Sims, a former school librarian in Youngstown City, Ohio, has activism in her blood.
• Dec 19 Protect Medicare, Protect Nurses Cuts to Medicare would mean job losses for nurses. AFSCME is working to stop them.
• Oct 24 America’s Workers Fed Up With Romney’s Say Anything Strategy You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool AFSCME members any time.
• Oct 18 Romney’s Policies Put American Women in a Bind When it comes time to vote, women won’t forget Romney’s refusal to acknowledge our rights.
• Oct 15 Vice Presidential Debate Highlights Fight for Fairness On MSNBC, Pres. Lee Saunders says Joe Biden made the case for the middle class.
• Oct 14 Meet the New Mitt. Same As the Old Mitt. With his campaign on the skids, Romney tries on a number of personas – none of them authentic.
• Oct 05 Romney Shakes the Etch-A-Sketch Again The candidate who doesn’t care about the poor or the 47% also disregards the truth.
• Oct 01 Meet Richard Hayes: He Collects Mitt Romney’s Trash Videos spotlight public service workers, underscore Romney’s arrogant dismissal of nearly half of all Americans.
• Aug 30 Paul Ryan Acceptance Speech Light on Reality Wisconsin retirees: Paul Ryan would “tear seniors’ safety net to shreds.”
• Aug 29 Warren to Christie: Not So Fast Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren calls out Gov. Chris Christie on his RNC keynote speech.
• Aug 08 Report Gives House’s Extreme Anti-Worker Agenda a Failing Grade Right-wing Republicans get an “F” when it comes to creating jobs and protecting workers’ rights.
• Jul 19 Romney Protest Shines Light on Why He’s No Good for America Union members, allies, protest Romney’s policies at GOP Presidential candidate’s fundraiser in Toledo, Ohio.
• Jul 18 AFSCME Member Discusses Retirement Security at White House New York retiree Stuart Leibowitz spoke of the need to preserve Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
• Jul 10 Boehner Bunch Still Trying to Repeal Obamacare Despite the Supreme Court ruling upholding health reform, Republican leaders refuse to let go.
• Jul 05 Mitt Romney’s “Fake-Facts” The Romney campaign is attempting to distort the real impact of the Affordable Care Act.
• Jul 03 AFSCME President Lee Saunders on MSNBC AFSCME President Lee Saunders appeared on MSNBC's PoliticsNation last night to discuss the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare, the 2012 elections and the ongoing attacks against working families across the country.
• Jun 28 President Obama Reacts to High Court Health Care Affirmation Remarks from the White House following the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act.
• Jun 28 U.S. Supreme Court: Obamacare is Constitutional High court upholds President Obama’s health care reform law, which AFSCME helped champion.
• May 07 Honor Nurses by Supporting Nurse-Patient Staffing Bill National Nurses Week is a time to honor nurses by helping them.
• Apr 13 Romney’s Clearer Path Thrusts Ryan Budget in the Spotlight Republican budget plan attacks working families, slashes benefits, and ends Medicaid coverage for millions.
• Mar 30 Five Myths about the Ryan Budget The top myths about Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan in 140 characters or less.
• Mar 26 Supreme Court Justices Urged to ‘Protect the Law!’ Supporters of the Affordable Care Act speak out as three days of hearings begin.
• Mar 23 Stand Up for the Affordable Care Act Supporters are organizing picket lines on Monday in front of the Supreme Court.
• Nov 21 Toomey Super Committee Plan Would Raise Taxes on Working Families to Protect Wall Street Dangerous proposal would endanger health coverage for working Americans while reducing taxes on the wealthiest.
• Aug 05 House GOP’s Cantor Says Medicare & Medicaid Promises May Not Be Kept As programs turn 46, Rep. Cantor threatens to hang millions of Americans out to dry.
• Jul 22 Shared Sacrifice? Not in the ‘Gang of Six’ Plan Ad tells it straight about the shortcomings of the “Gang of Six” deficit plan.
• May 27 Rep. Ryan Wants to Push Retirees Back into the “Donut Hole” Budget proposal would repeal Affordable Care Act provisions providing relief from high prescription drug costs.
• May 20 Women at Greater Risk if Health Care Reform Isn't Implemented Changes required by the Affordable Care Act will ease health care cost burden on women.
• May 03 AFSCME Nurses in DC this Week to Fight for Medicaid, Medicare National Nurses Congress attendees will attend workshops, hear speakers and meet with members of Congress.
• Apr 07 Florida Legislature Pulls Plug on Privatization of Northeast Florida State Hospital One of the many dangerous proposals in Gov. Rick Scott's budget is now off the table.
• Jan 21 A Big Hug for the Insurance Industry from House GOP Republicans abandoned any pretense of caring about health care reform Wednesday. They gave the insurance industry one whopper of an embrace when they voted to throw out protections for America’s working families [...]
• Jan 18 Stop the Health Care Repeal In one of their very first official acts, the new Republican House leadership will hold a vote on Wednesday to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the landmark health reform law enacted last year.
• Dec 13 E-Mails Show Fox Driving Radical Right Agenda Reports that a Fox News editor directed his staff to use a politically charged phrase recommended by a Republican pollster to misrepresent the Democrats' health care reform plan is proof that Fox is driving a radical right-wing political agenda [...]
• Dec 03 New Report: Affordable Care Act Could Save Families Over $3,000 Per Year A post on the White House blog highlights a new report from the Commonwealth Fund which demonstrates how the Affordable Care Act will help drive down premiums and save money for Americans across the country.
• Nov 23 Drop It or Stop It Republicans spent an astounding amount of time during the 2010 campaign rallying against the Affordable Care Act — a law that will end the worst insurance company abuses [...]
• Oct 12 Stop the Lies Health insurance industry front groups and their allies are flooding the airwaves with political ads that lie about health reform and its supporters, so Health Care for America Now is using laughter to fight back.
• Aug 17 Americans Believe in Death Panels? USA Today reported late last week that according to three recent polls, Americans continue to have dramatic misunderstandings about the health care reform law passed earlier this year.
• Jul 30 Opposition to Health Care Reform Dwindles A new poll out Thursday from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that a consistent 50 percent of the public supports the health care reform law passed this year while opposition to the law is down to just 35 percent this month.
• May 28 What Financial Reform Means Big business, big banks, Wall Street, and the CEOs of America’s top companies said that passing health care reform would amount to a “government takeover” of our nation’s health care system.
• May 27 Medicare and the New Health Law Throughout this week, Medicare beneficiaries across the country should be receiving copies of a brochure “Medicare and the New Health Law – What it Means for You” in their mailboxes.
• May 10 Support Our Nurses With Our Hearts and Deeds We don’t often think about nurses until we need them. But we should, because by then we probably need the care they provide, and it’s too late to wonder if they’re getting all the help they need
• Mar 31 Rumors That Won’t Die Just because President Obama has signed health care reform into law doesn’t mean the falsehoods, distortions and misleading rumors about what’s contained in the legislation have stopped.
• Mar 29 Big Winner in Health Care: You U.S. News & World Report has assembled a list of groups who gained the most and had the biggest impact during the campaign for health insurance reform in a report titled “10 Winners in the Healthcare Debate.”
• Mar 26 A Remarkable Achievement AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee’s statement on the final passage of the health care reconciliation bill.
• Mar 24 Cows on the Track Michael Steele, the hapless chairman of the Republican National Committee, was asked a while back by Fox News how he would stop health care reform. “I will be the cow on the track,” he answered.
• Mar 21 A Monumentally Important Victory for Our Country AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee released the following statement regarding the historic vote for health care reform in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Mar 18 AFSCME’s GOP First Aid Kit AFSCME today began distributing hundreds of first aid kits for protection against the deadly virus of opposition to health care reform being spread by the GOP and their allies.
• Mar 16 Out of Control As Congress stands ready to cast a historic vote on health care reform, AFSCME and a coalition of pro-reform groups have launched a series of television ads as part of a final push for passage of the legislation.
• Mar 16 This Is the Week This is the week we’ve been waiting for. This is the week when Democrats in Congress can prove that it is still possible for our political institutions to stand with the American people in a time of crisis.
• Mar 15 Video: Stop Big Insurance On March 9th, hundreds of AFSCME members joined thousands of union members and health care advocates brought together by Health Care for America NOW! to perform a citizens' arrest of health insurance executives.
• Mar 10 Greed Under Arrest Thousands of demonstrators, including hundreds of AFSCME members, participated in a “mass citizens’ arrest” of health insurance executives as they met in our nation’s capital on Tuesday to plan their continued efforts to defeat health care reform.
• Mar 09 It's Time: Confronting Health Insurance CEOs in DC As the leaders of America’s health insurance industry meet today at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC, thousands of working men and women are urging Congress to take a stand against efforts to kill health care reform.
• Mar 04 Best. Graph. Ever. Consider three bills — two of them passed under budget reconciliation, the third heading for budget reconciliation. Each had an effect on the fiscal health of the nation, calculated by the Congressional Budget Office.
• Mar 02 Principled Stand? Hardly. This morning, in yet another slap to the face of struggling, out-of-work Americans, miserly GOP Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky again roadblocked measures in the Senate to extend unemployment benefits to 400,000 Americans.
• Feb 24 The Nerve! Not satisfied with record-breaking profits of $12.5 billion last year – a whooping 56 percent spike from 2008 – the nation’s five largest insurance companies have the audacity to raise their premiums on thousands of families.
• Jan 28 The State of Our Union President Obama made it clear last night that he will fight for jobs. He knows that we cannot lose sight of the millions of working families who are still suffering from the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression.
• Jan 14 Insurance Industry Lies v. the American People With Congress on the verge of passing historic health care reform, opponents are apparently willing to do just about anything to stop our efforts to fix the health care crisis, drive costs down and cover all Americans.
• Jan 13 Union Coalition Opposes Excise Tax A group of 16 unions, including AFSCME, representing nearly nine million federal and postal employees and retirees sent a letter to key leaders in Congress this week calling for the removal of the proposed excise tax on high-cost insurance plans.
• Jan 08 Finish Reform Right - Don't Tax Health Benefits Working families are struggling with the high cost of health care, yet the health care bill passed by the U.S. Senate on Christmas Eve would tax their health care benefits. That’s a terrible mistake.
• Jan 05 Finish Health Reform Right The U.S. Senate passed its version of health care reform on Christmas Eve, and now Democratic leaders are merging the bill with the one passed by the House of Representatives in November.
• Jan 04 Millionaire Limbaugh Says Health Care System ‘Just Dandy’ Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a hospital in Hawaii last week after he complained of chest pains and had reportedly been taken from his hotel “in serious condition.”
• Dec 17 Politics Daily: Cadillac Tax Would Hit Hard Politics Daily looks at the effects of the so-called “Cadillac tax” included in the Senate health care bill. Originally intended as a way to finance reform by taxing the type of expensive benefit plans enjoyed by Wall Street executives.
• Dec 14 GOP's McConnell Called Out by Constituents During recent debate on the Senate floor, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he had “not met one” person in his state who supports health care reform. He has now.
• Dec 07 Nurses Keep Fighting for Reform Wearing medical scrubs with the slogan, “House Calls for Health Care,” AFSCME nurses took the case for real health care reform directly to the people of Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, and North Dakota over the weekend.
• Dec 07 AFL-CIO Ad: Don't Tax Health Benefits The AFL-CIO has launched a new TV ad that sends a clear message: “Pass Health Care. Don’t Tax Health Benefits.” The ad emphasizes that taxing benefits will lead companies to cut benefits and will shift cost burdens to families that can’t afford it.
• Dec 04 Cadillac Tax Would Lead to Cuts in Health Benefits An independent study released this week finds that the excise tax on higher-cost health plans would adversely impact the middle class by shifting more costs to workers.
• Nov 12 AFSCME Retirees Fighting for Health Reform Now that health care reform has passed in the House, it faces a tough challenge in the Senate as opponents of reform try anything to stop it, including scaring seniors with myths and misinformation.
• Nov 10 Thanking Congress for Making History AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee praised Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representatives for passing the historic Affordable Health Care for America Act.
• Nov 06 Daily Kos Turns AFSCME Green If you’ve visited Daily Kos today, you probably noticed the familiar orange color has been updated with a healthy dose of AFSCME green.
• Nov 05 Let's Make It Happen Now! The House of Representatives finally will vote on health care reform legislation as soon as Saturday. This is a truly historic and defining moment for our nation. Will we meet one of the most important challenges of our generation?
• Oct 29 “The Time Has Come” AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee issued the following statement regarding the introduction of the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
• Oct 28 Health Reform's Chevy Tax The Senate health care legislation announced by Sen. Harry Reid on Monday will include a public option, but would pay for reform by taxing more costly, so-called “Cadillac” plans.
• Oct 26 Sen. Reid Announces Bill with Public Option Earlier this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) held a press conference to announce that the merged Senate health reform bill will include a public option which would allow individual states to opt out.
• Oct 23 AHIP MIA: Standing Up to the Health Insurance Lobby Yesterday afternoon, AFSCME joined more than 500 union members and health care activists at a rally in Washington, DC, where lobby group America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) was holding a conference just around the corner from our DC headquarters.
• Oct 22 Health Insurance Industry’s ‘Duplicitous’ Campaign to Kill Reform The veil has finally come off the insurance companies’ charade as one of the insurance industry’s top lobbyists, Steve Champlin told Republican Members of Congress not to vote for health reform under any circumstances.
• Oct 22 Health Insurance Track Meet A new ad from MoveOn.org shows actress Heather Graham as the public option, forcing “lazy, bloated” private insurance companies to get back in the race and compete.
• Oct 20 Majority and Rising for Public Option Public support for a public health insurance option is increasing, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. 57 percent of all Americans now favor a public option, up from 52 percent in mid-August.
• Oct 20 It's Time to Deliver Today I hope you’ll join me in a national call-in day for health insurance reform. Tell members of Congress that we need a public health insurance option, a requirement that employers provide coverage and no taxing our benefits.
• Oct 15 House Calls for Health Care Last Saturday, AFSCME nurses from around the country joined community leaders in scrubs to canvass neighborhoods as part of our “House Calls for Health Care” initiative. AFSCME nurses knocked on doors in ND, NE, AR, LA, IN, OH, DE and ME.
• Oct 14 Real Health Care Reform. Nothing Less. AFSCME and more than two dozen other unions have a full page ad in today’s Washington Post, Politico, Roll Call and The Hill newspapers in response to the Senate Finance health care bill that was voted out of committee yesterday.
• Oct 09 Out of Touch You know Congressional Republicans are out-of-touch with the American people on health insurance reform when even former Republican Senate Majority Leader and GOP nominee for President Bob Dole says so, notes a new web video released today.
• Oct 08 Don’t Tax Health Care Benefits Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT) announced Wednesday that 156 Democratic members of Congress oppose taxing health care benefit plans to pay for health care reform.
• Oct 07 National Call-in Day for Health Care Reform Soon you’ll know your senators’ true colors because the fight for real health insurance reform is coming to a head. There will be floor votes in Congress any day now. Ttens of thousands of working people are joining a national call-in day for reform.
• Oct 05 Doctors Say Congress Must Include Public Option in Health Care Reform On Friday in Oakland, California, the Union of American Physicians & Dentists (UAPD – an AFSCME affiliate) and Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi announced the results of a survey that shows doctors overwhelmingly support offering a public option.
• Oct 02 Burst Boehner's Bubble Yesterday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he hasn’t met an American who supports the public option.
• Oct 01 Stacie Ritter Lost Everything. CIGNA CEO Ed Hanway Bought Another House. AFSCME-backed Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation’s largest health care campaign, launched the next phase in its ongoing “Sick of It” push for insurance accountability today.
• Sep 30 One Battle in the War for Reform Yesterday, we fought a battle for the public health insurance option. Though we didn’t win it, we came away with a strong showing that put us in a better position for the coming war.
• Sep 18 Insurers Spend $585M to Scuttle Meaningful Health Care Reform Health insurance companies and HMOs spent $585,725,712 over the past two and a half years to scuttle meaningful health care reform, according to the nonpartisan group Public Campaign Action Fund.
• Sep 17 Unacceptable The Senate Finance Committee is currently considering a deeply flawed health care reform bill that, as former insurance company executive Wendell Potter said, is a “gift to the insurance industry.”
• Sep 17 Doctors Support the Public Option The New England Journal of Medicine just released a survey of more than 2,100 physicians that shows overwhelming support for including a public insurance option in health care reform. A public health insurance option would help lower costs and more.
• Sep 16 We Have Death Panels... "...They call them insurance companies." — incoming AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, as quoted by the New York Times.
• Sep 15 Standing for Meaningful Health Reform The Senate Finance Committee is getting ready to debate a health care bill that does not come close to meeting the needs of America’s working families. Nor does it meet the standards President Obama laid out in his address last week to Congress.
• Sep 15 How to Get Rich Health Care for America Now launched a new ad campaign today with a clear message: if the insurance companies win their battle to kill health care reform, we all lose.
• Sep 15 Obama and Labor: Fired Up! President Obama just ended his speech to the delegates at the AFL-CIO 2009 Convention in Pittsburgh, where he pledged to grow the middle class and strengthen the labor movement.
• Sep 10 Now Is the Season for Action Addressing a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, President Obama made the case for meaningful health care reform. The speech “re-energized the forces for reform and has set a clear path for victory,” says AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee.
• Sep 08 Who Needs Death Panels When There's Recission The health insurance industry and its shills have stirred up a lot of panic about health insurance reform by conjuring up “death panels.” These claims are patently false and distract from the fact that private insurers are already doing [...]
• Sep 04 Dangerous Distractions With Congress in recess for August, the opponents of health care reform deployed operatives to congressional town hall meetings to use thuggish behavior to disrupt constructive conversations and silence Americans calling for reform.
• Aug 27 The Death of a Friend In nearly 47 years spent serving the American people, Ted Kennedy never stepped away from a fight, never stopped being a champion of the middle class, never ceased being a friend to labor and working families.
• Aug 25 Many Generations, One Call for Change The Highway to Health Care RV pulled into Wilmington’s Rodney Square earlier today and was greeted by over 200 Delawareans who want real health care reform, capping two busy days that saw reformers from three generations come together.
• Aug 25 Real Death Panels Death panels aren’t coming in health care legislation — they’re already here. As reported by Salon.com, Americans United for Change has launched a TV ad turning the tables on the debunked charge made up by opponents of health insurance reform.
• Aug 20 A Contrast to Mob Mentality The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ran a report yesterday on our Highway to Health Care event in front of the state Capitol in Little Rock — and the importance of Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s support of a public option.
• Aug 19 National Health Care Forum with President Obama As we continue on the Highway to Health Care Tour, the messages left on our map have been a constant reminder of why we need reform that keeps the insurance industry honest and lowers our costs.
• Aug 18 We’re Not Asking for the Moon During Saturday’s Highway to Health Care event in downtown Lincoln, NE, the crowd got a health care reform history lesson from Vince Powers. It was 100 years ago that President Teddy Roosevelt — a Republican — said the country needed national health care.
• Aug 17 GOP on Health Care: Profits Ahead of People A new ad campaign from AFSCME and Health Care for America Now (HCAN) targets Republican leadership in the House and Senate and seven additional Republican members of Congress who are blocking comprehensive health insurance reform.
• Aug 17 Senior Scare Tactics Well, our Highway to Health Care Reform Tour has been on the road for a week, and judging from our Facebook page, it’s been a big success so far (don’t forget to suggest it to your friends).
• Aug 14 On the Road to Reform Well, it’s begun. On Wednesday, AFSCME’s Highway to Health Care Reform tour officially launched in Bismarck, ND after making a couple pit stops in Montana.
• Aug 12 Countering the Lies about Health Care Reform The opponents of health care reform are spreading lies and chaos to try to kill the health care reform that millions of Americans need. AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee rebutted those lies on the Huffington Post and Firedoglake.
• Aug 11 AFSCME Hits the Road for Health Care Reform — Want to Come Along? Congress is on recess this month – but AFSCME is not. Health care isn’t working for America’s middle class. It’s too expensive and too uncertain – and it’s crippling our nation’s economy.
• Aug 06 Congratulations Justice Sotomayor! Following the U.S. Senate’s 68 to 31 vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee released the following statement.
• Aug 05 Right-Wing Harassment Memo The progressive web site ThinkProgress.org has posted additional information about the DC-driven right wing campaign to disrupt Congressional town hall meetings and destroy any constructive dialog on health care reform.
• Aug 05 Shouting Down Reform Republicans have made it clear since the spring that they want to kill any chance at health care reform. Now, as Congress recesses for August, the opponents of health care reform are sending operatives to congressional town hall meetings.
• Aug 05 McEntee on The Stephanie Miller Show On Tuesday, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee discussed the need for grassroots action in support of health care reform with Stephanie Miller, the host of radio’s The Stephanie Miller Show.
• Jul 30 No Tax on Health Benefits AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee, in a story on National Public Radio this morning, spoke out against taxing workers on their employer-provided health insurance.
• Jul 29 Health Care Reform: What’s In It for You? Earlier today, President Obama presented a list of 8 consumer protections included in health care reform legislation that will affect Americans directly. What follows is the White House list of health insurance consumer protections.
• Jul 28 McEntee Talks Health Care with Bill Press AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee appeared on the Bill Press Radio Show on Monday to talk about AFSCME’s aggressive campaign for health care reform.
• Jul 27 New TV Ad: 'Nurses' Patients aren’t the only ones crying out for health care reform. That’s the message in this new television ad, “Nurses,” as seen on Politico and Huffington Post.
• Jul 21 Breaking President Obama? On Friday, GOP Senator Jim DeMint told a special interest group against health care reform that if they’re “able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”
• Jul 15 Let's Do This: Call Congress for Health Care Reform On Tuesday, the folks in Washington put forth their best effort on health care reform. America’s Affordable Health Choices Act is a plan we can, and must, support.
• Jul 13 Hands Off Health Care Benefits for Working Families A letter to the editor from AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee was published in the New York Times on July 12th.
• Jul 10 New Home Care Services Insurance Gains White House Support This week, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius expressed strong support for including the Community Living Assistance Services and Support: (CLASS) Act in health care reform legislation.
• Jul 10 Public Health Plan Option Could Save State and Local Governments $921 Billion If health care reform includes a public health insurance option that pays Medicare payment rates to providers, state and local governments are predicted to save an estimated $921 billion in lower health care costs over 11 years.
• Jul 08 $1.4 Million Dollars Per Day Think Progress points to this story from the Washington Post about the massive amount of money being spent to block health care reform.
• Jul 07 Health Care ’09: We Can’t Wait! 2,000 AFSCME members and thousands of other union members and community activists gathered near the U.S. Capitol on June 25, 2009 for National Health Care Reform Rally and Lobby Day.
• Jun 25 Join the National Day of Action for Health Care Right now, tens of thousands of everyday Americans are in Washington fighting for real health care reform that works for working families. You can join them by sending a message to your representatives in Congress right now.
• Jun 18 That’s Why They’re Called Health Care Benefits Over the last decade, health care premiums have risen 10 times faster than income. Keeping up with those expenses is already costing Americans an arm and a leg. Why would you want to make them even less affordable?
• Jun 17 Union Retirees: Big Role in Bringing Change This is the year for passing real health care reform and to begin rebuilding the nation’s middle class by passing laws that give workers a free choice to join a union. And union retirees, will play a big role in bringing about change.
• Jun 15 A Co-Op for the Public Option? Let's Talk Principles. We’re going to see a lot of these kinds of “compromises” from now until we pass a health reform bill through Congress. First, we had the “trigger” proposal, designed to effectively kill a public health insurance option. Now, we have the “co-op” proposal.
• Jun 09 Real Health Care Reform – The Time is Now Last week, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee and several other union presidents met with Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT).
• Jun 03 Taxing Health Benefits Could Kill Health Care Reform In recent days, two generally progressive commentators have written in favor of taxing all or part of the value of employer provided health benefits as a way of paying for some of the costs of health care reform.
• Jun 03 Privatization is a Dirty Word Privatization has become a dirty word. And for good reason. Imagine where we would be today if George W. Bush had gotten his way and gambled away our Social Security on the stock market.
• May 20 Stop Sen. Wyden’s Health Tax The last thing families struggling in this tough economy need is to pay more for their health benefits. But Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) wants to tax the health care benefits many Americans get from their jobs – as if they were income.
• May 08 Protecting Frontline Health Workers from Pandemic Flu During a Congressional hearing held Thursday by the House Education and Labor Committee, AFSCME member and registered nurse Miguel García testified about the need to enforce federal guidelines designed to protect health care workers.
• Mar 09 White House Hosts Health Care Forum On March 5, AFSCME participated in President Obama's Forum on Health Care Reform. The summit was part of the new administration's effort to gain momentum for the President's health care reform initiatives.
• Feb 27 Fiscal Responsibility and Health Care Go Hand in Hand
• Feb 26 President Obama is Right: Health Care Reform Cannot Wait On Tuesday night, President Obama spoke to the nation about how we will rebuild our economy. Like many Americans, I was heartened to hear him renew his commitment to pursue health care reform and to do it THIS YEAR
• Feb 05 Public Health Insurance Option Wins Strong Support A new poll released by the Health Care for America Now coalition shows broad public support for including a public health insurance plan as part of comprehensive health care reform.
• Jan 27 The First Step in Remaking America
• Jan 16 The Fierce Urgency of Now
• Jan 14 Make America Happen. Again.
• Dec 24 Health Care Reform Needs a Public Option Our broken health care system hurts everyone. Health insurance premiums are going up three times faster than pay, with many working families shouldering a growing share of those costs. They are paying more and getting less.
• Nov 19 Health Care Reform - Yes We Can - NOW! The election of Barack Obama and a new Congress demonstrated that the American people are hungry for real change. The vast majority want policies that are neither left nor right. Instead they want change that moves the country forward.
• Oct 08 Nonsense on Health Care from The Wall Street Journal
• Oct 06 McCain’s Health Plan: Higher Costs, Fewer Benefits
• Oct 01 Questioning Sarah Palin
• Oct 01 Palin: “Good Union Jobs” Mean Better Health Care
• Sep 23 Fundamentally Wrong
• Aug 29 Labor Day and the Election Season
• Jul 21 Insurance Company Rules
• Jul 18 An Enormous Victory
• Jul 08 Health Care for America Now!
• Mar 18 The Disadvantage of Privatizing Medicare
• Feb 05 Big Difference on Health Care
• Feb 01 Bush Cuts Will Cost Lives
• Jan 24 Bush Supporters in Congress Kill SCHIP… Again
• Jan 02 Workers Are Not a “Special Interest”
• Dec 19 Bush Budget: A Lump of Coal
• Dec 07 Who’s Footing the Bill for Medicare Advantage Plans?
• Oct 18 Bush’s Veto Stands on Health Care for Kids
• Oct 11 A Chance to Right a Wrong
• Oct 11 Bush & Gutter Politics
• Oct 03 Bush to Kids: “The Doctor Is Not In”
• Sep 14 September is Gynecological Cancer Awareness Month
• Sep 06 AFSCME Veterans Speak Out
• Aug 30 The Numbers Don’t Lie
• Aug 08 What’s Wrong with America?
• Aug 02 CHAMP-ioning Our Children
• Jul 31 The Bush Administration Doesn’t Work. A Well-Run Government Does.
• Jul 19 Leave No Child Without Health Care
• Jul 18 An Inconvenient Truth for a SICKO Administration
• Jun 29 Affordable Health Care: Good for Workers, Good for Business
• Jun 27 Nearly 44 Million Uninsured and Counting
• Jun 07 Join the Fight Against Breast Cancer
• May 11 Council 94 Takes the Fight to TV
• Apr 27 McEntee Tells Congress: Health Reform Needed
• Mar 08 To Keep America Strong in the Future, Fund Children’s Healthcare Today
• Mar 02 Join Sen. Obama and AFSCME in Support of Resurrection Workers
• Jan 25 An Rx for the Health Care Crisis?
• Oct 18 Health Coverage Continuing to Erode
• Sep 27 Health Care for Everyone
• Jul 03 When Will They Realize Health Care Needs a Real Solution?