Ted Lieu Briefs Workers on Proposed Healthcare Reform
Member Reporter Story
Healthcare Reform
Bill holds Promise for Uninsured
Over 200 ULTCW members braved threatening storms Sunday to
hear Torrance Assemblyman Ted Leiu speak at the Los Angeles Union Hall on the
healthcare reform bill.
Long-term care union members from Del Norte to Imperial
counties also joined President Tyrone Freeman and Secretary Treasurer Amanda
Figueroa in Los Angeles via video teleconference for the update.
The main points of the Health Reform bill, according to
Lieu, are:
·
3.4 to 4 million adults will receive coverage
·
800,000 children will be insured regardless of
immigration status
·
affordability - coverage for those up to 150% of the
poverty level and
·
subsidized coverage for those up to 400% of the poverty
level, 5.5% at the highest level
·
coverage cannot be denied for pre-existing conditions
·
insurance companies are limited to 15% for
administration costs
Further, Leiu said that the ballot initiative to finance the
bill would include revenue from:
·
Federal funds
·
Employer mandate – all have to pay from 1% to 6.5%
according to size of business
·
Hospitals will pay a 4% provider fee
·
$1.75 per pack tobacco tax
There are built in safeguards in
the bill to prevent any fiscal threat to the general budget, said Leiu, who
chairs the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee.
The bill is scheduled to go to the Senate Health Committee
for a hearing on January 16th. Long-term care workers will be
visiting their legislators to ask for their support, said Freeman.
To critics of the bill Freeman said, “We must start now.
Without health care the quality of our lives is diminished and that’s no longer
acceptable.”