Health coverage debate intensifies

By Tracey Drury

Business First of Buffalo



Most college campuses are pretty dull on a Saturday.



But Nov. 19 was an exception for Medaille College, where more than 200 people from 70 organizations gathered to come up with solutions to the health-care crisis. Nearly two dozen organized labor groups were represented at the event, billed as a "citizen/congressional hearing."



"It is the top issue for us," said Terri Schelter, chairwoman of the Western New York Health Care Campaign, which sponsored and initiated the forum. "One of the problems with solving the health-care crisis is that people just can't get a handle on how to solve it, with all the pieces that play into the mess that we're in."



With large employers scaling back on health-care coverage and workers paying more and more of the costs, unions are scrambling for answers to help their members. That's true for some of the region's largest unions, as the UAW fights to keep the doors open at bankrupt Delphi Corp., as well as smaller groups of skilled trades workers.



Schelter, also legislative political director for CWA 1168 Nurses United, said the issue is compounded for the 4,500 members she represents, as the issue also affects how they're able to do their jobs.



"It's not only a bargaining issue at every contract for union workers, no matter what sector you're in," she said. "The mess we're in with health care and the financing of health care directly affects our staffing."



Health-care providers with smaller staffs are caring for an increasingly susceptible population - one that includes large numbers of the uninsured, who go to emergency rooms and clinics for what could have been routine care, she said.



"The clinics that we still have open in the Kaleida system, they're overrun with patients, and they're sick. It's a matter of just planning health care in general. It's just not being done," Schelter said.



Daniel Boody, president of both the Western New York Area Labor Federation and Painters District Council No. 4, said members are angry and bitter about annual increases in costs.



"Basically, the members are up in arms," he said. "Employers are looking for ways of pushing more of the cost on the employees."



With an average national cost increase of 16 percent over the last three years - and even more in Western New York - most of the 160 local unions in the federation are doing everything they can to contain costs. This includes getting multiple quotes from providers and altering plans with high- and low-deductible options. They're also looking at switching from community ratings to experience ratings or even at becoming self-funded.



"They're constantly looking for ways to cut costs, even if that means higher co-pays. They're looking for lower monthly premiums," he said. "They'd like to see somebody in Washington legislatively push for national health-care coverage."



The only consolation is that most members recognize it's a problem nationwide, faced by non-union contractors as well.



"It's becoming a real struggle - one of the Number One items on everyone's plate right now," Boody said.



Those in the automotive industry know only too well how rising health-care costs are hurting workers. Every increase adds to the cost of cars produced in this country - a factor in why the auto industry is opening new plants across the border in Canada, where universal health care means lower costs. Bob Reynolds, vice president of UAW Local 897 and a 30-year Ford Motor Co. machine repairman, says the issue is hot.



"Why is it cheaper in Canada and more expensive here in the U.S.? How can that happen? How can you just drive across the border and get something cheaper?" he said.



Even though health-care costs have been maintained at a steady level at Ford, Reynolds says the union is looking forward to the next set of negotiations, coming in 2007.



"It's going to be a fight for all of us, obviously," said Reynolds, a newly elected Erie County legislator who will take office Jan. 1. "Health care is going to come up in negotiations for the Big 3 in 2007, and we're trying to deal with it right now."



"What's happening at Delphi has an effect on the whole country, not just here," he said. "It's a tough issue for all of us."



Whether the issue will lead to fundamental changes in how unions negotiate are a possibility too, Reynolds said.



"I'd say we're in a transition, just like this country is in a transition in our manufacturing base," he said.



Richard Lipsitz, business agent for Teamsters Local 264 and political action coordinator for Teamsters Joint Council 46, said health-care costs are "out of control" and said they're responsible for destroying many aspects of labor/management relations - through no real fault of the employers.



Though health-care costs have been part of bargaining-table discussions throughout Lipsitz's 20 years with the union, it's gotten worse. Employers are having trouble competing with non-union competitors.



"You can put Band-Aids on it, but in terms of a serious solution, it can't be done except on a national or statewide basis," he said. "It's become exacerbated in the last five years, and it does coincide with a laissez-faire attitude on the part of the federal government."



A national program seems to be the best solution, Lipsitz said. The U.S., he said, remains the only industrialized nation without a national health-care program.



Still, there are short-term solutions, including moving to a single-provider system.



"It does provide some relief, and I think you'll see more of that," he said. "The government's resources are limited because of taxation, but unless we have a national policy that deals with this issue, I don't see it going away."



A member of the Western New York Health Care Campaign, Lex Liberatore, helped to organize the recent citizens' forum in Buffalo. The main target for the event - and 90 others like it being held across the country - is to get the attention of Congress and get members of local delegations to make it an agenda item.



Despite being the No. 1 or No. 2 issue for voters, finding a solution isn't even on the radar screen, he said.



"This is not on the Congressional agenda at all," Liberatore said. "The 70 groups that came to this hearing all agreed on one thing: The system is broken and needs to be fixed."



Liberatore, a volunteer organizer, said participants didn't advocate for a national health program or any other specific remedy. Instead, they sought input on all kinds of ideas with a goal of formulating potential solutions. A follow-up meeting will be held in January.



"None of these groups has an agreed-upon solution, but they have the ability to come together on these issues and to lay out ideas in the hopes Congress will address them," Liberatore said.



The problems are no different for public workers, such as AFSCME 1095, Erie County's blue-collar workforce, which convinced all its unions to agree to one health plan with four coverage options. National health care remains the favored solution, said John Orlando, president of ASFME Local 1095.



"We've instituted some things to slow down the costs of health care," he said. "Naturally, some of the costs did go up and the co-pays, but for the most part we kept the core benefits intact."



To help contain more costs, the union is even looking into issuing an RFP for pharmaceuticals.



"We need to ask the pharmaceutical companies. They've done something unions haven't been able to do, and that's control Congress," Lipsitz said.