PSI Health Blog

Health care reform in the USA

A STEP FORWARD, MUCH WORK LEFT TO DO

STATEMENTS BY PSI AFFILIATES

AFSCME

President Gerald W. McEntee, Vice President of the AFL-CIO

"Tonight's historic vote marks a major milestone in the struggle to break the power of the insurance industry and provide quality, affordable health care for millions of American families. Democrats in the House, with the determined leadership of President Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demonstrated the courage that is necessary to defeat the special interests and do what is right for the American people.

AFSCME members will remember those who stood with us and those who stood with the insurance industry.... Together, we will not fail. Tonight, we celebrate a monumentally important victory for our country. Tomorrow, we get back to work in the fight to make health care reform happen."

Read more:

A Monumentally Important Victory for Our Country

AFSCME launches ad campaign

SEIU

Anna Burger

SEIU Secretary Treasurer, Vice President Change to Win

"For the child who was denied coverage because she got too sick, too young – tomorrow is a new day for our country. The 5.5 million members of Change to Win, united in their commitment to bring the change our families, our communities and our country needs, earned this victory the old fashioned way: they worked for it. It is because of their passion and their steadfast belief in doing what's right that Congress stood and delivered the change they demanded."

Read more:

Landmark Health Care Bill Signed Into Law

Timeline of the immediate benefits of health insurance reform

AFT

Randi Weingarten,
President, American Federation of Teachers

"We applaud... [the] action by the U.S. House of Representatives that brings us to the cusp of affordable and accessible healthcare and prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to millions of Americans.

The House package will allow 32 million more Americans to receive healthcare coverage... And insurance companies will not be able to deny benefits because of pre-existing conditions or cancel policies because of illness.

While this is not a perfect bill...it makes a significant start at getting costs under control and moves the nation toward the goal of affordable, high-quality healthcare for all Americans."

Read more:

AFT Press release

Fight for America's Future

CNA

Rose Ann DeMoro
Executive Director, National Nurses United, AFL-CIO and California Nurses Association

"Passage of President Obama's healthcare bill proves that Congress can enact comprehensive social legislation in the face of virulent rightwing opposition. Now that we have an insurance bill, can we move on to health care reform?

As an organization of registered nurses, we have an obligation to provide an honest assessment, as nurses must do every hour of every day. The legislation fails to deliver on the promise of a single standard of excellence in care for all and instead makes piecemeal adjustments to the current privatized, for-profit health care behemoth."

Read more:

Diary of a Wimpy Health Care Bill

Chile earthquake: need to invest in public health, support health workers

PSI affiliate Fenpruss asks the new Government to make the rebuilding of hospitals a priority and to reassess the Health Services Network

The Federation’s President stressed that “right now, it’s more important than ever to invest in Public Health”.

After the earthquake and tsunami that affected the southern central region of Chile, the National Federation of Health Service University Professionals (FENPRUSS) has stressed how urgent it is that action be taken quickly to deal with the effects of this disaster.

“During our visits to hospitals in the 8th Region, we saw how very seriously they had been affected. There are also several rural first aid posts that were not only affected by the earthquake and the tsunami, but also by the looting”, stated Claudio González Jara, the President of FENPRUSS.

Experts think it will take three yeas to return to normality, and it is thought that the Government will need to invest $3.600 million to rebuild the hospitals damaged by the earthquake.  

“This”, he added, “will mean having to plan afresh all our professional and health-related activities. Urgent action will have to be taken to deal with the challenges to public health which are to come: gastrointestinal illnesses due to lack of hygiene and water in overcrowded conditions, and mental health problems, with a population afraid of returning to their homes in case of aftershocks, and health workers affected by the constant worry about what may be happening in their homes while they work exhausting shifts”.

Icelanders reject becoming Iceslaves

An astounding 93% of voters reject unfair terms imposed by the governments of the UK and the Netherlands as Iceland takes the lead in following a democratic approach to handling the consequences of the crisis

 

[Please see statement by Ogmundur Jonasson]

On 6 March, 2010, Icelanders did what no one in the world has done yet. Un-fazed by near-freezing weather and drizzle they went to the polls and let their government and the world know they will not be made to shoulder an unfair and unsustainable burden for the reckless policies of greedy private bankers. They made it clear they refuse to be made Iceslaves by the fallout from the Icesave collapse.

They voted on a referendum on whether or not the Icesave bill approved by a narrow majority in Parliament and vetoed by President Olafur Grimsson, should be enacted. The bill would obligate Iceland to accept the terms set by the governments of the UK and the Netherlands for repayment of the "Icesave Loan Agreement."

Ogmundur Jonasson: it is people questioning the rights of capital

"This is a dispute between people and capital, property rights and human rights.... this is why many people in finance dislike the referendum, because it is symbolic. It is people questioning the rights of capital."

                - Ogmundur Jonasson, 5 March 2010

The following is a statement issued after the referendum by Ogmundur Jonasson, a member of the Parliament of Iceland and of the Executive Boards of PSI and EPSU, and a leader of the movement to oppose the unfair treatment of his country.

 

"The referendum on Icesave is of importance in many ways. It is thus important that matters related to finance interests, traditionally in the regi of the IMF, should be subjected to a democratic decision in society at large.This democratic dimension is of utmost importance.

To my mind the Icesave dispute is only marginally a dispute between states. It is a dispute between  finance on the one hand  and people on the other; between capital interests and the welfare system and how to prioritise in times of crises.

In my mind it is far from self-evident that cuts should be made in welfare expenditure in order to protect property rights. This certainly is the case in the Icesave dispute. Great Britain and Holland maintain that if the Guarantee fund operating for banks in countries in the European Economic Zone, are not capable to pay up for deposits lost when a bank crashes, the tax payer should be held responsible.

Iceland has always said that it will honour its obligations but wanted it to be cleared by an independent body which these obligations were when the entire financial structure in a country, not one bank but all banks, crashes!  

Great  Britain and Holland denied Iceland this right and managed to isolate Iceland - the whole of EU lining up to close loan-lines to Iceland until British and Dutch demands have been met.

The policeman of international capitalism, the IMF, has been coordinating this affair!

What happens now remains to be seen. Iceland has said that it is willing to come to a settlement - well realizing that the isolation must be broken - but wants the terms of payment to be reconsidered. Iceland wants to pay only what is fair, and rejects agreements involving an unjust "profit-margin" for the opposing party."

European union adopts directive to prevent sharps injuries

Carola Fischbach-Pyttel, General Secretary of EPSU

AGREEMENT BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF HEALTH WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS BECOMES LAW

The European Hospital and Healthcare Sector Social Partners - The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) welcomed the decision of the European Council which adopted the directive on prevention from sharp injuries in the hospital and healthcare sector today.

The agreement between the European Social Partners in the hospital and healthcare sector signed on 17 July 2009 has become law. Now the European Member States have three years to implement the requirements set out by the directive.

Godfrey Perera, Secretary General of HOSPEEM said that: “the Directive is a fundamental step toward the improvement of health and safety of patients, workers and employers in the hospital and healthcare sector. Indeed, when implemented it will diminish the occurrence of accidents and infections. We are conscious that this problem cannot be eliminated completely, but we are keen to make sure there are appropriate procedures in place to try to reduce the number of injuries by as much as possible. The use of risk assessment, prevention, protection and training procedures will help to achieve this result”.

“This is a major break-through”, Carola Fischbach-Pyttel, General Secretary of EPSU, said: “With this directive EPSU and HOSPEEM have laid an important basis to create the safest possible working environment to prevent workers’ injuries caused by all medical sharps. We stress that a well trained, adequately resourced and secure health service workforce is essential to underpin that objective.”

The text above is a press release by EPSU. For further information, please contact: EPSU: Carola Fischbach-Pyttel +32 2 250 10 91 E-mail: cfischbach@epsu.org