The International Association of Fire Fighters--an influential union that belongs to the AFL-CIO--has released the strongest condemnation yet of President Obama's support for taxing high-end health insurance plans as a means of financing a major health care overhaul--accusing him of breaking a campaign promise, and threatening to hold him accountable.
via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com
My husband is a Firefighter. I have asked him to ask many questions at his union meetings in hopes of understanding what the angle is on the Cadillac Tax. (For the record, our health insurance premiums are more expensive than previous insurance we carried through my old job (non-union), the copays are high, and they deny payments on lots of things that our old insurance covered)
At his most recent union meeting this week, he was told that the IAFF (the firefighters union) who is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, wanted Obama to open up state lines so that all union members could pool together to get insurance because it would be cheaper than the insurance they are getting through the city governments that they work for. This has been a conservative talking point in Healthcare Reform since the '08 campaigns.
A member on the retiree benefits committee then told my husband that doing this would cut the cost of HC by at least 30%. When my husband asked why this was not being considered, he was told that the Insurance companies did not want to give up the monopolies they hold in each state. That opening up the state lines would create competition, and that the Insurers have been aggressively lobbying against this.
This little tidbit really opened my eyes - It explains why the insurance companies are so in bed with the Obama Admin and the left. As much as I hate to agree with Obama, the Insurance companies (at least in this case) are being pretty evil. That said, Obama is LETTING THEM. He has no interest in making healthcare "AFFORDABLE" for most of us - he just wants the "poor" (read "those on the government dole") to have free healthcare paid for by the rest of us. To take it a step further, I also think that the unfunded state medicaid mandates are designed to bankrupt the states. This, in turn, causes the states to surrender their sovereignty to the almighty Federal Government, who can print as much money as they need to in order to "bail out" the states that it has bankrupted. This is the lynchpin in Obama's socialist agenda.
Also see:
IAFF Condemns Obama on Healthcare
Irate Labor Leaders Press Obama on Proposed Health Care 'Cadillac' Tax
MSNBC Interview: Schaitberger Hammers Excise Tax on 'Ed Show'
IAFF Excise Tax Update - 1/14/2010
House Approves Landmark Health Reform
IAFF Statement on Pending Senate Approval of Health Care Reform Legislation
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