Healthcare reform calls get louder

Proposal by a coalition of big firms, unions and politicians sets broad goals to be met by 2012.
By Daniel Costello and Abigail Goldman
Los Angeles Times
February 8, 2007

An unusual new coalition of big employers, labor unions and politicians united Wednesday to push for "quality, affordable" healthcare for all Americans by 2012.

The proposal adds to growing pressure on Congress, President Bush and statehouses across America where governors including California's Arnold Schwarzenegger are calling for a major overhaul of health insurance coverage.

The idea united some bitter adversaries Wednesday and indicates that there is business support for change.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest private employer, joined with one of its biggest critics, the Service Employees International Union.

AT&T Inc. signed on along with its major union. Silicon Valley is represented by chip maker Intel Corp. So are both major political parties.

"The fact they even got to the same table to talk about this in the first place is pretty amazing," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, a national nonprofit organization that represents large concerns such as Exxon Mobil Corp., IBM Corp. and Procter & Gamble Co.

The proposal was short of specifics but had four broad themes: universal health coverage by 2012, better preventive care and disease management; more efficient healthcare delivery, and cost-sharing by workers, employers and governments.

The initiative, dubbed Better Health Care Together, also guarantees that healthcare will take on an even larger role in the 2008 presidential campaign.

"This is yet another indication that, save for Iraq, healthcare will be near or at the top of the political agenda for 2008," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a group that advocates overhauling healthcare.

The chief executive of Wal-Mart urged quick action.

"Unfortunately, the current healthcare system doesn't work for many Americans," H. Lee Scott Jr. said at a news conference in Washington. "We need to change the current system and we need to start now."

The initiative was noteworthy both in its scope and its call for businesses, employers and government to share costs. Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a national healthcare policy organization, said the cost-sharing idea is the most surprising.

"This is the first time a prominent business group has said that business needs to pay for a portion of any new healthcare system," she said.

In the past, the business community played a central role in torpedoing most healthcare reforms, including President Clinton's ill-fated 1993 plan.

After Wednesday's news conference, members of the new coalition including Scott and SEIU President Andy Stern together pitched the plan to both Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Stops included visits with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Minority Leader John A. Boehner, (R-Ohio) and a White House delegation. Stern and Scott also met with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

There are currently 47 million uninsured in the U.S. and that number is rising by more than a million people a year. As health costs have almost doubled in the last seven years, many workers have seen most if not all of their pay raises go toward rising healthcare premiums.

Some economists have warned that rising healthcare costs and inefficient healthcare delivery are harming America's competitive edge in the global marketplace.

At Wednesday's news conference, campaign founders pledged to convene a national summit by the end of May and recruit additional businesses and labor groups as well as government and nonprofit-group leaders to join the coalition.

Linda Watson, 48, a Los Angeles native with diabetes who is an SEIU-represented janitor in Cincinnati, makes $7 an hour but doesn't have health insurance because her employer doesn't offer it. She said she wasn't aware of Wednesday's announcement but thought it made sense for everyone to share costs.

"I just want to be able to work and not worry about being healthy and getting the medicine I need on a daily basis," she said.

Others, however, immediately dismissed the proposal as mere publicity because it lacked detail and employers didn't commit to spending extra money in the near-term to provide health coverage to more workers.

"This is about publicity stunts and doesn't address the healthcare crisis in their stores or in this country," said Chris Kofinis of WakeUpWalMart.com, a group backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. "Everybody wants universal healthcare, but what are we supposed to do in the interim?"

Schwarzenegger, who is pushing his own universal health insurance proposal in California, welcomed the creation of the broad-based national coalition.

The governor's plan, unveiled last month, would make health insurance mandatory for California residents. It would impose levies on employers with 10 or more workers, tax doctors and hospitals and expand public programs to extend health coverage to the state's estimated 6.5 million uninsured residents.

Reaction to the plan has been mixed among business owners, with some small firms worried that it might be too costly.

In an interview Wednesday, Stern of the SEIU said his first conversations with Scott grew out of a series of comments each had made publicly about wanting to help solve the nation's healthcare problems and that their first face-to-face meeting happened before Christmas.

"I made the judgment that Wal-Mart really did want to do something about solving the nation's healthcare problem," Stern said, adding that his relationship with Scott has been "businesslike."

"Peace is breaking out all over America," Stern quipped.

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