Irate Labor Leaders Press Obama on Proposed Health Care 'Cadillac' Tax

[rushmc 23]

Is anybody following this here? This is hilarious

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AP

The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, said there was a frank discussion at the nearly two-hour White House meeting with about a dozen heads of the country's biggest labor unions.


WASHINGTON -- Labor leaders irate over a proposed tax on high-value health insurance plans met with President Barack Obama on Monday to express their frustration over his support for the levy. Some labor officials have warned Democrats of political fallout for backing the tax.

The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, said there was a frank discussion at the nearly two-hour White House meeting with about a dozen heads of the country's biggest labor unions. Earlier in the day Trumka delivered a broadside to Obama and Senate Democrats who are planning to pay for overhauling the nation's health care system with a tax on insurance plans that union leaders fear could hit their workers.

Trumka warned that Democrats risk catastrophic election defeats similar to 1994 if they fail to come up with a health bill labor likes.

"A bad bill could have that kind of effect - a place where people sit at home" - as happened in 1994, when Democrats lost 54 House seats and eight in the Senate, costing them control of Congress, Trumka told reporters.

The head of the International Association of Firefighters, Harold A. Schaitberger, made similarly threatening remarks in a statement Monday. "The president's support for the excise tax is a huge disappointment and cannot be ignored. If President Obama continues to support it and signs a bill that includes the excise tax on workers, we will hold him accountable," said Schaitberger was not among the attendees at the White House meeting.

The AFL-CIO's Trumka made his remarks before delivering a speech in which he bashed the tax proposal in the Senate's health overhaul bill, contending that it "drives a wedge between the middle class and the poor."

"The bill rightly seeks to ensure that most Americans have health insurance. But instead of taxing the rich, the Senate bill taxes the middle class by taxing workers' health plans - not just union members' health care; most of the 31 million insured employees who would be hit by the excise tax are not union members," Trumka said hours before going to the White House. "This is a policy designed to benefit the elites."

Despite the criticism, Trumka stopped short of saying labor would actively oppose the bill if it included the tax. Trumka said bringing Americans health care reform "is too important for us to get this close and then say we quit."

Obama supports the tax on what he calls "Cadillac" health insurance plans, arguing it's a way to control spending on health care services, one of his goals for his health care overhaul. Trumka and other labor leaders strongly prefer the approach taken in the House health care bill - an income tax increase on individuals earning over $500,000 a year and households earning over $1 million.

The White House released no details of Monday evening's meeting beyond a statement from spokesman Reid Cherlin saying that there was an exchange of views and a productive discussion. The statement did not suggest any agreement had been reached. Earlier in the day White House spokesman Robert Gibbs indicated Obama was open to adjusting the tax so it would affect fewer people and said that would be discussed at the meeting.

That dispute over the tax is one of the sticking points between House and Senate Democrats as they work to reconcile health legislation passed by each chamber. They're looking for a product that Obama could embrace and sign into law in time for his State of the Union address sometime next month. With Obama behind the Senate tax approach the final bill is likely to include it in some form.

As passed by the Senate the 40 percent tax would be levied on employer health plans worth more than $8,500 for individuals and $23,000 for families.

Trumka warned Democrats Monday as he has in the past that they can no longer take union voters for granted.

"Politicians who think that working people have it too good - too much health care, too much Social Security and Medicare, too much power on the job - are inviting a repeat of 1994," Trumka said. "Our country cannot afford such a repeat."

But organized labor must walk a tightrope in its criticism of the bill. Unions are among Obama's strongest supporters and have spent millions in grass-roots lobbying to garner support for his health overhaul plans.

Besides including the insurance tax, the Senate bill leaves out a new government-run coverage plan to compete with private insurers, another goal for organized labor.

The basic goals of the bills passed by the House and Senate are the same: extending coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans over the next decade by expanding Medicaid and imposing a new requirement for almost everyone to purchase insurance. Insurance industry practices such as denying health coverage to people with preexisting health conditions would be banned, and federal subsidies would help lower-income people buy insurance.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[lawrocket 3]

Labor will find the taxes acceptable if there is a national health care system. The idea that they can unionize all health workers is enough to keep unions (who look out for themselves) happy!

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[rushmc 23]

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Labor will find the taxes acceptable if there is a national health care system. The idea that they can unionize all health workers is enough to keep unions (who look out for themselves) happy!

Maybe
But they want to keep the plans they have. And these plans are very very expensive because of the coverage.

Will make an interesting show

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[mnealtx 0]

The longshoremen's union is exempt - I expect to see more unions being exempted before it's through.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[FallingOsh 0]

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Labor will find the taxes acceptable if there is a national health care system.

I think they'll find it acceptable as long as someone else covers the tax.

--------------------------------------------------
Stay positive and love your life.

[mnealtx 0]

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Labor will find the taxes acceptable if there is a national health care system.

I think they'll find it acceptable as long as someone else covers the tax.

Out of sight, out of mind. Change the income tax rules where people have to write a quarterly check instead of automatic deduction and watch them howl.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[bodypilot90 0]

They will thorw card check to the union, Very bad for everyone.

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/01/beyond-card-check

[rushmc 23]

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They will thorw card check to the union, Very bad for everyone.

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/01/beyond-card-check

I had forgotten about that

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[bodypilot90 0]

It's a bone he'll throw to his SEIU buddies, also he'll try to open the flood gates for illegals to vote so he can try to keep his job. I use to think he was Carter V2.0 but he's been far worse, don't you agree?

[DanG 1]

You really think Obama wants to give illegal aliens the right to vote?

Or are you talking about giving them the right to vote in Union elections?

- Dan G

[bodypilot90 0]

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You really think Obama wants to give illegal aliens the right to vote?

No, I believe he'll try to make them citizens in front of people who are trying to come here legally.

[wmw999 2,644]

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No, I believe he'll try to make them citizens in front of people who are trying to come here legally.

Kind of like Reagan did?

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[rehmwa 2]

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No, I believe he'll try to make them citizens in front of people who are trying to come here legally.

Kind of like Reagan did?.

so that makes it ok? or are we just again highlighting how government is SO WRONG all the time regardless of who is in charge at any particular moment?

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[wmw999 2,644]

Bill, that was a drive-by answer to a drive-by post. I'd be unlikely to give you that answer (but then your drive-by posts are funny).

That said, getting back to the Cadillac plans, health care reform, and the state of the universe, I think that it would behoove folks to figure out how to encourage the responsible use of finite resources (medical care) with an infinite market (increasingly obese and inactive Americans), without simply saying "sucks to be poor, doesn't it?"


Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[kallend 2,230]

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You really think Obama wants to give illegal aliens the right to vote?

No, I believe he'll try to make them citizens in front of people who are trying to come here legally.

I'm sure you believe what you want regardless of the truth, but even Fox News said that Obama helped defeat the last Immigration Reform Bill that proposed an easy track for illegals to get citizenship. McCain/Palin said the same in one of their election ads.
www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/52363.html

In June of 2008, The McCain campaign said after a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials that Obama had actually been an impediment to the carefully crafted immigration compromise.

“Barack Obama voted for five ‘poison pill’ amendments designed to kill the immigration reform deal,” said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.

Incidentally, your hero, George W. Bush, supported the Bill.

But you've never been one to let facts stand in your way.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[wmw999 2,644]

Geez John -- be careful with people! When their heads start spinning you have to be ready to catch them

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[rehmwa 2]

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it would behoove folks to figure out how to encourage the responsible use of finite resources (medical care) with an infinite market (increasingly obese and inactive Americans), without simply saying "sucks to be poor, doesn't it?"

it's a great comment that requires people to be responsible for themselves and to have an environment that encourages self responsibility rather than enables the opposite



I love your drive-by posts, BTW

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[wmw999 2,644]

One of the biggest means to responsibility is money, which is unequally allocated. By having this large (and becoming larger) underclass of people who really don't get equal access to information, education, nutrition, and money, the situation is being perpetuated. And until we're willing to either go back to poorhouses, or just let people curl up and die (probably based on income), it's not going to stop.

The ability of one's parents to accumulate wealth might not be the best indicator of one's innate worth. It might, however, be a good indicator of one's likelihood of contributing (well, up to a point), simply because of the lack of access that folks with less money have to all those other silly things I mentioned.

And the only reason you like hte drive-by posts is because they're so much easier to read than the long-ass diatribes

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[rehmwa 2]

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One of the biggest means to responsibility is money, which is unequally allocated. By having this large (and becoming larger) underclass of people who really don't get equal access to information, education, nutrition, and money, the situation is being perpetuated. And until we're willing to either go back to poorhouses, or just let people curl up and die (probably based on income), it's not going to stop.

The ability of one's parents to accumulate wealth might not be the best indicator of one's innate worth. It might, however, be a good indicator of one's likelihood of contributing (well, up to a point), simply because of the lack of access that folks with less money have to all those other silly things I mentioned.

And the only reason you like hte drive-by posts is because they're so much easier to read than the long-ass diatribes .

sorry, that was a bit too long, so I only got through the first bit

one might argue - that one of the biggest means to money is responsibility - rather than the reverse which seems to me to be a cop out for this nation - very legit, however, for less developed nations where the poor can't even get a toehold to start a better life. Our minimum standards are high enough for anyone to get a toehold (which they have to decide to use or not).

this can now move to why it's unfair for all to be pretty much guaranteed a toehold, while others have an elevator, but that's a different scenario than what you're selling.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[wmw999 2,644]

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this can now move to why it's unfair for all to be pretty much guaranteed a toehold, while others have an elevator, but that's a different scenario than what you're selling.

You're right about that. And, to some degree, about the rest of it. But this discussion, too, is a continuum instead of a teeter-totter.
And some folks get escalators that are moving against them to climb. Some manage. But not everyone is capable of it. Doesn't mean they should get all the goodies, though, does it.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[rehmwa 2]

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this can now move to why it's unfair for all to be pretty much guaranteed a toehold, while others have an elevator, but that's a different scenario than what you're selling.

You're right about that. And, to some degree, about the rest of it. But this discussion, too, is a continuum instead of a teeter-totter.
And some folks get escalators that are moving against them to climb. Some manage. But not everyone is capable of it. Doesn't mean they should get all the goodies, though, does it.

I'm a bit full of analogies for now.

Consider this, if a tiolet does have stripes, and so does the US Capitol, then one might consider that the US Capitol is a form of "tiolet" - which, in another thread the tiolet is something poop on. Which again matches the description of the US Capitol.

Now, if the capitol has lighting bolts, then it's very fast (that's what lighting bolts do). One could posit that the Capitol's main purpose is to poop very very quickly and all over the place.

I know this post will be turned around on me. I'm ok with that.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants