BLE Focus

Fall 2002
Volume 109 - No. 3

BLE Focus

Solutions to improve access to affordable, quality health care

While the expense of healthcare is an issue for the BLE and other rail organizations, it is a dire issue for many Americans who have no access to affordable health care at all. The AFL-CIO has come up with some solutions to improve access to health care.

Require employers to pay their fair share. The U.S. system of providing health coverage is employment-based. Unfortunately, this patchwork system is leaving too many working families uninsured or underinsured. New incentives and rules could change that.
Provide coverage for all children. In 1997, to expand health coverage to the more than 10 million children in the United States without health insurance, Congress passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Bringing eligible families into the program requires extensive education and outreach, and unions are playing a key role.
Guarantee Health Security for All Americans. This legislation proposed by the SEIU, America's largest union of health care workers, would achieve the goal of securing affordable health care for all Americans through a partnership of government, employers and individuals.
Make healthy choices for Medicare. While the Medicare program works well today, in the future it will face financial and other problems that must be addressed to continue to provide guaranteed benefits. Reforms must protect, preserve and improve the program without shifting unfair costs to retirees and without putting seniors at risk with untested and potentially dangerous voucher systems.
Adopt a patients' bill of rights. In today's managed care environment, too many providers are preoccupied primarily with the bottom line, not quality care, and too many decisions are made by administrators rather than medical professionals. Congress is considering legislation to protect health care consumers, which is supported overwhelmingly by a grassroots movement of working families, consumers and advocates - and opposed by insurance companies and HMOs. ·

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