WHEREAS:
The American health care system is in critical condition. As a society, we spend more on health care, cover less of our population and are in generally poorer health than any other industrialized country; and

WHEREAS:
While most of AFSCME’s members have health insurance, many other workers do not. And our health care plans are rapidly becoming unaffordable for employers and workers alike and are a major impediment to American economic competitiveness.  Health care is the single most difficult issue unions face in contract negotiations; and

WHEREAS:
Hundreds of thousands of AFSCME members see the effects of the health care crisis on their jobs as well. Our members who work in the health care system see that system fraying at the seams. Other AFSCME members, whose jobs are funded by tax dollars, are affected as spiraling health care costs, for their own coverage and for the uninsured and those on Medicaid, eat up all available funds. We see family members and friends who have no health insurance and know that we could be next; and

WHEREAS:
AFSCME and the labor movement have always been leaders in great social change. Workers in this country would not have a forty-hour week, the minimum wage or Social Security if unions had not demanded them. We must now demand equally bold action to fix our ailing health care system.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
AFSCME will lead a powerful program to make health care universal and affordable and will make this issue a priority at the federal, state and local level. Every AFSCME affiliate will take an active part in state and local efforts to expand coverage and lower costs; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
Our work towards reform will be guided by the principles of cost control, universal coverage and fairness of financing in which everyone shares.  Given the immediate need to stop the erosion of our members’ health benefits, we will embrace reforms that embody these principles; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
AFSCME reaffirms its support for a single payer system as the most efficient and effective way to achieve these goals in the long run; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
To relieve the pressure on our members’ health benefits in the short run, the International Union, in conjunction with affiliates, will develop and implement innovative strategies for lowering the cost of benefits. Such strategies may include pooling health care purchasing, examining claims data, legislative remedies and other means. The International Union will facilitate the exchange of information on these strategies among affiliates; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
Some AFSCME members who work in the private sector do not have health insurance. AFSCME will pursue a national health and welfare plan with affiliates that represent those members and their employers and will work to create an efficient health plan that will be available to all AFSCME councils and locals; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
AFSCME members in non-traditional public service jobs, such as home health care or child care, have difficulty accessing health insurance and health care because they do not have a traditional employer. AFSCME will continue creative efforts to obtain quality, affordable health insurance for those members.
 
SUBMITTED BY: INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD

Robert L. Weinmann, M.D., President and Delegate
Stuart A. Bussey, M.D., J.D., Vice President and Delegate
UAPD/AFSCME Local 206
California

Jackie Jones-Walsh, President and Delegate
Ginger Richardson, Vice President and Delegate
AFSCME Local 843, Council 28
Washington