WHEREAS:
The goal of AFSCME is to build power for all health care workers, including physicians and dentists; and

WHEREAS:
AFSCME seeks to establish contract standards, such as competitive salaries, pensions and worker rights, which will ultimately attract physician employees in the private sector to our union; and

WHEREAS:
Insurance companies enjoy the antitrust protection afforded by the McCarran-Ferguson Act, while other professions, including physicians and dentists, do not; and

WHEREAS:
Insurance companies abuse this protection to delay care, create unfair contracts with doctors and patients, put profits over patients and collectively pool financial data which profiles doctors and patients; and

WHEREAS:
Physicians and dentists are not able to effectively negotiate with insurers under the present messenger model; and

WHEREAS:
Private physicians and dentists in other countries enjoy collective bargaining rights while delivering quality health care to their citizens; and

WHEREAS:
Our state and federal governments have the power and responsibility to reform antitrust laws for insurers and to allow public, private, and independent doctors, under prescribed circumstances, to engage in collective bargaining.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME sponsor and/or support state and federal legislation which allows private and/or self-employed doctors to engage in collective bargaining with insurers and payors; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME sponsor and/or support federal legislation that will modify and/or repeal the antitrust exemptions afforded to insurers by the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
 
 
SUBMITTED BY: Stuart Bussey, MD, JD, President and Delegate
Ronald Bortman, MD, Vice President and Delegate
Robert Weinmann, MD, IPA President
AFSCME Local 206
California