WHEREAS:
The cost of health insurance coverage continues to skyrocket. The average deductible for employer-sponsored individual health coverage was $1,735 and $6,106 for families in 2023. The average annual premium to provide family health coverage is now just under $24,000. In 2022, families paid $471.4 billion for out-of-pocket costs not covered by insurance, accounting for 11% of all U.S. health care spending, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and
WHEREAS:
Despite historic advances in extending health coverage to nearly all of the American public through the Affordable Care Act, approximately 100 million Americans are estimated to carry some form of medical debt; and
WHEREAS:
Ever-increasing health care costs, largely due to rising prices, have reduced the typical American family’s earnings by an estimated $125,000 over a 32-year period. While health care premiums amounted to around 8% of a worker’s earnings in 1988, this figure jumped to nearly 18% by 2019; and
WHEREAS:
Rising drug costs are pushing people to forgo needed care, groceries and even rent. In 2022, prescription drug costs accounted for 14.2% of total health plan premiums, up from 13.3% in 2021. Between January 2022 and January 2023, the average price of a drug increased by 15.2%, or $590 per drug, and more than 4,200 drug products saw price increases 46% higher than the rate of inflation; and
WHEREAS:
Nonprofit hospitals far too often stray from their historical role as community pillars, behaving like for-profit entities in the pursuit of market dominance and giving executives excessive compensation packages. In 2020, nonprofit hospitals received $28 billion in tax breaks for the purpose of providing affordable health care for low-income Americans. Corporate executives of nonprofit hospitals earn an average of about $600,000, according to a 2021 report from the Economic Research Institute. Some leaders of larger hospitals earn more than $1 million; and
WHEREAS:
Public programs, particularly Medicaid, pay for the care of most nursing home residents. Nursing homes are predominantly owned and operated by for-profit entities, with private equity interests increasingly entering the sector. For-profit nursing homes have successfully engineered a corporate shell game through the use of related parties to hide excessive profits with little to no meaningful oversight from state or federal officials; and
WHEREAS:
There is a demonstrable negative impact on working conditions, wage levels, staffing mix, patient safety and overall quality of care when private equity takes over health care institutions. For example, mortality rates at private equity-owned nursing homes are 10% higher than at other homes. Patients are more likely to experience adverse events, such as infections or falls, at hospitals owned by private equity firms. More than 460 U.S. hospitals are owned by private equity firms, representing 8% of all private hospitals and 22% of all for-profit hospitals. At least 26% of private equity-owned hospitals serve rural populations; and
WHEREAS:
Providing compassionate health care in any setting requires adequate, appropriate staffing and is fundamentally at odds with a business model seeking to maximize profits above all else.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME supports policies at the federal and state levels to regulate health care prices; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME supports federal and state policies to establish staffing standards across the health care sector for both licensed and non-licensed health care workers; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME supports policies at the federal and state levels to address prescription drug pricing abuses, including prescription drug affordability boards, inflation caps and expanded Medicare authority to negotiate prices on more drugs; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That AFSCME supports state and federal efforts to enhance transparency and accountability relating to the use of public funds for nursing home care, such as through audits and public reporting.
SUBMITTED BY:
Craig A. Ford, President
Charmaine Morales, Secretary-Treasurer and Delegate
NUHHCE/AFSCME Local 1199
Pennsylvania