Unions and ObamaCare – It just gets worse and worse

The more that unions get to see of ObamaCare, the uglier it gets. At its annual convention the Nevada State AFL-CIO passed a strongly-worded resolution calling for changes to the “Affordable Care Act”. They aren’t the first, but the Nevada group’s statement might be the sharpest critique of ObamaCare to come out of the union movement yet. It...

The more that unions get to see of ObamaCare, the uglier it gets. At its annual convention the Nevada State AFL-CIO passed a strongly-worded resolution calling for changes to the “Affordable Care Act”. They aren’t the first, but the Nevada group’s statement might be the sharpest critique of ObamaCare to come out of the union movement yet. It is pretty clear that convention delegates felt that they have been taken advantage of:

… the President said in no uncertain terms that we would be able to keep our current health care plans as currently managed…

…for two years we have sought from the Administration and Congress interpretations to the ACA that merely allows (sic) us to keep the health plans we currently have…

…the administration has postured on proposals to address the problem, but no proposal to date will actually solve the problem…

…the unintended consequences of the ACA will lead to the destruction of the 40-hour week, higher taxes, and force union members onto more costly plans…

…Congress and the Administration have demonstrated they have the authority and power to make dozens of other corrections to the ACA, including taking care of big business and well-paid Congressional staff members but have yet to provide our unions with any relief to allow our healthcare plans to continue as they have for over 65 years…

…we will view any solution that does not fully address the outlined issues as unacceptable.

Actually, Congress hasn’t been responsible for the special favors like the ad-hoc subsidies for Congressional staff — that came from the administration on its own. And while union bosses may feel they have been betrayed, they were way too trusting of politicians in 2010 when the Affordable Care Act was jammed through Congress. In some ways it is encouraging to see union officials starting to recognize that ObamaCare really does harm workers. But we are still waiting to see them acknowledge that they bear any responsibility for the problems that the health care law has created for workers.