Union leaders: ObamaCare will “destroy the very health and wellbeing” of America’s wo

[ScienceRocks]

Union leaders: ObamaCare will “destroy the very health and wellbeing” of America’s working class

Hotair.com ^ | posted at 12:01 pm on July 15, 2013 | Ed Morrissey



Union leaders: ObamaCare will ?destroy the very health and wellbeing? of America?s working class « Hot Air

Bear in mind that Big Labor went to bat for ObamaCare in a big way throughout the months-long debate over its passage. When Tea Party activists demonstrated to raise opposition to the legislation, unions like the Teamsters counterprotested, sometimes violently, in an attempt to intimidate conservatives into acquiescence. Unions spent big money in the 2010 election hoping to protect Democrats from the consequences of their votes on ObamaCare, arguing that the bill would help the working class by sticking it to insurers and fat cats.

Now that the law is about to be implemented, though, it suddenly looks awful to union leaders like Teamsters president James Hoffa, UFCW president Joseph Hanson, and UNITE-HERE president D. Taylor. The Wall Street Journal published a letter on Friday that the union leaders sent to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi expressing shock, shock that a massive and expensive government intervention would screw up the labor market:

 

[g5000]

There are two things butt-hurting the unions. One is easy to understand, the other is more nuanced.

1. Employers are cutting back working hours for their employees to avoid the employer mandate for full time employees.

2. The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (a.k.a. Taft-Hartley) greatly curtailed the power of labor unions, but it also allowed for unions to establish health insurance funds through collective bargaining agreements.

ObamaCare establishes state health insurance exchanges. If you cannot get insurance from your employer, you must get it from a health insurance exchange (individual mandate, remember?). If you get your insurance through a health insurance exchange you are eligible for tax credits (subsidies) if you earn up to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). The lower your income, the bigger your subsidy.

Taft-Hartley health insurance plans are not eligible for the subsidies since they are not health insurance exchange plans. They are provided through employment at a unionized workplace.

The unions want their members to be eligible for those taxpayer-funded subsidies, which in my personal opinion is bullshit.

 

[Vox]

they finally read it?