• Try ‘You Decide’ To Propose Issues for
  Presidential Candidates
• AFL-CIO Sets Ground Rules for Presidential Endorsement Process
• Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) Passes in the House
• Labor Outlines National Healthcare Principles, Suggests Medicare Model
• Bush Healthcare Proposal Would Increase Workers’ Taxes by $526 Billion
• Rx Price Hike for Americans Ages 50+ Double the Inflation Rate
• Forty-One Senators Ask Committee To Reject
  Medicare Cuts
• California Nurses' Union Joins AFL-CIO
• Save on Pet Care with AFT+
• Quote of Note
• Web Site of the Week: www.hispanichealth.org

TRY ‘YOU DECIDE’ TO PROPOSE ISSUES FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
The race to be the next president of the United States has begun. The AFT is committed to reviewing the candidates' positions on key issues and will be inviting them to meet with the union's executive council in the coming months. In preparation, we would like to hear from you about the issues that matter to you in the upcoming presidential election. To share your views, visit “You Decide 2008”, a special area of the AFT Web site. Check this page often to view member comments and tackle new questions.

AFL-CIO SETS GROUND RULES FOR PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENT PROCESS
The AFL-CIO officially kicked off its endorsement process March 7 at its winter executive council meeting in Las Vegas, laying out a multistep plan for vetting candidates in the coming months. The executive council passed a resolution encouraging unions not to endorse a candidate until the leaders of all affiliate unions decide together whether to endorse a candidate prior to the primaries, and if so, which candidate to endorse. Before any vote, the AFL-CIO is asking affiliates to listen to their members and provide them information on the issues. The federation itself is organizing a series of grass-roots Working Family Issue Forums during the spring and early summer of this year, where members can discuss the issues and provide feedback on labor’s decision-making process. The AFL-CIO plans to host a series of discussions with major candidates to discuss union members’ issues, and also will host a series of meetings with union presidents and all major candidates of both parties who wish to participate. The federation will provide issue reports comparing the positions of the major candidates on the key issues of concern to its affiliates. The AFL-CIO General Board will convene most likely in the fall of 2007 to decide if any candidate deserves consideration for support by the national AFL-CIO before the 2008 primaries and caucuses. 

EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT (EFCA) PASSES
IN THE HOUSE
By a vote of 241-185, including the support of 13 Republicans, H.R. 800—the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007—passed in the U.S. House of Representatives March 1. The fight now moves to the Senate, where supporters need 60 votes to break an expected GOP filibuster on the legislation. The bill's main section would effectively rewrite U.S. law so that workers would no longer be required to use a secret ballot when voting on whether to unionize. Workers could then form unions as long as a majority of employees signed cards designating a labor group as their bargaining representative. The present system allows employers to get rid of union organizers and to threaten and intimidate workers into voting against forming a union. The vote "sends a powerful message that the [House] stands on the side of working Americans," says AFT president Edward J. McElroy. "The U.S. Senate and the White House should now display an equal commitment to the rights of working people by doing their part to enact the Employee Free Choice Act into law as soon as possible." According to McElroy, “By allowing more workers to choose the advantages of having a union, EFCA also will help strengthen America's middle class, which today finds itself caught between stagnant paychecks and soaring living costs." Thousands of AFT members, including retirees, attended rallies, telephoned and e-mailed House members to support the bill.

LABOR OUTLINES NATIONAL HEALTHCARE PRINCIPLES, SUGGESTS MEDICARE MODEL
With national healthcare becoming one of the key issues in the 2008 presidential race, the AFL-CIO executive council issued a sweeping statement on March 7 outlining its position on what such a program should look like. Terming healthcare “a fundamental human right and an important measure of social justice,” the federation called for a comprehensive, affordable system that would cover all Americans and allow them to choose their providers. The AFL-CIO said that such a system should be funded by progressive financing, and include a central role for government in regulating, financing and providing healthcare. It added that unions and employers should continue to play a role and retain the ability to supplement coverage. Such a reform must also incorporate effective cost controls, including requiring information on provider performance and enhancing efficiency, and a protected voice for employees in improving healthcare. The leaders suggested a “Medicare for All” model, with enhanced benefits to cover all age groups and stronger authority to negotiate prices, as a means to true national coverage. The AFL-CIO added that it would strongly oppose any change in the tax treatment of employer-provided healthcare coverage until there was a universal plan in place.

BUSH HEALTHCARE PROPOSAL WOULD INCREASE WORKERS’ TAXES BY $526 BILLION
President Bush's health insurance proposals for the tax code would increase tax revenues—the federal taxes paid by working families on their employer-provided coverage—by $526 billion through 2017, according to a preliminary estimate from the staff of the U.S. House Joint Committee on Taxation. Because health insurance premium rates are expected to rise faster than the standard deduction, and since the tax preference for employer-provided coverage would be capped at the level of the standard deduction, the committee projected that the proposal would bring in more tax revenue in later years. Workers’ taxes would increase beginning in 2011, and annual revenue increases would reach $148 billion by 2017, according to the analysis. Union members, who generally have more comprehensive health coverage than the public at large, would be hit particularly hard, because they would be taxed on premium costs over $15,000 (family) or $7,500 (individual) even if the employer was paying most of the costs.

Rx PRICE HIKE FOR AMERICANS AGES 50+ DOUBLE THE INFLATION RATE
Manufacturers' prices for the 193 prescription drugs most commonly used by U.S. residents ages 50 and older increased at about twice the rate of inflation in 2006, according to an annual report released March 6 by AARP. Researchers found that manufacturers' drug prices on average increased by 6.2 percent, while the Consumer Price Index increased by 3.2 percent. According to the report, average drug prices since the end of 1999 have increased by nearly 54 percent, while overall inflation increased by 20 percent. The report found that the insomnia pill Ambien, manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis, had the highest price increase, up 30 percent in 2006. Prices for the respiratory drugs Combivent and Atrovent, both manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim, had the next highest rates of growth, up 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in 2006. In contrast, manufacturer list prices in 2006 for 75 generic drugs tracked by AARP fell 2 percent, continuing a downward trend that began in 2003 for manufacturer price increases for already lower-priced generic drugs. 

FORTY-ONE SENATORS ASK COMMITTEE TO REJECT MEDICARE CUTS
Citing the need to preserve care for the poor and uninsured, a bipartisan group of 41 senators has written the Senate Budget Committee asking it to reject President Bush’s proposed $100 billion cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals in the fiscal year 2008 budget resolution. The budget resolutions tentatively are expected to be marked up in the Senate and House Budget committees this week, with floor action the following week. The lawmakers said federal payments to hospitals are not keeping pace with hospitals' financial needs, adding that hospital Medicare profit margins of negative 3.1 percent in 2005 are projected to fall to negative 5.4 percent in 2007, the lowest Medicare margins recorded. The letter was signed by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), among others.

CALIFORNIA NURSES’ UNION JOINS AFL-CIO
The California Nurses Association has announced it is joining the AFL-CIO. The California group, which represents 75,000 registered nurses, is one of the nation's most militant small unions, having held dozens of rallies to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts in 2005 to roll back a law on nurse-to-patient ratios. Rose Ann DeMoro, the union's executive director, said she hoped that joining the AFL-CIO would help the federation's push for single-payer universal health coverage in the United States.

SAVE ON PET CARE WITH AFT+
AFT + now offers two kinds of pet care savings: pet insurance and Pet Assure veterinary care savings. Pet insurance includes a variety of plans for your family's dog or cat. For plan specifics or for a quote, click here or call 866/473-7387. Pet Assure veterinary care offers 40 percent off monthly premiums to AFT members and allows you to save 25 percent off your bill at participating veterinarians. All pets are covered, including exotics and horses. Coverage includes: preventive care, shots, surgery, x-rays, lab work, medications and more. Best of all, there’s no paperwork to complete. Your savings come directly off your veterinary bill. For more information or to enroll, click here or call 888/789-7387.

QUOTE OF NOTE
“We have to take the cost growth out of healthcare without harming health...There is a substantial amount of evidence that healthcare spending has reached the flat part of the curve in which increased spending is not necessarily producing increased healthcare benefits.” 
                                        Peter Orzag, Director
                                        Congressional Budget Office

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: www.hispanichealth.org
This site offers free, reliable and confidential health information in Spanish and English. You may also want to try Su Familia: The National Hispanic Family Health Helpline (866/783-2645) for health information in both languages. The toll-free number is available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Eastern time.