Social Distance & Fight for Medicare for All

• Wash Your Hands, Social Distance & Fight for Medicare for All
• Portland Firefighters Discuss Medicare for All
• Exit Poll: Nearly 70% of Maine Primary Voters Support Medicare for All
• Maine Union Members Pen Op-ed in Support of Medicare for All

COVID-19 Crisis Highlights the Urgency for Medicare for All

Wash your hands, practice social distancing and fight for a Medicare for All-type national health care program that can address public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s the message from the group Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and one the Maine AFL-CIO fully endorses. 

The past several weeks have been devastating for working people as millions have lost their jobs along with their employer-sponsored insurance. One estimate found that another 35 million more workers could lose their health insurance before this is over. As a result, they will have to find much more costly coverage either through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) or the Affordable Care Act. Others may qualify for Medicaid.

The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the immorality of a system that forces workers to rely on employers to provide them with health care coverage. As the pandemic worsens, we’re hearing more and more horror stories, such as the uninsured Massachusetts woman who was billed $34,927.43 for coronavirus treatment or the boy in California who died on March 18 after being turned away from an urgent care center because he didn't have health insurance. Sadly, we’ll likely continue to hear these stories, which could cause people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to avoid seeking medical attention for fear of being bankrupted in the process. 

If you agree that health care should be a human right and that we need a system that guarantees comprehensive, quality coverage for every American, please consider joining our health care committee, which is building a working class movement to make Medicare for All a reality! If interested, please email Sarah Bigney at sarah@maineaflcio.org

Portland Firefighters Discuss Medicare for All

Members of the Portland Professional Firefighters (IAFF 714) did a presentation about Medicare for All at their executive board meeting in February. IAFF 740 member Evan Kleene reached out to Federicton, New Brunswick firefighter Glenn Sullivan, President of the Atlantic Provinces Professional Fire Fighters Association, who provided some valuable information about how the Canadian health care system, which is very similar to Medicare for All, differs from the system in the US.

“Members had a lot to say about our current healthcare and I think hearing about a different system from someone who is on the job not that far away was very eye opening,” said Kleene. “I think we also did a good job approaching the healthcare problem as a policy issue and less a political one to steer things away from party divides. Going forward we are planning on presenting a similar session to the general membership and also looking at presenting at the next Professional Firefighters of Maine conference.”

As COVID-19 Crisis Worsens, Support for Medicare for All Surges

A new poll has found that 55 percent of registered voters now support Medicare for All, marking an 11 point jump since February. The Morning Consult/Politico poll found that nearly 60 percent of voters ages 18-64 supported Medicare for All, while 39 percent of voters over 65 support it. About 70 percent of Maine voters polled on Super Tuesday in February overwhelmingly told pollsters they support Medicare for All.

"As the domestic COVID-19 caseload spirals and economists predict a historic surge in unemployment," wrote Yusra Murad of Morning Consult, "millions of Americans are bracing for potentially untenable health care costs and lapses in coverage, reviving questions about the viability of a health system that relies on binding insurance to employment."

OP-ED: Why Maine Union Members Support Medicare for All

Two of our health care committee members — home health nurse Mary Beth Gagne of the Maine State Nurses Association/NNU and shipbuilder Doug Hall of Machinists Union Local S6 (right) — had an op-ed published in the Portland Press Herald last month about why union members in Maine are supporting Medicare for All.          

“Nurses, millworkers, postal workers, shipbuilders, electricians, public employees and others have told us horror stories about fighting to get medical treatments covered, struggling to pay out-of-pocket costs and not being able to retire because they would lose health care coverage for their families,” they wrote. “Even those of us with better-than-average health insurance still have to constantly fight to keep it. In contract negotiations, union leaders are spending more and more of their time fighting just to retain our current level of health benefits, while wages, working conditions and other benefits take a back seat.”