Olympia hospital workers strike over healthcare costs
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Hundreds of healthcare workers walked off the job at an Olympia hospital early Monday, saying their own healthcare costs are too high.
About 530 nursing assistants, housekeeping, admitting staff and other employees at Providence St. Peter Hospital went on strike at 6 a.m. and planned to remain on the picket line for 5 days.
Doctors and registered nurses remain on the job at the hospital, and officials say they've brought in temporary workers during the strike.
The striking employees say a wage increase offered by the hospital is not enough to even cover annual cost of living increases.
About 530 nursing assistants, housekeeping, admitting staff and other employees at Providence St. Peter Hospital went on strike at 6 a.m. and planned to remain on the picket line for 5 days.
Doctors and registered nurses remain on the job at the hospital, and officials say they've brought in temporary workers during the strike.
The striking employees say a wage increase offered by the hospital is not enough to even cover annual cost of living increases.
If you do not believe what I just wrote, then please go to this US Congressional website to read the following report, Congressional Research Service, Budget "Sequestration" and Selected Program Exemptions and Special Rules, Karen Spar, Coordinator, January 10, 2013, 7-5700, CRS gov, R42050. Â CRS Report for Congress, Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress. Please learn to read.
Obamacare ...and the Sequestration is great, because according to PL 111-139 Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 168 House Democrats sponsored bill passed Senate with super-majority 60 Yea, 39 Nay. Sequestration is the law of the land. To top that off Obama promoted PL 112-25 Budget Control Act of 2011, the enforcement part of the Sequestration, which passed the Senate with a Super-Majority 74 Yea 26 Nay (Dem Voted 45 Yea 6 Nay). Â Both laws were signed by President Obama. Â Written into this law are the automatic trigger if spending exceed budget, since Senate and Obama have not passed a budget in 4 years, they cannot spend above $1.2 Trillion proposed cuts or trigger Sequestration Cuts. Â The law also require a super-majority in the Senate to get a waiver on the budget. Â Obamacare is part of the budget! Â These are written into the super-majority laws, veto-proof and filibuster proof. Â The first time these two laws can be changed, 2021. Â Three Presidential cycle, two senate cycles, 16 house election cycles before the first sunset is allowed to redefine the language! Â
Why do some congressmen want to repeal Obamacare, Â can it be because they have super-premium healthcare plans and they will owe huge amount of taxes 2014? Â How silly can a person get when they pass a 1000+page law and forgot to read it? Democrats, Â how silly!
Oh, here is another interesting bit of information. Â Since many of the SEIU members voted for super-premium healthcare benefits, the premium contribution by the employers are considered taxable income according to Obamacare's 1000+ pages. Â Example given at SEIU member website, it could mean $1,000, $5,000 to $6,000 in federal taxes owed by SEIU members to the government. Â They also teach members how to avoid taxes. Â Go visit SEIU member org website.
Is the productivity or lack of it contributing to the cost of health care - or is it just government regulations?
@contraryjim These labor union members were voting for themselves huge benefits increases without paying the premium.  It nearly bankrupted, SEIU Chicago, NY and NJ.  They dumped many of their workers off of SEIU insurance polices even though those members paid for the ins. polices.  Obama also allowed the SEIU to limit the Union contribution towards their memberships healthcare insurance and lastly Obama allowed SEIU to cap the benefit's payout,  effectively Obama-Denial-Of-Service for premium paid.  Obama-Denial-Of-Service cap the benefits to some SEIU members to $50,000.  Meaning no kidney transplant, no heart pacemaker defibrillator, no cochlear implant, better not get a massive stroke with heart attack, $50K don't pay for much.  Thanks to Obamacare's 1000+pages and Obama-Denial-Of-Service.  Remember, "Pay Your Fair Share!" Â
@NWDemocrat Are you under the impression that SEIU funds the health and welfare trust funds? You do realize that those contributions made on behalf of the members are made by the employer right? Your outrage at the cost being handed to the consumer seems to forget the healthcare policies provided by non union companies. Are you somehow under the impression that those costs are not passed to the consumer simply because they are non union?
I'd sure be interested in how many of these folks voted FOR Obama...
@Doc King "I'd sure be interested in how many of these folks voted FOR Obama.."
 All of them. Some more than once.
The most unfair part of this Labor dispute is, these people voted for their stuff.  The tax payers did not get a vote on these peoples excessive entitlements or non-payment or low contribution towards their own benefits.  Now they want to dump more of their overly excessive benefits onto the hospital overhead cost and onto the tax payers to subsidized what these adults voted for without consent from the tax payers or their employers!  They did support, encouraged and voted for Obama and Obamacare,  ...this was in the 1000+ pages of Obamacare.  Not much sympathy for people who shoot themselves in the foot, then try to blame others and pretending to be victims.  This is your Obamacare, "Pay Your Fair Share!"
@NWDemocrat Can you give us a summary of the health care plan that the hospital provides? I've never heard of an excessive health care plan in the entire history of health care plans. Is it a 50% plan, 80%, 90% plan? Does it exclude members of the family? What are the lifetime caps under the plan?
If hospitals want to cut costs for services so the rest of us don't have to pay for three other who didn't pay... verify citizenship at hospital before lending care... if you are here illegally I'm sorry I'm already paying for moochers who are US Citizens ... I don't need those who are not citizens asking me to pay for them too!
@Freespeech The problem is not illegals, the problem are the SEIU Labor Union benefits contracts and lavish benefits, which were not funded by their membership, which even the labor unions don't want to pay.  Remember most SEIU healthcare cost some from their Union's Healthcare policies!  These members voted for their own lavish benefits.  Doesn't have much to do with illegals, have more to do with Obamacare.
Do you see those SEIU 1199 signs?  That's the same Labor Union that tossed out 6000 children and dropped them from their Healthcare Plan January 1, 2011.  Remember Chicago SEIU supported Obama to the tune of $27 million.  Obama in return gave SEIU a waiver to cover their 2 million membership, and limited the amount the Labor Union have to contribute towards their memberships healthcare insurance.  In New Jersey the SEIU chapter was able to get a waiver to cap the benefits paid out to $50,000 for nurses.  In New York and Chicago more than 35,000 workers got transferred to government supported medicaid, effective making the Labor Union healthcare plan a low cost supplemental healthcare insurance.  These are the people who pushed for Obamacare, more than 2 million members voted for Obama and Obamacare.
If everyone walked off of their job because of high healthcare costs, no one would be working. The problem is someone pays for your healthcare, whether it is your employer or the government and we as consumers really don't care what the dr. or hospital charges.  You and I are paying for the free riders by getting their bills attached to ours in higher charges. Try to price a procedure and you cannot get a straight answer because of this method.   If we bought our healthcare like we buy clothes or food and shop around for the best deal, this would help to solve the problem.  Â
@ObsidianOne Government free healthcare is the most expensive free stuff ever.  Free healthcare is about to destroy the federal government, our children's future and everyone's bank account, and even out entire economy bases on too much borrowing.  Free or subsidized healthcare is buried in mountains of hidden fees and taxation, the most expensive free stuff in the world.
...and these were the Labor Union people who solicited, encouraged and promoted Obamacare.  Please remember your own statements, "PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE"!Â
I am guardian for my mother who is in her 90's and on Medicare.   I'm the one that pays her bills. I see the scamming every month. I have NO SYMPATHY whatsoever. I'm sure that it's really the "system" that has driven the costs through the roof, and the bandits at the top in their corporate offices, not the worker bees -- but I still don't care. These people are riding on a gravy train.
@MajorSkeptic"These people are riding on a gravy train"
"These people"...?
These people are NOT the ones on the "gravy train. Look at the management to see who actually benefits...it will not be the workers.
@MajorSkeptic I work in healthcare, and believe me, the "worker bees" aren't the ones riding the gravy train. I understand your pain, but it's only the people at the top who win. I wonder what they get for yearly bonuses? I got a plastic cup with the hospital logo on it (probably a publicity write-off!).
Get used to it people. The ACA will not reduce your premiums. Any reasonable person could see that (no limits on claims,  no exclusion of those with PEC's, your birth control mandated, a huge new bureaucracy). ACA is designed to increase your costs to the point of you saying, "Oh, please Beneficent Federal Government, can't you make my fiscal pain go away?"Only a TRULY (not our pre-ACA method) free health-care/health insurance market will reduce costs to the consumer.Â
@Getov Mylon
I hate to point this out to you and I will probably get creamed for it as it is not necessarily PC but it would generally appear that most birth control is a lot cheaper than most pregnancies let alone most births let aloneâ¦â¦
@wingerair People tend to forget, we, the insured, do not get a choice because this is an "insurance pool". Sort of socialism that every one seems to hate so much. You, and all others signed up with an insurer pool the money against future needs by any who are members. You don't get to choose anything except whether or not you sign up with an insurer.
@WSims007Your post must be directed at Getov as I would generally tend to agree with you as I agreed with quid above. I have generally been continuing to try to get Getov to continue to get himself in trouble though. However there are currently some insurers that might cover a few different things for different amounts but maybe that is going away. Plus I currently do have a choice amongst insurers.
@wingerair What you say is about birth control versus maternity costs is true... but irrelevant. Since having a child is a "choice," therefore, an option, maternity costs should be an add-on to a health insurance policy. This would have the effect of lowering premiums for non-breeders. By the way, if you think birth control is not important enough to pay for yourself, exactly why should I (we) have to pay it for you?
@quidproquo I can buy a car insurance policy in a variety of ways for variety of coverages  and a variety of deductibles. They are not mini-plans.Â
If you want to have a twenty-year-old decathlon champion pay the same as a 50+ sedentary couch surfer with a stressful job and a family history of heart disease, why,  no problem!
@Getov Mylon
Many insurers long ago decided to cover E.D. Probably due to demand. The same might be true for pregnancy.
@Getov Mylon
You say that âmaternity costs should be an add-on to a health insurance policy. This would have the effect of lowering premiums for non-breeders.â This could very well be true so would you please continue espousing and even start actively and physically campaigning for that? And who says I âthink birth control is not important enough to pay for yourselfâ? It is not I who I am worried about. It is you whom I worry about.
@Getov Mylon @quidproquo What I am saying is you are making arbitrary choices in a group health care plan. Its a group plan, group pool, group costs. It would cost MORE to administrate little mini plans that exclude whatever you randomly don't agree with.
@quidproquo Prescription medication is a prime example of why costs are so high.  I have a prescription plan that allows me to go most anywhere and it will pay full retail (or negotiated price). I could go to Costco and save substantially but it is inconvenient. If I had to pay for prescriptions myself, different story. If insurers wish to charge different rates for smokers or those with a high BMI (cough, cough) they should be allowed to do so. If they don't want to cover things like E.D., they shouldn't have to do so.Â
@quidproquoYes, that is my point. You have no choice. I advocate choice and there are free market mechanisms we could use to enable choice.
@Getov Mylon @wingerair You go ahead and make sure that viagra or cealis or any other male assistance pill isn't covered either. Also I don't want to pay for any heart or lung problems that were self inflicted such as from smoking. (this is how you sound.)
@Getov Mylon @wingerair Most people's health insurance comes from their employer with no real choice involved though.Â
@wingerair @Getov Mylon And this really is the larger issue. Too many people not enough affordable resources to go around. And its simple to fix. Take a pill, quit having kids, society can't afford them any more.
SEIU? Health premiums too high? Own it, yaluzers
I like to see some details to their healthcare costs and what percentage it is of the wages before I jump in a nd side with the workers. This really sounds like the Teacher Union BSÂ we hear every September to me.
HEALTHCARE FOR PROFIT IS HEALTHCARE DENIED!
@32jim2 OK, then, what would be the incentive for say, GE, to build better imaging devices? Or prosthetic manufacturers to come up with new and better products? What would be the incentive for doctors to spend years learning specialties at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars if they can't "profit" from their endeavors? Greedy doctors...
 Might as well just work in the laundry room.
Of course, there is a reason our lawmakers exempted themselves from the ACA.Â
http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/ Â
Everyone needs to read all 11 pages of this article. It explains WHY healthcare costs are so stupidly high. Stop focusing on who is paying for it and start focusing on fixing the idiotic inflation wars.
@quidproquo Hey! Look everybody! One of the four people that subscribe to "TIME" magazine!Â
Thanks for posting a link that in order to read, Â you have to be a subscriber.
@quidproquo Many factors to consider when considering inflated costs pertaining to healthcare.... My thoughts are of many who are experiencing the continuance of increased inflation along with failed government....
@Funky-Munky @quidproquo If you read the article, you'll see that the government doesn't have much to do with the inflated healthcare costs. Insurance companies + hospitals have done this all on their own.  Now I do question the governments failure to expand medicare to all which would have been a far better cost control because medicare is far more efficient than any insurance company.Â
Humm.... Healthcare workers striking over healthcare costs.....  Welcome to reality.... no cost of living increases.... forgone raises.... inflated health insurance costs or reduction in benefits and in some cases both.... inflated economy.... yep, years of government indecisiveness, inaction and overall failure of "we the people" and our wishes had a price.Â
@Funky-Munky Well 30 years of increased productivity and 30 years of stagnant wages. It's sad because people of my generation (i'm 25) have lived with this our whole lives and sadly it feels normal and most people my age have never even researched it.Â
@quidproquo @Funky-Munky Closer to 40 years on stagnant wages except for in the health field. The wealth of the nation continues to get concentrated to the top 1%. All the stats are easy to find but no one seems to care. Its your generation sadly that will have to try and change this. Its always the younger generation that gets the ball rolling in any kind of movement. My baby boomer generation let you down and for that I apologize. We fought some good fights in the 60's but we stopped too soon.
@quidproquo @Blindman @Funky-Munky Employment is just a game much like everything else in Amerika has become. Never get into debt and your job just isn't that important. I had to learn that the hard way. Just find things that you like to do and find employment in that area and see how it goes. Always stay away from all office politics, that never ends well. Todays youth are going to have to have a much more mobile view of employment than my generation did. Be prepared to change jobs a lot because the old days of having a career at one place are long gone unless you get into a government job. And it takes a certain mentality to have a government job. I tried it a couple times but I just couldn't stand being that unproductive.
@Blindman @quidproquo @Funky-Munky I think the saddest thing is I learned with my first few jobs that "going above and beyond" doesn't get you anything. Sure I do my job better than other people but I don't really try hard anymore. I've worked in both public and private industry and its all the same.
Notice that sign that says this NON-PROFIT raked in 239 million in PROFIT last year alone? Â They actually need to start TAXING these non-profit hospitals that actually are making HUGE PROFITS, and paying their Dept heads outrageous benefit packages, at the expense of the little people, like this. Â
@Slingerss when government taxes business, business passes the cost on to the customer. As for the sign it may have taken in $239 million but what did it cost to provide care and services?
@32jim2Â By definition, profit already takes into account costs to provide services. Profit is what is left from revenues after all expenses have been paid.
@Slingerss Or clarify the requirements - if you are non profit, there better not be a profit. Cycle it back into care, lower prices, and reasonable wages for the employees.Â