OCSEA thanks Sen. Brown for supporting choice of public health insurance plan

May 7, 2008 - Just a few weeks after Building Union Power 9 conference participants—including OCSEA Chapter 2570 member Jeff Frink in video below— wrote nearly 300 letters to Sen. George Voinovich and Sen. Sherrod Brown,

OCSEA leaders are applauding the bold efforts of the latter. OCSEA is thanking Brown for his support of public health insurance – a key component of President Obama’s and Health Care for America Now’s (HCAN) vision for achieving guaranteed quality, affordable health care for all.

“OCSEA applauds Senator Brown for emphasizing the importance of health care reform legislation that includes the option of a public health insurance plan. Ohioans need a choice so we are no longer at the mercy of the profit-driven private health insurance industry,” said OCSEA President Eddie L. Parks. “Senator Brown clearly understands we need reform that puts the people of Ohio before special interests that profit off the current system. Their kind of reform would just continue to make them money and deny us access to quality, affordable health care.”

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) wrote the letter to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (MA-D) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (MT-D) expressing the need to include a public health insurance option in order to set "the standard for quality, efficiency, and cost."

Fifteen other Senators joined Brown in signing the letter (PDF) which says that while private insurance industry reform is important, it alone is not enough to guarantee we achieve quality, affordable health care for all in 2009.

OCSEA members have been writing letters to President Obama and Congress for nearly a year, urging them to support quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Though OCSEA members and their families have the benefit of union-negotiated health care, skyrocketing costs impact all Ohioans and the entire nation. You can still email a letter now or tell a friend to send one.

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As AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee has said: “The cost of health care coverage has skyrocketed. It threatens the economic security of working families, it strains state and federal budgets and it reduces the competitiveness of American businesses. We need an American solution in which all of us – individuals, employers and government – share responsibility for guaranteeing quality, affordable health care we can all count on.”

AFSCME and Ohio are a part of Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a national grassroots campaign of more than 950 organizations in 46 states representing 30 million people dedicated to winning quality, affordable health care we all can count on in 2009. HCAN and its principles are supported by President Obama, Vice President Biden, and more than 190 members of Congress.

The OCSEA / AFSCME PEOPLE program – Public Employees Organized for Political and Legislative Equality – gives union members a voice on issues such as health care and budgets at the federal, state, and local government level. Contributions to the union's political action committee fund are voluntary and no union dues are used for PEOPLE.

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About PEOPLE

AFSCME's Make America Happen Website on Health Care for All

Letter to Senator Kennedy and Senator Baucus

Senator Brown’s press release (including quotations from other signatories)