[ad_1]
More than any time in recent history, we have witnessed the remarkable dedication of California’s workers in keeping our economy moving, our children educated, our stores stocked, our farmlands harvested and our patients cared for.
They need and deserve our support when they have a labor dispute with their employers. AB 2530 can do that. As chair of the Assembly Health Committee and a health care provider, I authored this bill because it is not just about the right of workers to strike — it is about California’s commitment to affordable, universal coverage for all.
We have seen employer-provided health care coverage be weaponized during strikes creating an untenable situation where just this year Stanford Hospital and Dignity Health attempted to make workers choose between their right to strike and affordable health care for themselves and their families.
One of those employers sent a letter to striking workers informing them that they would lose their coverage if they did not return to work and went so far as to highlight and underline in their letter to employees that replacement medical insurance would cost the employee between nearly $950 and $3,667 per month if they continue a lengthy strike. Clearly a threat by any measure and a threat not only to workers but also to their families who depend on family health coverage.
Witnessing the health care industry itself depriving workers of affordable coverage during lengthy strikes is astonishing, and that hypocrisy is not lost on me. The decision to strike is never an easy one — workers lose their incomes, and if they also lose their health care coverage, it can threaten ongoing medication and treatment for their medical conditions as well as their family members.
Workers should not have to risk health care for themselves or their families in order to exercise their right to strike. We need to make AB 2530 law. It will protect our workers in the rare instances when labor disputes go on long enough to jeopardize their employer-funded health coverage.
Yes, coverage would remain available to the worker, but we all know it would be extremely expensive and would not extend to eligible family members. This bill allows health care coverage to continue — without the typical waiting period — through Covered California and provides premium subsidies and cost-sharing assistance as if the worker’s income was just over the Medi-Cal eligibility level, including zero premiums and deductibles and $5 copays.
Simply put, this bill will give striking workers access to affordable health care coverage, not only for themselves, but also for their family members. In a perfect world, workers would never have to use this proposed law and employers would choose to continue health coverage voluntarily during labor disputes. Unfortunately and discouragingly, that has not proven to be the case.
Our workers have protected, cared for and supported us through some of the toughest times these past several years and we must protect, care for and support them now.
I urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign this bill.
Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa, represents the 2nd Assembly District.
You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.
[ad_2]
Source link
