Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal—who favors creating a national single-payer system that ensures healthcare as a human right for all Americans—responded critically on Saturday to 2020 presidential primary front-runner Joe Biden’s recent comments about labor unions and employer-based health insurance.
The congresswoman from Washington state is the lead sponsor in the U.S. House of the Medicare for All Act of 2019. Jayapal’s response to the former vice president came in a series of tweets, and followed criticism of Biden from another 2020 contender—Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime single-payer advocate and lead sponsor of the Senate’s version of the bill.
During an interview with CNN that aired Friday, as Common Dreams reported, “Biden suggested he supports allowing Americans to buy in to Medicare instead of going all the way to Medicare for All, which he slammed as disruptive and costly despite studies showing it would save the U.S. trillions of dollars in overall healthcare spending.”
“If they like their employer-based insurance, which a lot of unions broke their neck to get, a lot of people like theirs, they shouldn’t have to give it up,” Biden said. “If you don’t go my way and you go their way you have to give up all that. What’s gonna happen when you have 300 million people landing on a healthcare plan. How long is that going to take? What’s it going to do?”
Sharing the relevant clip from Biden’s interview, Jayapal tweeted Saturday, “This argument that ‘unions broke their neck to get employer-based insurance’ is an OLD argument that isn’t relevant today.”
The congresswoman listed some of the labor unions supporting her Medicare for All bill—including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and National Nurses United (NNU)—and argued that these organizations “understand” the benefits of transforming the country’s for-profit healthcare system through proposals such as hers.
For example, Jayapal wrote, unions understand that “workers are paying more and more for their employer-insurance because for-profit insurance companies are raising premiums hugely for employer healthcare as well.”
“Unions understand that when they have to bargain for healthcare, they give up money that should be used for wages,” the congresswoman continued.
Labor unions also “understand solidarity and standing with [the] least amongst us,” she added. “They’re ready to fight for ALL OF US.”
Read Jayapal’s full Twitter thread:
This argument that “unions broke their neck to get” employer-based insurance” is an OLD argument that isn’t relevant today. Here are a sampling of unions who support @SenSanders & my #MedicareForAll bill: @AFTunion, @SEIU, @MachinistsUnion, @UAW, @NationalNurses, @APWUnational.. https://t.co/At40sXSzxN
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) July 6, 2019
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.