THIS TIME ON CODE WACK!
What happens when millions are stripped of Medicaid coverage? Who shoulders the costs when hospitals are forced to care for more uninsured patients? And how will unions and the workers they represent bear the brunt of skyrocketing premiums, job losses, and a growing healthcare crisis?
Today we’re joined by Cindy Young, a veteran labor negotiator and health policy advisor, and now vice president of the California Alliance for Retired Americans and of Healthy California Now. Cindy has spent decades fighting for healthcare justice and protecting workers’ rights. She breaks down Trump’s so-called One Big, Beautiful Bill, explains why unions are sounding the alarm and reveals what’s really at stake for working families, seniors, and communities across America. This is the first episode in a two-part series in honor of Labor Day.
Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!
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SHOW NOTES
WE DISCUSS
Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, which was recently signed into law, is making huge waves and has sweeping implications for our health care. What do workers and union members need to understand about it?
“I think that various unions see this through a different lens …. So the common thread, I think, is the impact on future premium increases due to the cuts in Medicaid. You can’t take millions of dollars out of a system and then not anticipate that there would be changes to that, right?
So uninsured rates are going to increase and healthcare providers are going to be on the hook for that uncompensated care like we had before the passage of the Affordable Healthcare Act, right? So the providers will do what they have historically done, which is to shift what they can’t get from the people that they have to treat minimally, and they’ll shift those costs – that shortfall – onto people who are insured, which is generally union members.
“But this will exacerbate premium increases, which have already been historically high in the past few years. So that’s one common lens I think that all unions are concerned about.” – Cindy Young
So both insurance companies and health providers will be increasing costs to consumers?
“Yes, because … the hospitals, for example, will say, you know, ‘Cindy went in to get care. She is not insured. I have to treat her [by law] … and maybe [Cindy doesn’t] have the money [for her care].’
And so they may end up eating that, and then they’re thinking, ‘Well, now there are more uninsured people. I need to make up that revenue that I’m not getting. I’m just gonna shift those costs onto those that are insured.’
And that is generally union workers. So when the insurers set the premiums, the hospitals are gonna … demand more money to make up for that care that they’re not being compensated for.
So for years and years, this is what happened before we had the Affordable Healthcare Act, and this was a horrible problem for providers, and I’m using hospitals as an example, but it’s exacerbated all over the place and people will die, right? People will die because they can’t get the care that they can when they’re insured.” – Cindy Young
How will this bill affect organized labor and their negotiations for health benefits?
“… Premium increases are going to go up. Workers are gonna lose their jobs. And you know, just think about all the workers that are in a hospital, right? You’ve got people who clean the hospital, you’ve got phlebotomists, you’ve got nurses, you’ve got PAs, you’ve got, you know, all of these X-ray techs, right?
“And now the hospitals have slowly staffed up right because … 23 more million people had access to health insurance. Now they’re projecting millions of people are gonna lose [coverage], and those [hospital employees] are not gonna have work … this why they’re fighting so hard against these cuts.” – Cindy Young
Helpful Links
If you live in these states, your health care won’t be as big or beautiful, USA Today
How will the One Big Beautiful Bill Act impact hospitals?, Advisory Board
How Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will increase employer healthcare costs, Employee Benefit News
Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Episode Transcript
Read the full episode transcript.
Biography: Cindy Young
Cindy Young started her career at H.E.R.E., Local 2 in San Francisco as the Director of Research in 1981. She negotiated pension and healthcare benefits for 25,000 hotel and restaurant workers in San Francisco.
She worked over 20 years as the Senior Health Policy Advisor for California School Employees Association, and served as the Regulatory Policy Specialist to the California Nurses Association (CNA) for three years.
Currently, Cindy serves as a Vice President of the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) and Vice President of Healthy California Now!
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