I’m seeing that the Culinary Union has come out against Medicare for All. The Union wants to keep its hard won medical insurance. This definitely sounds reasonable, but you don’t have to dig very deep to understand why this is not a great idea. These are a few key reasons.  1-What if the Culinary workers go on strike or lose their jobs?  These workers will lose their insurance. With MFA they’ll have insurance. 2-What about their children once they turn 26??? These kids will be hard pressed to find good, affordable insurance at affordable prices. With MFA, they’d be covered. 3-The Culinary Union seems to have forgotten their millions of  brother and sister workers who have no insurance or have to pay outrageous prices to get insurance. With MFA, all workers in the US WILL be covered. 4-I don’t know the particulars of the Union’s medical insurance but I’ll bet it doesn’t cover hearing or eye doctor appointments. With MFA, these will be covered. 5-Finally, I’m hearing Unions spend too much time trying to negotiate health care. If we all were covered by MFA, union time would be freed up to be  spent negotiating better wages, better working conditions, liveable work schedules, and other issues to improve workplace conditions and operations.

I’m not sure why the Culinary Union is so dead set against Medicare for All. Most industrialized countries have this system of healthcare insurance. Isn’t it time the US joined them?

 

Ann Bley