Health4all : Unions and Better Healthcare for Alaskan Workers

Health4all

Every year more Alaskan families lose health insurance and can't afford health care. Every year more families with health insurance cannot afford to use it because of expensive out-of-pocket charges. Every year more Alaskan elders with Medicare are refused treatment by local physicians. And every year health care in Alaska continues to cost 30 percent more than down south. These problems are a reflection of the crisis across the nation. Not surprisingly, the United States ranks last in preventable deaths compared to 14 Western European nations. We have a lot to talk about.

Lawrence D. Weiss retired from UAA in 2004 as a research professor in public health. He designed and built the Master of Public Health program at UAA, and has published three books and numerous articles on public health and health policy issues. He completed a post-doctoral degree at Harvard School of Public Health in 1982, and has been in Alaska ever since. His favorite expression is "facts matter." Occasionally he can be found in a local pub drinking beer and eating pizza while engaged in passionate conversation with friends.

Unions and Better Healthcare for Alaskan Workers

Posted by health4all

Posted: February 2, 2009 - 10:27 am

Three important studies have recently linked union membership with improved healthcare. The first, Unions and Upward Mobility for Women Workers, produced by The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), records that unionized women workers are 19 percentage points more likely than their nonunion counterparts to have employer-provided health insurance. Another CEPR report, Unions and Upward Mobility for Young Workers, records that unionized workers ages 18 to 29 are 17 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance.

A study from the Economic Policy Institute, Unions, the Economy, and Employee Free Choice, notes the American Management Association admitting that “benefits under union contracts are generally superior to benefits packages for nonunion workers.” This study finds that, overall, unionized workers are 28.2 percentage points more likely to have health insurance coverage. Likewise, the families of unionized workers are 15.6 percentage points more likely to have health insurance coverage than the families of non-union workers.

The Employee Free Choice Act is important, proposed federal legislation that would help workers who want to form unions achieve union representation more easily. In light of these studies, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act might very well translate into more Alaskans receiving employer-provided health insurance in addition to better coverage for their families. Last year, the Employee Free Choice Act passed in the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate. After the last election cycle, there is now more support for the bill in the Senate and in the new Obama-Biden Administration.

For more information on the Employee Free Choice Act and how this legislation would benefit the Alaskan workforce, visit the website AlaskansforFreeChoice.

posted by K.L., ACPP Project Coordinator