Remember when President Obama promised that under his healthcare reform plan, you'd be able to keep your doctor if you wanted to?
At Wednesday's AFL-CIO meeting, IBEW President Edwin D. Hill said Obama broke this promise, and that ObamaCare "will devastate a successful part of healthcare."
EDWIN D. HILL, PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS: What I want to say is on July 16, 2009, President Obama clearly stated the following, and I quote: “No matter how we reform healthcare, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you’ll be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what. My view is that healthcare reform should be guided by simply one principle: fix the broken and build on what works.” End of the quote.
We supported the President then. We support the President now. But it’s clear that the ACA (Affordable Care Act) as it currently stands is not meeting his promise. The sad fact is the law will divest, will devastate, I’m sorry, a similar part of healthcare, a successful part. Healthcare coverage for some 20 million workers, retirees, family members, provided through collective bargaining that we all stand here to do.
The Resolution spells out the damage that will be done to multi-employer plans in construction and several other industries. There are nonprofit plans jointly administered by equal numbers of trustees from labor and management. Mr. Chairman, we’ve worked 65 years to build up these plans, but because the ACA doesn’t recognize their unique nature, we could lose it all. And we’re not alone. And we’re not about to let that happen.
Pretty powerful and important statement about this legislation, wouldn't you agree?
Yet according to Google News and LexisNexis, other than The Hill Wednesday, not one single news organization in this country thought Hill's words were newsworthy.
Not one.
Journalism really HAS died, hasn't it?
As an aside, Hill supported Obama's reelection last year:
Given what he knew about ObamaCare's impact on his members, how could Hill - or any other union leader - have supported the President's reelection?
As my good friend at Weasel Zippers observed, "I have zero sympathy for them, the unions were Obamacare’s biggest backers when it was being rammed down our throats."
Indeed.
