Click here| Lou Sinniger Raises Voice: Healthcare For All |
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Letter to Editor Register Guard
I have been a Union member all my working life and have recently retired. I am still a member of the Oregon AFSCME Retirees Chapter 75. (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) We got our charter just two years ago and already represent 200 members statewide. We also have a Eugene Chapter that meets every first Monday of every month, 11:30 am, AFSCME Labor Center, 7th and Charnelton.
I am proud to say that we voted this month to join the Health Care for All of Oregon Coalition supporting the Oregon Single Payer Campaign.
While we are retired, we still must pay for our health care until we are Medicare eligible. There are literally 1000’s of Oregon public employees who are eligible to retire, but cannot afford to, until they are 65, because of the extreme payments to health insurance companies for their health care.
We all remember fighting to maintain decent health insurance coverage for our families during our days of employment. However, each contract bargaining would bring higher costs, an erosion of benefits and less coverage.
This trend will only continue until we change it. The unnecessary cost for those who can pay it and the unnecessary suffering for those who cannot afford to have health insurance must stop.
It is time for Unions to use their organizational skills and abilities to change from a health insurance system to a health care system. It is time for all of us to have direct health care.
Insurance companies do not heal or care for the sick. Health care providers do. We do not need corporations profiting off our illnesses. We need direct care.
We, AFSCME Retirees, have taken the first small step to change the system. Please join with us to take the steps necessary to make Health Care a Human Right for all of Oregon. For more information, see www.oregonafscme.com/retirees, www.oregonsinglepayer.org and www.hcao.org.
Lou Sinniger
AFSCME Retirees Chap. 75
Executive Board Member
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