Representatives of AFSCME, the Oregon Education Association and the Oregon AFL-CIO banded together May 26 for a Salem press conference lambasting the national health care plan proposed by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

 

AFSCME is part of a coalition of labor unions that have joined forces to sponsor radio ads in Portland and Eugene outlining labor's opposition to Wyden's plan, which includes taxing health care benefits for some recipients. Wyden recently took the unusual tact of running counter advertisements, which the unions believe only muddy the waters and overshadow the reasons why labor is opposing the Wyden plan in the first place.

 

"In a time when real reform is not only possible, but desperately needed, Sen. Wyden is proposing a plan that is not comprehensive, does not protect our current levels of coverage and puts an unfair tax burden on many working families," said Oregon AFSCME Executive Director Ken Allen.

 

"With many options on the table, we need to begin to filter out the bad ideas and focus in on the good ones," Allen continued. "We believe that you cannot have comprehensive health care reform without including a real public health option to create competition and drive down costs. We also believe that we must protect the employer-based health care system that is already in existence — a system that allows individuals to choose their health insurance plan, and that protects employees from paying taxes on their health benefits."

 

Allen and other speakers decried the lack of a public option in Wyden's proposal.

 

"One of the significant flaws of the bill that I'd like to point out today is that Sen. Wyden's bill does not provide the choice of a public health insurance option," said Larry Wolf, President of the Oregon Education Association. "This doesn't make good sense. The option of a high quality public plan would require private plans to compete on quality and cost and result in better private coverage."

 

Wolf and Allen both said that in failing to provide Americans with the public insurance option, the Wyden plan does not meet the principles for health care reform that President Obama has championed.

 

Other speakers at the event included Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain and Dick DeZeeuw, President of AFSCME Local 3336 (DEQ). State Rep. Brian Clem (D-Salem) was also scheduled to appear, but had to bow out due to a legislative committee scheduling conflict.