2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Enough of the bull$hit. It's not that HRC and cronies think Bernie can't get single payer passed [View all]bread_and_roses
(6,335 posts)So in that sense you could say it's a "bargaining chip" but not one that anyone is happy about. Health INSURANCE costs keep going up and up - and those costs are used as a bargaining tool to keep wages lower than they would be otherwise. Members face either huge increases in their employee contribution, or poor plans that would leave them exposed in the case of real illness, or flat or barely increasing wages. Government employees at the state and local level are particularly the victims but vastly profitable corporations use the same tactic simply to keep wages lower than they would be otherwise.
I am not just speculating on this - I'm sure there's data and reports out there - but I work for unions and hear this all the time when they are in contract negotiations.
And now there's talk here and there of taxing "platinum plans" - you know, the ones that provide a degree of comprehensive coverage - which has people very nervous.
And people in the bubble wonder why the working class don't get excited about the Democrats. They - we - have been screwed every which way by the very policies the Ds trumpet -