ALPA Weighs in on Health Care Reform

June 5, 2009 - The debate on health care reform will begin in earnest this month on Capitol Hill. One of the big questions that must be answered is how this massive undertaking will be paid for. One option that has been mentioned, because it would raise enormous revenue, is some form of taxation on employer-provided health care. Although President Obama has said he does not favor this approach, there are some in Congress who want to pursue this course.

This option is unacceptable to ALPA and other unions. Working with colleagues at AFL affiliates and non-affiliates, ALPA Government Affairs put together a letter that was signed on to by 30 other unions and sent to the Senate and House. The letter expresses our strong opposition to any proposal that would pay for reform by altering the tax treatment of employer-provided health care. It also reminds them that this idea is not popular among voters and that the president campaigned against it in the last election. The issue is expected to occupy the Congress through the summer.