July 1st, 2011
Fact check: the truth behind SEIU’s big claims at Tenet
Dear Brothers and Sisters, You may have read SEIU’s recent claims to have won “raises of up to 18% over three years” at nine California Tenet-owned hospitals. Like most everything SEIU tells healthcare workers, those claims don’t match the facts. According to SEIU’s signed Tentative Agreements : The wage scale at Tenet is frozen for the first […]
July 1st, 2011
In the news: editorial in support of AB 52
Nonprofit Insurers: Reaping Profits at the Expense of the Consumer
by Wendell Potter, from the Huffington Post
Nowhere are health insurers working harder to thwart reforms that could save consumers billions of dollars than in California. One measure they are especially determined to kill is a bill that would give state regulators the authority to reject rate increases that were excessive or discriminatory.
The California Assembly passed a bill to do just that earlier this month over the intense opposition of insurers, including the state’s biggest supposedly nonprofit health plans: Blue Shield of California and Kaiser Permanente.
June 29th, 2011
San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser raising rates for 300,000 subscribers
San Francisco Chronicle: By Victoria Colliver Tuesday, June 28, 2011 Kaiser Permanente plans to raise rates more than 10 percent starting Friday for about 300,000 Californians enrolled in plans offered through small businesses. Kaiser officials said the increases average 10.7 percent, although a consumer group and a labor organization said the hikes exceed 17 percent […]
June 24th, 2011
Labor Notes: California Strike Highlights Hospitals’ Skewed Priorities
Labor Notes: Hundreds of workers at a central California hospital return to work today, after a two-day lockout that provoked a complaint from the state labor board. Workers at the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, two hours south of San Francisco, were locked out after taking to picket lines on Tuesday. The daylong strike—the first ever […]