How My Union Organized to Lower Healthcare Cost for Members

Thanks to our organizing, our union and the hospital negotiated a carve-out with our insurance that allowed for affordable screenings and biopsies. That was our foot in the door. Once you start the conversation and make it about the health and well-being of the community, as well as how the consolidation of practices and billing practices limit access to primary care, their arguments are muted.

We have known for decades that the cost of healthcare in Monterey County was not normal, and a study confirmed that members in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties face higher healthcare costs because of limited competition in the area and the difficulty of travel for better options.

Our organizing also opened doors I never expected. Fifteen years ago, I knew nothing about healthcare. The president of my local appointed me as a trustee to our healthcare plan, and I jumped at the chance to learn something new. Today, I continue to serve as a trustee, and I’m a member of our central labor council’s healthcare coalition. I’m also honored to serve as a labor representative on the Office of Healthcare Affordability advisory board at the state level. All of these opportunities have afforded me a direct line to one of our local hospital’s public information officers.

The hospital CEO and CFO wanted us to stop filling their boardrooms, and suddenly we were able to talk to each other. Now, when I hear something is wrong, I text the public information officer and say we need to talk.

After our success, I helped our members tackle the next big issue: access to primary care and the exorbitant cost of the emergency department.

I put on my green SVFT T-shirt and went back to the boardroom and shared an analysis, showing that primary care rates were going up and the limited access to urgent care after hours was driving up emergency room utilization. Again, the hospital reached out to me and asked that I sit down to discuss the concerns.

We worked out another agreement; the hospital hired a dedicated primary care physician and offered expanded urgent care hours through its primary care offices at no additional premium cost to our current plan.

Things aren’t perfect, though. Recently, I had to call the public information officer to talk about debt collection when one of our members was denied financial assistance for emergency surgery. I told the public information officer that we can’t have this.

She said the problem in this case and others is the difficulty of healthcare communication — including EOBs or explanation of benefits, that thick envelope from the insurance companies that looks like a bill; massive paperwork; and the ever shifting consolidation of practices by hospital systems.

Life is hard, and healthcare has become this monstrosity that has punitive measures for folks. The fact that you can’t get medical debt off your credit is criminal, especially when the system is set up for people to fail.

One hospital, which has a koi pond and expensive art throughout its facilities, was even telling patients who come into the ER that they could pay less if they put the bill for their services on their credit card. They get folks at their most vulnerable moment, and the patients end up paying.

We are all suffering from the cost and complexity of the American healthcare system, but we are convinced that organizing along with a unified message, especially when made public, can shame greed while being based on human dignity and well-being. That’s what we did. This unifying message has the potential to build relationships and lead to positive outcomes for our members.

Republished with permission from AFT Voices.