PrintJune 17, 2009
Back to ACORN General Hospital
Guess who's going to be much better off thanks President Obama's health care scheme?
I read a fascinating survey recently. According to Rasmussen,
I read a fascinating survey recently. According to Rasmussen,
Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say every one in the United States should have free health care. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 44% disagree.
Wait a minute! Obama says we all want nationalized healthcare now, if not sooner. A survey asking if everyone should have free healthcare is like asking if Christmas should come again this year. Yet, it appears more Americans actually favor the evil healthcare status quo.
The survey had another shocker:
The survey had another shocker:
However, by a two-to-one margin (60% to 27%), Americans reject free health care for all if it means changing their own coverage and joining a program administered by the government.
America, I'm sorry. For months I have been convinced that you are uninformed, uninterested in the survival of the greatest healthcare system in the world. But I was wrong. Most of you get it. "Free" healthcare is too big a risk if it means giving up your private insurance for ObamaCare. The survey results are especially stunning because the healthcare the participants reject is free. Americans love the word "free."
I myself joined a gourmet coffee of the month club to get the Free $98.00 Value Coffee Maker. I discovered something: Even the best coffee in the world tastes horrible after passing through a free coffeemaker. And it would appear most Americans realize that the best medical care in the world will stink once it passes through a "free" healthcare system.
But survey results aside, television and newspapers are replete with stories and images of America in a healthcare crisis. Where does the media find all those average Joes demanding a government-run system? I think I found the answer at Obama's health care website.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page, past the heart-wrenching tales of health insurance lost, and the frightening predictions of how we're all about to die, or if we're very, very lucky, merely go bankrupt. Check out the video link of HHS Secretary Sebelius at the AFSCME Nurses Association.
To the average nurse, the term "nurses association" brings to mind the American Nurses Association (ANA), or the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN): professional organizations based on a particular nursing specialty, such as the operating room or ER. I'd never heard of the AFSCME Nurses Association. I couldn't think of any nursing acronym that would fit those letters, so I googled them.
It's a union!
The AFSCME nurses' union, United Nurses of America, (UNA) has 60,000 members, both RNs and LPNs. In America today there are approximately 2.9 million RNs. There were over 730,000 LPNs in America in 2008. Therefore, UNA represents 1.6 percent of America's licensed nurses. The UNA is the Obama administration's favorite nursing go-to group for healthcare reform cover. And they're quite the resource when crafting those oh-so-important media images of nursing support for socialized medicine.
Unlike 98.4% of you nurses out there, I have actually belonged to a union. Years ago, after accepting a new hospital position I was filling out the obligatory HR paperwork. Among the forms was an index card.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's for the union."
I handed it to her. "You don't understand. I am an RN. A professional. I won't be joining a union."
She handed the card back to me. "No, you don't understand. This is a closed shop. Fill out the card."
Except for irritation at the dues deducted from my paycheck, the union had no effect on my life. Then, a few months later, the hospital informed us that they were in dire financial straits and needed concessions from all employees. So, I made plans to attend my one and only union meeting.
We gathered to hear how our union was going to fight for our rights. The representative got up to the microphone and said -- I swear I am not making this up -- "We've looked over what they're asking and we recommend you take it." End of meeting.
Thankfully, a better position at a non-union hospital became available and my brief stint as a union nurse was over. Until now. Because as I look over Obama's healthcare plan, and the AFSCME and SEIU websites, it's obvious that the service employees unions are all over Obama's health care "reform."
Some of the similarities are humorous. For example, at Obama's website there is a frightening report titled The Costs of Inaction. Over at the SEIU healthcare website is an article titled "The Cost of Doing Nothing." However, things turn serious when one starts clicking on the links.
My first article for American Thinker was titled "Welcome to ACORN General Hospital." I wrote that Barack and Michelle's healthcare vision seemed to be hospitals as agents for community organizing. At the time I thought I was indulging in a little hyperbole. Little did I know that I was right on the money.
For example, at the SEIU website is a link to the Healthcare Equality Project:
But survey results aside, television and newspapers are replete with stories and images of America in a healthcare crisis. Where does the media find all those average Joes demanding a government-run system? I think I found the answer at Obama's health care website.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page, past the heart-wrenching tales of health insurance lost, and the frightening predictions of how we're all about to die, or if we're very, very lucky, merely go bankrupt. Check out the video link of HHS Secretary Sebelius at the AFSCME Nurses Association.
To the average nurse, the term "nurses association" brings to mind the American Nurses Association (ANA), or the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN): professional organizations based on a particular nursing specialty, such as the operating room or ER. I'd never heard of the AFSCME Nurses Association. I couldn't think of any nursing acronym that would fit those letters, so I googled them.
It's a union!
The AFSCME nurses' union, United Nurses of America, (UNA) has 60,000 members, both RNs and LPNs. In America today there are approximately 2.9 million RNs. There were over 730,000 LPNs in America in 2008. Therefore, UNA represents 1.6 percent of America's licensed nurses. The UNA is the Obama administration's favorite nursing go-to group for healthcare reform cover. And they're quite the resource when crafting those oh-so-important media images of nursing support for socialized medicine.
Unlike 98.4% of you nurses out there, I have actually belonged to a union. Years ago, after accepting a new hospital position I was filling out the obligatory HR paperwork. Among the forms was an index card.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's for the union."
I handed it to her. "You don't understand. I am an RN. A professional. I won't be joining a union."
She handed the card back to me. "No, you don't understand. This is a closed shop. Fill out the card."
Except for irritation at the dues deducted from my paycheck, the union had no effect on my life. Then, a few months later, the hospital informed us that they were in dire financial straits and needed concessions from all employees. So, I made plans to attend my one and only union meeting.
We gathered to hear how our union was going to fight for our rights. The representative got up to the microphone and said -- I swear I am not making this up -- "We've looked over what they're asking and we recommend you take it." End of meeting.
Thankfully, a better position at a non-union hospital became available and my brief stint as a union nurse was over. Until now. Because as I look over Obama's healthcare plan, and the AFSCME and SEIU websites, it's obvious that the service employees unions are all over Obama's health care "reform."
Some of the similarities are humorous. For example, at Obama's website there is a frightening report titled The Costs of Inaction. Over at the SEIU healthcare website is an article titled "The Cost of Doing Nothing." However, things turn serious when one starts clicking on the links.
My first article for American Thinker was titled "Welcome to ACORN General Hospital." I wrote that Barack and Michelle's healthcare vision seemed to be hospitals as agents for community organizing. At the time I thought I was indulging in a little hyperbole. Little did I know that I was right on the money.
For example, at the SEIU website is a link to the Healthcare Equality Project:
The Healthcare Equality Project (HEP) is a national partnership between nationwide and community-based organizations, faith networks, students, parents and individuals working to achieve comprehensive health care reform that will eliminate healthcare disparities once and for all. We want to ensure that healthcare reform efforts - beyond simply expanding insurance coverage - become an engine for reducing the unfair, pervasive and life-threatening healthcare disparities that plague women, racial, ethnic and other minorities.
Guess who's featured on the Partner Organizations list? That's right -- ACORN!
At the AFSCME Health Care web page is a link to Health Care for America NOW! a "grassroots" organization. Among their goals:
At the AFSCME Health Care web page is a link to Health Care for America NOW! a "grassroots" organization. Among their goals:
We are fighting for a uniquely American solution that gives you a guarantee of coverage and real choice: keep your private insurance plan or join a new public health insurance plan so you are no longer at the mercy of the private insurance industry.
That reads like it was downloaded from the President's teleprompter. And once again, prominent on the steering committee is ACORN, along with SEIU, AFSCME, and the AFL-CIO.
So what is the unions' goal for American healthcare? According to the Kaiser Family Foundation on March 19th, 2009:
So what is the unions' goal for American healthcare? According to the Kaiser Family Foundation on March 19th, 2009:
The Service Employees International Union and the California Nurses Association on Wednesday announced an agreement under which they will seek to unionize employees at hospitals nationwide and promote expansion of health insurance to all U.S. residents, the New York Times reports. Under the agreement, the unions will focus on efforts to unionize employees of larger hospital systems, where nurses would join CNA and other workers would join SEIU.
It brings to mind a mental picture of the AXIS powers dividing up the healthcare world, doesn't it? And why not? If the UAW gets to have controlling interest in the American auto industry, why shouldn't AFSCME, SEIU, and ACORN be allowed to run the 14% of GDP currently known as the American healthcare system? Millions and millions and millions of new dues-paying members from countless communities ripe for organizing. All without the hassle of passing card check.
Hey, nurses: Just fill out the card.
Hey, nurses: Just fill out the card.
Carol Peracchio is a registered nurse.
