Posted on 01/13/2010 7:53:18 AM PST by Beaten Valve
The generally cozy relationship between Hollywood's unions and the Obama administration is coming under strain.
The source of friction: President Obama's support for a so-called Cadillac tax that is part of the healthcare bill passed by the Senate. The tax, intended to help finance a revamp of the nation's healthcare system, would apply to the most expensive health insurance plans.
As the Los Angeles Times reported today, in a meeting Monday with Obama, union leaders including James P. Hoffa of the Teamsters and Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO complained that the tax would harm their members, who often are covered under expensive insurance plans.
Playing a supporting role in the effort is the industry's second-largest actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. In a letter last week to Obama and senior congressional leaders, AFTRA President Roberta Reardon and the union's national executive director, Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, warned that the proposed tax would "hurt middle-class and low-wage working union members that have negotiated over the years for health benefits at the expense of higher wages to keep pace with the high cost of healthcare."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
“It was supposed to be FREE”
(and we, the elite, were supposed to continue getting better medical care than everyone else)
So if they are going to make sure everyone has great health insurance — Why would they penalize anyone who has a really good plan?
Duh, unless they don’t want people having really good health coverage.
They should be happy to support the redistribution policies of their candidate. What they didn’t figure on was redistribution included them too.
Poor mental midgets (no offense to midgets intended)
O-bambi definitely has become:
The vocal limosine liberals could care less about this. The ones I’d like to see broke and penniless will be undamaged. This is about support staff, minor players. But the liberals too, so screw them!
The Democrat’s plan was to go after the top end plans that they enjoyed when they were lawyers and corporate VP’s. They didn’t realize that unions insist on these company-paid Cadillac plans for their members.
Rich people can just slide back to catastrophic plans and get medical savings accounts. Unions cannot.
Oh please. They will still fund and support the Democrats no matter what. Just like the SEIU going to Mass-O-Taxes to support Coakley, while pretending to oppose taxes on “cadillac” health plans.
If libs wanted “to make sure that everyone had health insurance”,
they could pay for it themselves.
We all know that’s not the point of “healthcare reform”.
Maybe Streisand, Sarandon or Michael Moore will toss them a couple of bucks when they drive past them in their Rolls Royce...
Look for a “union member exemption” coming soon.
Alternate Headline?:
F.A.G. Unhappy With Obama.
I doubt that is legal. Even using an income barrier would be problematic because union members make a lot of money.
I’m pretty sure Moore drives a Cavalier.
It’s also probably not legal to force people to buy insurance,
nor is it legal to exempt Nebraska in perpetuity from medicare increases,
but they’ve written those things into the bill.
You guys buttered your bread...now sleep in it.
So instead tax “the rich”. Of course people who make $500K (or whatever tomorrow’s definition of “rich” will be) negotiated their high salaries with years of education, hard work, risk, blood, sweat and tears.
Public employee union thugs should be in the cross hairs as well.
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