A well organized and informed health care workforce acts as a watchdog for consumers. When workers have a say over their working conditions and how they do their jobs, patient care is held to a higher standard in hospitals, doctors offices, clinics, and nursing homes. Each of us should be able to choose union health care plans and providers to ensure the best possible care for ourselves and our families. Unfortunately, those options aren't always made available to us. At the bargaining table, unions should push for information about health care plans based on quality of care, not just costs.
Unions are the largest organized group of health care purchasers.
Unions must begin to act together to ensure that members receive the highest quality, affordable health care available. In the public sector, our locals often represent one of the largest purchasing groups in a health care market. Members on labor-management committees and health and benefit funds should be more active in purchasing decisions. In the private sector, negotiators should also become active participants in the purchasing of health care, at the bargaining table, and on labor-management committees. It is up to us as health care consumers and purchasers to set the standards for high quality care.