NYT: Labor and Employers Join in Opposition to a Health Care Tax

Kurt Gallow, a paper mill employee and union official, is concerned that his insurance costs could increase by thousands of dollars. Credit Leah Nash for The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/business/labor-and-employers-join-in-opposition-to-a-health-care-tax.html?_r=0

By REED ABELSONJULY 21, 2015

At the paper mill in Longview, Wash., Kurt Gallow and his wife, Brenda, are worrying about his company’s proposed new health care plan, which would require workers to pay as much as $6,000 toward their families’ medical bills.

Mrs. Gallow’s diabetic condition almost certainly will mean thousands of dollars more a year for her care alone, if the new plan is put in place, which may happen as early as next year.

“Some of the people with health problems will definitely pay more,” said Mr. Gallow, who is president of the local unit of the Association of Western Pulp & Paper Workers.

The union is now in heated negotiations with the mill’s owner, KapStone Paper and Packaging, over benefits, among other issues. The couple and many other employees have been enrolled in a popular Kaiser Permanente health maintenance organization, which charged just $25 for a doctor’s visit.

FULL story at link.



Members of Local 153 of the Association of Western Pulp & Paper Workers; the union is negotiating over a new health care plan. Credit Leah Nash for The New York Times