Washington,
Aug 5, 2009 -
As the Obama Administration continues to push its health care plan, the
federal government is already denying promised health care benefits to
50,000 Ohio workers, many of whom live in the Miami Valley. Today, many
General Motors employees and their families are wondering what happened
to their hard-earned health benefits.
Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a $1 trillion
government health care bill even as many in Congress were calling for
more time to review the details and to weigh the potential impact.
While the government health care bill, also known as the “America's
Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” will not come up for a vote in
the full House until September, one decision has already been made.
Thousands of area auto workers, who were once promised their health
care benefits, will get no help.
General Motors, which is now owned by the federal government, has been
forced by the Administration to institute cuts to satisfy its plan for
the company’s emergence from bankruptcy. Part of that plan is to take
away practically all health insurance coverage for almost 50,000 GM
retirees and dependents represented by IUE-CWA and other non-UAW union
workers.
In June, I signed a letter with other Republican and Democrat members
of the Ohio congressional delegation to Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner asking him to present the same benefits to IUE-CWA workers as
other GM workers. In July, my colleagues and I also wrote a letter to
President Obama calling on him to provide fair and equitable treatment
to these 50,000 Ohio workers. As was noted in our letter to the
President, the federal government is the driving force behind the loss
of benefits.
I personally spoke with GM president Fritz Henderson by phone on July
23 encouraging him to honor his company’s commitments to IUE-CWA
retirees. To date, the Administration has not given Ohio workers any
indication of how they plan to protect their much-deserved health care
benefits. In fact, GM is reportedly seeking billions more in government
funding while IUE-CWA retirees get nothing but silence from the
Administration and GM.
Last week, in the midst of the House Floor debate about national health
care, I called for equitable treatment of the IUE-CWA workers:
“Mr. Speaker, my father retired from General Motors after over 40
years. When General Motors closed their assembly plant in Moraine,
Ohio, thousands of lifelong GM employees lost their jobs. Now, due to
the Obama administration's negotiated bankruptcy, the retirees are at
risk of losing their health care benefits. Isn't it ironic that as this
House tries to rush through a misguided health care bill, the Federal
Government has denied IUE-CWA workers in my community their promised
health care benefits?”
With the Federal Government now owning over 60 percent of General
Motors, it's time to honor the promises that were given to these
workers, including my father.
I have joined my Ohio colleagues in asking President Obama to not
discriminate between UAW and non-UAW retirees in protecting their
health care benefits. I have also talked to the President of GM last
week, asking for fair treatment of these employees. Now it's reported
that GM will apply for more than $10 billion in additional government
funding.
If President Obama is serious about health care, he should start by
protecting the GM workers who are losing their benefits in this
administration's acquisition of General Motors.”
