Roofers Union Backtracks on Obamacare; Now Wants Repeal or Reform
Despite initially backing President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obamacare, which passed in 2010, the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers has reportedly become the first among unions that supported the law to call for its repeal.
In a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday, Kinsey Robinson, international president of the union which represents some 22,000 commercial and industrial roofers, said some of its members were now in danger of losing their insurance coverage due to the increased costs of insuring individuals under the law.
"After the law was passed, I had great hope…that maybe the rough spots would be worked out and we'd have a great law," Kinsey said in the report.
But more than two years later, based on his conversations with employers, notes Robinson, these "rough spots" have not been worked out and they had been grumbling about the problem for months.
The union's current insurance plan has a $2 million lifetime medical bill payout limit for active members and caps that amount at $50,000 for retirees.
In 2014 however, those caps will have to be removed under Obamacare. The retiree plan is also expected to be more generous in order to provide minimum essential coverage leading to increasing costs, noted Robinson. The union is now contemplating eliminating the retiree plan....
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