In a challenging session, Local 1991 won on pensions and elections reform, held the line on funding for Jackson, beat back trauma deregulation and pushed for Medicaid expansion. There’s still work to do, including calling for a special session to expand healthcare to 1.2 million Floridians.
Jackson Health System nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals welcomed the news that Miami civic activist Irene Lipof has been appointed to the Jackson Health System Financial Recovery Board. Lipof was named by the AFL-CIO, which has the right to designate one …
The Miami Herald Posted on Mon, Apr. 15, 2013 Medicaid expansion saves lives, money BY MARTHA BAKER martha@seiu1991.org The Medicaid expansion debate raging in Tallahassee can seem pretty abstract at times, as lawmakers consider whether and how to move …
Call your state legislator right now at (866) 443-1844 and tell them to support Medicaid expansion. Take a stand for our patients, our hospital and the community. Tell them to take the money and save lives!
The sausage-making business continues apace in our state’s Capitol. This week, the Legislature moved closer to doing…something…about expanding healthcare to its citizens. Unfortunately, most of it was just wrong. State Rep. Richard Corcoran unveiled a much-anticipated proposal he dubbed “Florida Health Choices Plus”, which turned out to be severely lacking in health, choice, or any significant plus to Florida’s citizens, taxpayers, or the state budget.
The Medicaid expansion debate raging in Tallahassee can seem pretty abstract at times, as lawmakers consider whether and how to move billions of federal dollars to help millions of people access quality healthcare in communities across Florida. But here’s a fact that isn’t abstract at all — Medicaid expansion could mean $35 million extra dollars flowing to Jackson Health System every year.
This week, we tracked several pieces of important legislation moving fast through Tallahassee. Closer to home, Local 1991 members were active in speaking out about healthcare expansion and safe staffing, and helped Jackson North get approval for a helipad needed in order to build a Level II trauma center there.
If Congressman Paul Ryan could talk to patients like the young man Denise Glass, RN, saw last week in the Jackson emergency room living with a large, painful testicular mass he couldn’t afford to get treated, he might reconsider his disastrous budget plan. “Everybody told me I need to go the hospital but I don’t have any money,” the patient told his nurses. “I got my wife and kids and I work, but you know I just don’t have more money for the hospital. Can you just do something so I can go to work?”
The North Miami Beach City Council approved a helipad for Jackson North on March 19, thanks in part to the the large crowd of supporters that included the healthcare professionals of JHS. Local 1991 president Martha Baker, RN, was in attendance with a contingent from Jackson North and many others.
Tallahassee continues to debate important issues such as healthcare, pensions and voting rights. Read on for summaries of the issues that affect us.
The good news about Jackson Health System is that it’s begun to turn around its finances. The bad news is that all the easy fixes have been done and won’t be enough in the long run unless the public hospital can find a way to deal with declining admissions, a treacherous healthcare climate in Tallahassee, and a challenging local political and business environment. And that’s before we even talk about worrying trends in the indigent care that is a core public hospital mission.
As a union, part of our job is to hold the feet of management to the fire on issues related to quality of care. But we never lose sight of the fact that we must also protect Jackson from external politics that can make that job of providing quality care much harder. For that reason, we have been supporting JHS in its bid to protect Ryder from changes in the trauma landscape that could adversely affect its public mission to provide world-class trauma care to the entire community.
On Feb. 11, SEIU Local 1991 president Martha Baker, RN, and board member Maggie Pena, a social worker, traveled to Tallahassee to testify about the necessity of Medicaid expansion to Jackson Health System.
Jackson Health System nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals welcomed the news that former state representative and county commissioner Larry Hawkins has been nominated to the Jackson Health System Financial Recovery Board.
SEIU Local 1991 president Martha Baker, RN, and JHS president and CEO Carlos Migoya issued a joint statement in support of Ryder Trauma Center. “Protecting the public’s investment by preserving our legal rights to expand Ryder’s trauma system in an era of competition is the right thing to do.”
The Florida Supreme Court just upheld the three-percent income tax levied on public employees in the state. In a 4-3 decision, the justices overturned a circuit court ruling that said the Florida Legislature overstepped its authority by ignoring the Florida Constitution in taking three percent from the paychecks of Florida’s teachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters, nurses and other public employees.
Today, the US Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act as fully constitutional, including expansion of care to 32 million Americans, a range of consumer protections from insurance company abuses, the creation of competitive marketplaces in states for individuals to purchase lower cost insurance, and quality of care improvements.
On Monday and Tuesday, SEIU Local 1991 representatives joined with other labor unions in the rigorous screening process for candidates that are running for Miami-Dade County Commission and Florida House of Representatives candidates for District 113. Members Denise Glass, R.N. …
