Website Legislative Update – April 2010
Health Care Reform
With all the media hype in recent weeks, I’m guessing
everyone knows by now the health care reform initiative passed in the House on
March 21 by a 219-212 vote, and was signed into law by President Obama on March
23. The $940 billion plan is projected to extend health insurance to roughly 32
million additional Americans. I’m still as confused as the next person about
exactly what is in this bill and what it means for us as BLET members and our
families. The following was put out by the Communication Workers of America on
What Does Health Care Reform Do
For Me? And When?
1. Children can continue to be covered by their parents' health insurance until
their 26th birthday, instead of being forced off the plan by age 19. When? IN
SIX MONTHS.
2. Insurance companies cannot exclude children under age 19 from health care
coverage because of pre-existing conditions. When? IN SIX MONTHS.
3. Insurance companies cannot charge higher rates for women, whether they're
covered by an employer's plan or have individual coverage.
When? IN SIX MONTHS.
4. Adults who can't get insurance because of a preexisting condition can buy
into a national pool until the exchanges start operating in 2014. When? IN 90
DAYS.
5. Insurance companies can't cancel your policy because you get sick. When? IN
SIX MONTHS.
6. Insurance companies can't put a lifetime limit on your medical coverage.
When? IN SIX MONTHS.
7. Retired workers who have hit the Medicare "donut hole," the gap in
benefits that hurts millions of seniors, will receive a $250 rebate. When? THIS YEAR.
8. "Donut hole" completely gone in 2016.
Republicans and social conservatives are vowing to try to
repeal the law or have it declared unconstitutional and senior republicans in
Congress have warned that voters will judge Democrats harshly in the mid-term
elections in November. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) stated that the
Democratic-passed bill has killed any chance of bipartisan support on legislation
for the rest of the year.
To find out more about what the bill means for you, go to
the White House website, Putting Americans in Control of Their Health Care at http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform.
Personality
Tests for Amtrak Employees in
Fallout from the 2008 Chatsworth crash continues. Following
the recent decision by Connex Railroad LLC (Metrolink's
current operator) to not seek an extension of its contract, Metrolink and
Amtrak announced last week that they had implemented a final contract for
Amtrak to operate Metrolink trains on all seven lines of the commuter rail
agency beginning June 26. Under the
current plans of that contract, existing Metrolink conductors and engineers will
be considered new hires to Amtrak and will be required to take the Applicant
Personality Inventory and Hogan Personality Inventory. According to Amtrak, the
test is designed to determine candidate attitudes toward theft, drug use, and
treatment of customers under a variety of work-based conditions. California
State Legislative Board Chairman Tim Smith stated that he believes these tests
can be used to entrap anybody into saying something the carrier may construe as
the wrong answer. He believes that this is a “witch hunt, and an opportunity
for the carrier to weed out certain individuals.”
Railroad Retirement
High Speed Rail
From the looks of it, China,
rather than the United States, will benefit the most from the development and
building of high speed rail in America, and in particular the San Francisco to
Los Angeles high speed corridor. The New York Times published an article on
Mr. Cameron makes a very good point
in his statement, “We have an opportunity to return this kind of production
capability to this country, which could be undertaken by our ailing auto and
aircraft companies, strategic industries to our National security. Additionally, we could increase our steel
production capabilities in this country, long ago ceded to other countries, for
the manufacturing of the rails for the high speed train system.”