AFT MEMBERS WILL WORK TO PROTECT AND SECURE AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

WHEREAS, access to affordable healthcare is critical to every individual’s quality of life; and

WHEREAS, any healthcare system must at a minimum provide a safety net of basic care for every person in every community regardless of race, socio-economic status, gender or sexual identity; and

WHEREAS, while clearly not perfect, the current federal healthcare framework of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid has provided millions of people with access to healthcare and the ability to get their most basic health needs met; and

WHEREAS, American Federation of Teachers members believe that access to affordable healthcare must be maintained—that it is a key economic and humanistic issue of our time, and that the cost of healthcare should never prevent people from receiving the care they need; and

WHEREAS, because affordable healthcare is critical to the economic stability of all families and our nation as a whole, the AFT has consistently supported a system of coverage—be that the ACA or a public, single-payer option—that is accessible and reliable for all Americans in the same way that Medicare is for seniors; and

WHEREAS, President-elect Donald Trump and his Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price have pledged to repeal the ACA and to end Medicare as we know it—pledges that put seniors at risk and threaten all Americans’ healthcare security; and

WHEREAS, this approach to healthcare would destabilize the financial structure of our healthcare system, leave up to 30 million Americans without affordable access to care, increase costs to older Americans and once again leave people with pre-existing conditions without adequate coverage; and

WHEREAS, the healthcare policies supported by Trump and Price pose an existential threat to Americans’ ability to receive the care that is essential to achieving a meaningful and secure life in 21st-century America:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers and its affiliates call for improving—not destabilizing and destroying—our healthcare safety net, including protecting and improving Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT and its affiliates will continue to work to secure a healthcare system that puts patients before profits and recognizes every single person’s right to access quality, affordable healthcare; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT opposes the nomination of Tom Price to become secretary of Health and Human Services; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will educate and mobilize its members and our broader community to support access to affordable, quality healthcare and to defeat the Price nomination.