REVEALED! UNION HEALTH PLANS MAY GO BROKE WITHOUT NATIONALIZED HEALTH CARE

If one ever wondered why all of the unions are 'astro-turfing' for nationalization of America's health care, the answer is as simple as this: Many unions (especially the United Auto Workers) have negotiated plans that are too rich and too unsustainable, and they want America to pick up the tab.

If there is any doubt, then one should read the article 'Without Aid, Union Health Plans Face Failure' by Gannett News Service coming out this morning:

The health care debate roiling the nation promises an even greater impact in Michigan: It could determine whether the UAW’s gamble that it can insure 850,000 retirees from Detroit’s automakers pays off or goes bust.

Thanks to Detroit’s twin auto bankruptcies and other concessions, the UAW’s voluntary employee benefit association, or VEBA, had to take stock of unknown value for $24 billion in claims, while adding thousands of early retirees to its rolls.

Outside experts estimate the funds have about 30 cents in cash for every dollar of future claims, with no guarantee of what its stock assets will be worth. Lance Wallach, a New York-based VEBA expert, said if the funds “don’t get something, they’re out of business in 12 years.”

That something may be national health care reform.

We blogged about the Hidden Union Bailout in the Health Care Bill on Friday and asked the question:

Did the United Auto Workers know when they negotiated concessions on their VEBA in exchange for ownership in General Motors and Chrysler that the their friends in Congress and the Obama Administration would make it up to them with the health care bill?

The answer may be in Gannett's article.

VEBA-expert Wallach states: “I really think” the UAW “were gambling there would be some health care nationalization.”

The question posed again: Did the UAW know (through inside sources) that their friends in Washington would throw them a second bailout in the health care bill when they negotiated for GM and Chrylser stocks?

Thus, as the saying goes: Follow the money. Especially if one wonder's why the unions are clamoring for nationalized health care wth such fervor.

Read the entire Gannett article here.