The Devil is in the Details: Buyer’s Remorse over Obamacare, Except for SEIU?

It appears many of the Big Labor bosses are beginning to have buyer’s remorse! Based on reactions to the cost of regulations being exposed as Obamacare becomes a reality, many of the unions are demanding government subsidies to remain competitive at a time when membership is at a historical low. Only 11.3% of the total workforce and 6.3% of the private sector work force are unionized! Apparently most Big Labor bosses forgot the basic fundamental premise “Caveat Empetor” – meaning let the buyer beware – when supporting the President’s re-election campaign and backing his signature law Obamacare (see Some Unions Grow Wary of Health Law They Backed). Evidently those astute business people bought in to Nancy Pelosi’s famous quote “We must pass the bill so we can find out what’s in it!” Well, that is true for most Big Labor bosses, except for those at the SEIU.

Ironically, the SEIU was the President’s major supporter for the Democratic Presidential Nomination in 2008. In fact, Andy Stern, then president of the SEIU, made it very clear that the SEIU would not support any candidate that would not make universal health care its primary objective during the first term of office. Then Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama leapt on board, knowing full well he not only needed the financial support of the largest union in the country, but also its vaunted ground game! Although his campaign was supported by the other unions, all of which also supported universal health care, the devil is in the details and when the SEIU saw an opportunity, they took it.

The difference between the SEIU and the other major players now wary of Obamacare, unions such as the Teamsters, AFL-CIO, Unite Here, The Sheet Metal Workers International, International Union of Operating Engineers and others, is that the SEIU represents a majority of unionized workers in the U.S. health care industry! The SEIU not only represents nurses, orderlies and other medical personnel at healthcare facilities, but also other important and necessary support positions at these facilities such as janitors, security personnel and food service workers! Additionally, the SEIU represents home health care workers and health insurance employees in many states (see Is Obamacare Redistributing Wealth to Big Labor?).

Universal health care was envisioned as a veritable jackpot by the SEIU as they envisioned the positions mentioned previously would expand exponentially with the projected 30 million new Americans on health care!! This would serve as a means to substantially increase the SEIU’s membership and subsequent revenues from dues in a relatively short period of time. Of course this bonanza also meant increased political donations and ground game foot soldiers for the President and the Democratic Party. Everyone thought the President was only pushing for Obamacare because he believed in “social justice” and cared about the millions of people who supposedly had no access to health care, but as many of the Big Labor bosses are now realizing, the “narcissist-in-chief” only cares about one person, himself!

Incidentally, it is common knowledge that very rarely were people turned down care at emergency facilities and that Medicaid was already available for those in need, obviously one of the major reasons Medicaid was insolvent. Don’t misunderstand; it is important that affordable health care be available to all legal Americans who wish to be covered. However, available coverage for all could have been achieved through allowing freedom of choice, and not a mandate. As for affordability, we could have accomplished this feat by removing barriers to the free market, utilizing ideas to eliminate restrictions on competition across state lines, develop legislation for tort reform and produce meaningful modifications to the immigration laws. Unfortunately, this common sense type approach does not work for the President, liberal democrats or unions like the SEIU, who all depend upon each other for survival. America can only hope the uninformed electorate wakes up to see that the President and his liberal supporters will run over their own supporters (i.e. union members) and will continue to run over the American people until they achieve their ultimate goal of totalitarianism.

Don’t be surprised if the President and his Administration don’t reverse field in an attempt to find a way to placate the currently disenfranchised Big Labor bosses. After all, it is imperative that they keep the circular money pump in motion in order to stay in power and avoid extinction, no matter the expense to the American people, including rank and file union members. Maybe Americans will begin to feel a similar sense of buyer’s remorse and wake up to the fact this President, with his eloquent prose, will promise people what they want to obtain their vote and the next minute run over them with a steamroller. He and his major supporters like the SEIU have no ethics or integrity and only care about their socialistic agenda and ultimate survival. America, before you go to the polls next time, “Caveat Empetor!”