Latest / The Health Care for All Podcast / EP10: Workers Rally for Universal Health Care
Transcript
- Todd Farris: Union members, come to our rally this November 14th at the Portland's World Trade Center and help us send our legislators a message. Oregon workers demand a universal health care ballot measure in 2028. Learn more and sign up at hcao.org/slash events. Collin Stackhouse: Welcome to the Health Care for All Podcast. My name is Colin Stackhouse. Oregon is on track to be the first state to transition to a universal single payer system for every resident of the state. And it's pretty exciting news, and we decided to start a podcast about the whole thing. This is hosted by Health Care for All Oregon, H C A O.org. We're a 501c3 nonprofit focused on universal healthcare reform around the country, but specifically we think it's gotta start right here in Oregon. I'm joined today by two of our amazing Portland area volunteers, Kimber Sieffert and Todd Ferris. the main coordinators of the upcoming workers' rally for universal healthcare, which is gonna be in downtown Portland on the fourteenth of November. I'd really love to have you guys introduce yourselves. So, Todd, go ahead. Todd Farris: Sure. Yeah, my name's Todd Ferris, and I'm a school teacher. I am part of a union, the Oregon Educator Association. And I've been volunteering with HCAO for almost two years. And it's because I totally believe in universal health care. I was a Bernie Sanders fan for many, many years. And I'm just so excited that Oregon is so far along and we're really close to doing this. And it's super exciting, and I'm super excited to be here. Kimber Sieffert: Hi, my name is Kimber Seiffert and I have been with Health Care for All Oregon now for about a year and a half, maybe a little more, something like that. And the reason why I became a part of Health Care for All Oregon is because I am a social worker. I work with people who are houseless or on the verge of becoming houseless, get into alcohol and drug treatment, and having insurance is extremely essential for them. because of the need to get in the treatment centers and the need for mental health. and I'm also a part of this because I have children and grandchildren and I want to be able to benefit from having the universal health care that Oregon is on the verge of making happen very, very soon. And we're very excited about it. Collin Stackhouse: I also like to say the phrase that we're on the verge and we're on the verge, meaning we're two years, oop, maybe four years, oop, maybe six years away, but we are the closest state, the most likely state, and those two years are gonna go by really quickly as we prepare for this likely vote, in about two years in November twenty twenty eight. In Kimber's background we can see some of the unions that have signed on for this workers' rally. So they'll be participating and with us in pre preparation for this November fourteenth event. Kimber, you are a member of AFSME one seven nine zero, is that correct? Okay. Okay. Kimber Sieffert: Nope, AFSME Local eighty eight. Collin Stackhouse: Tell me how Kimber Sieffert: I'm a member and steward Collin Stackhouse: what is Kimber Sieffert: of AFSME Collin Stackhouse: a s Kimber Sieffert: Local eighty eight. Collin Stackhouse: can you tell me and our listeners what a steward of that union does? Kimber Sieffert: Well, as a steward, I will help employees that are dealing with different things within the job that they may need assistance. Like I I helped with layoffs that happened earlier this year. I supported my members of AFSME Local eighty eight in getting through those layoffs and and I will also help members who are going through issues within their workplace. and needing someone to attend meetings with them and support them, or give them information in regards to what their rights are in regards to, you know, working at the county. Collin Stackhouse: Kimber, you're an employee of Multnomah County, which is the county that Portland is in, is that right? Kimber Sieffert: Yes, I'm a clinical services specialist with Multnomah County, working with the Multnomah County Path PATH team, promoting Access to Hope I've worked in a few different positions, but right now that's where I am. Collin Stackhouse: So both of you are part of our labor caucus, I would say. There's another leader, Lou Sinniger is down in Eugene, Oregon, and he's not able to join us today, but he's another labor sort of a gel and a connector between this concept of universal healthcare and what the different unions need and their concerns. Kimber, can you remind me, did your local union sign on a resolution supporting this effort of universal healthcare in Oregon? Or can you speak to maybe the conversations that you've had within your union leadership about this effort in Oregon. Kimber Sieffert: Well, I mean they they support APSME Local eighty eight has been supporting universal health care, well Health Care for All Oregon now for I I was looking at the list and it looks like back in twenty fifteen is when they started supporting. And that is something they they call themselves a supporter and an endorser of Healthcare for All Oregon and universal health care. And I'm in the process of actually talking to AFSME Council seventy five, which kinda oversees all the AFSME unions about the same type of thing. Collin Stackhouse: Okay. And on our webpage, if listeners are curious or they're a union member and want to see if their union has in the past signed on as an endorser or a supporter of Health Care for All Oregon, you can find that information at hcao.org slash who we are or you can figure it out from the drop down menu. But we've got a list of other unions, businesses and organizations around the state who have signed on as endorsers of this concept of a universal healthcare reform in the state of Oregon. Todd, you are a member of, I believe, both OEA and B E A, is that correct? Todd Farris: Yeah, so BEA is just the local and OEA is the state. So just like ASME has their local unions and then they have their overarching union. That's this we're the same thing. BEA stands for Beaverton Educator Association and OEA stands for the Oregon Educator Association. And I'm a member of both. I am a similar to Kimber, I am not a steward. We don't have stewards, we have building reps, so I represent the building I'm in. I am also the chair of the Universal Healthcare Task Force for my local, and was recently told, although not officially nominated by the president of OEA, that I am the chair of the Universal Healthcare Task Force for. OEA. And I want to talk to unions for a second because I helped to get this task force established by introducing at our annual meeting. I introduced what's called an NBI. This is how our union works. It's a new business item, and the new business item was a proposal to create the task force. And then that allows us to operate officially within our union. So I am the chair of the Universal Healthcare Task Force for OEA, and that means that I can speak. on behalf of the OEA in the context of Universal Healthcare. With that, NBI also included an endorsement of this rally. So it was written in the NBI that OEA would endorse this rally and and I was there at the annual meeting and you know watched probably eighty five percent of our members at least supported it. And so it's it's very popular amongst OEA Universal Healthcare and the idea of doing this rally and partnering with other unions. So I'm super excited to be able to help to humbly represent that. Collin Stackhouse: Nice. I and you don't have to be too humble. Todd Farris: Yeah. Collin Stackhouse: I think it's pretty clever to include an endorsement of this event that's your passion project in this NBI, this new new business item. so well done. You've been scheming on this upcoming workers' rally for a couple of months, is that right? Todd Farris: Well, we really talked about it over a year ago at the last garden party of last year. And we talked about it and we've been scheming on it. We were gonna do it October seventeenth and then and we were partnering with some people from fifty fifty one, an or a group that organizes the rallies just to understand how to do rallies and marches and some of those people who were helping us organize our fifty fifty one people and then National Fifty Fifty One decided to do their event on the same day as our event. But since we'd already done a lot of the legwork, they're like, hey, why don't we just use your logistics a little bit and we'll partner in this? So we were super excited to be part of the No Kings on October 17th. And then we just had to reshuffle our schedule a little bit and push our event back to November 14th. So this is sort of the follow-up. But they're both great events. We had great turnout then and we're super excited to have turnout here. The difference between this event and No Kings is that this event's purpose is for you. Unions and workers to come together to stand shoulder to shoulder, wearing all of our union colors, and saying, while we as individual unions have our own different things that are important to us on this one thing, we all agree we want universal health care in Oregon. We want this bill to be finished and the legislators to send it to the ballot for 2028. And so we're all gonna come here, we're gonna tell our government. we're gonna tell our government liaisons like we want you to work on it and we want you to talk to our legislators, and we're gonna tell our legislators hey, legislators, look at us. We're standing here shoulder to shoulder, all these different unions with all these different needs, all these different backgrounds. We are standing here together, united. I like another idea for the rally was unions united for universal health care. And I think that that is in part what we're gonna do. We're gonna be united in our ask. And so we're stoked to do it. And as you can see behind Kimber there, there's a couple of the unions. That's just half of them. We've added more and we can't fit them all on the screen. So it's exciting. Collin Stackhouse: I'm actually able to see our larger flyer that lists the rest of the unions that aren't visible in Kimber's background, and that includes the Federal Unionists Network, Fun PDX. we have the working families party, which is not a union, but they support unions, AFT Oregon, ONA, the Oregon Nurses Association. Huge, Todd Farris: O N A and AFT, those are big ones. Yeah, O and A is huge. Collin Stackhouse: so w the three of us were plugged in. We want universal health care to happen. We've been watching the development of the Universal Health Plan Governance Board. We've seen them do their legislatively prescribed obligation for their outreach, which in the bill that created the board, which was Senate Bill 1089 back in 2023, it did not outline that unions like had to have a focus group, but we've seen with enough griping from member members of our organization and other union members like you too, that the Todd Farris: Yes. Collin Stackhouse: governance board sort of took that to heart and did have a few dedicated outreach to unions, even if it wasn't part of the law that created the board. and we've heard time and again that like the union support is in a lot of ways gonna make or break this issue. Like if enough unions come to the understanding in a in agreement with us that universal health care would benefit workers. And I've I haven't been in a union for a long time, but I was in a union and a lot of those negotiations are about healthcare benefits. But if the healthcare benefits are good, the same quality benefits that our current state employees, our elected officials have, the PEBB benefits, if that same tier of healthcare access and and quality is given to every single worker in the state, then unions can start to negotiate for better working conditions and better wages. And have this healthcare sort of lord it over you and the threat of the removal of healthcare or of the lack of access to healthcare not be a part of these negotiations going forward for all unions. Did I summarize that Todd Farris: Right. You did and I want to point out two Two different pieces. One Kimber Sieffert: Pretty pretty s Todd Farris: is that when we're in negotiations, we're often saying, are we going to bump up our healthcare contributions or are we going to bump up salaries? And that is a regular conversation. So if we take that out of the picture, then all we've got is, you know, working conditions and salaries, which puts us in a stronger position. But also, there was a number of unions, a couple of unions in Oregon in the past year that were striking. And their employers threatened to remove their health benefits to stop allowing them to be covered. And That ended the strike because that threat was too much, people couldn't handle it. So it would remove that threat away so that unions enforcing their power couldn't be sort of bullied into ending their strike because of threats of losing their health care. that's a really another another really important piece. Kimber Sieffert: so as Todd was saying, you know, it gives unions the power to to bargain because for many years, every year after year, healthcare prices continue to rise. And so that's something that the unions have to focus on when it comes to making sure all of the members are receiving the the best, you know, benefits as possible from their employer and and from the union. But What's gonna happen is if we don't have the health care in the way, that's gonna give them the opportunity to be able to bargain wages and and bring employees' wages up. So that's gonna be a huge benefit for for our unions and for their our members. Todd Farris: And now want to say one more thing that's really important that unions oftentimes don't understand. so some unions, their employer makes a contribution. Like for teachers, our employers make a contribution to our health insurance. And for many, many teachers, it is around $20,000 a year, which is just insane how much it is, but that's true. And under the new finance plans, there's a variety of them. But it's really a substantial portion of our salary. And so under the new finance structure, K-12 education stands to save hundreds of millions of dollars because like it's 20 to 30 percent of our salaries are going towards health coverage, and under the new plan it would be a lot less. So that is really exciting for teachers. And I say to my colleagues, like, how about we bring a half a billion to a billion more dollars to K-12 education and have universal health care? That's amazing. The other thing I want to say is there are many unions that get their insurance from a trust. And so you'll hear some union workers saying, I don't this is gonna be bad for me because I don't pay anything for insurance, and now it's gonna cost me something. Well, you do pay. It's just that your employer pays on your behalf into a trust. And I was speaking at a union just, I don't know, a month ago, and people people said exactly that, well, we don't pay, we just pay a little bit, we don't pay very much at all. And then I talked to one of their leaders and they're like no, the actually our employers contribute again twenty-one thousand dollars a year on our behalf. And so we know the total cost would be much less. So for those unions that say this will cost us more, you're wrong. it's gonna cost all you if you have really good health insurance, then it's gonna cost you less because really good health insurance is really expensive. And when we spread the costs more equitably across the the state, we know we're gonna make a bunch of savings, and that savings will redound to all of us. so unions union members listen up. And if you don't believe me, reach out to me or come to one of our sessions and we'll explain to you why and how this works. Or better yet, invite us to your union and we'll come do a presentation and we'll look at your specific numbers and your specific situation and talk to you about how that would be impacted by the current finance plans. Now the final plan is not out there but they're all you know starting to fall into a ballpark area. And so we can we have some ballpark estimates of what this costs are gonna be and how much people are gonna pay and we can talk about that. Kimber Sieffert: So I want to share on a personal level in regards to that. And so in in my job, I get what you would call the gold standard type of insurance, you know, because I am a county employee. However, even with that gold standard of insurance, I have pretty high deductibles and out of pockets that I have to pay and you know, for medications and such like that, that I have at times reached that two thousand dollars. In fact, next year I'm gonna be having surgery and I will be reaching that two thousand dollars as well. So the thing is is that with having universal health care, that would take away the deductibles and the copayments, the out of pockets, and that would actually lower how much I'm spending, even if you know, within my taxes or whatever that I have, money coming out to pay for universal health care, I'm still gonna be paying less because I will not have those out of pockets and I will not have those deductibles. So to me, it makes more sense than ever to make sure that we bring universal health care in for everyone, including all of the places that are unionized. I think it's gonna be helpful to all employees. Collin Stackhouse: Kimber, can you speak to any of the activities that are going to be happening at the November fourteenth rally? Kimber Sieffert: Any of the activities. Well, we're going to be we're talking right now about who we want to come speak and I know that we've been talking about bringing some union leaders in to be able to speak to the crowd, which I think will be wonderful. And we also have and I'm gonna r refer to Todd a little bit. What what is that I'm trying to remember Pat P A T, is that right or am I wrong? Todd Farris: Portland Asso Portland Association of Teachers, Mm-hmm. Kimber Sieffert: Yes, that will be marching. before the rally and their march is going to end in the downtown area and the plan my understanding is the plan is they're gonna be coming over to the rally after that. So they'll be joining us as well. Todd Farris: Well, I think what's exciting is that there are many active groups and people who there's a lot going on right now and there's a lot to advocate for. but when we talk to them it's like, yeah, yeah, we want healthcare too. Like everybody wants health care for all too, even if it's that not their number one thing, it's oftentimes their number two thing, or at least they like want to help. And so we've got the Portland Association of Teachers right now going through, you know, this school closures because of you know, I don't know all the politics there, but lower right the right Collin Stackhouse: The right s the right sizing. Yeah. Todd Farris: sizing, yeah, which will lead to n number of schools being closed and so there's a whole that whole Community is up in arms about that. And yet still some of us have to hold this steady view, recognizing that implementing universal health care will be transformational for all Oregonians. And we know that it will be the first domino of many to fall because we know there are many states who are watching Oregon like a hawk waiting. this isn't just, this is just a bigger fight because we know if we can pass this in Oregon. The Fed is we're not able to do it at the federal level right now. We can't make it happen. So you and me, you know, me and Colin and Kimber and our friends and you out there who are listening, we can be responsible for turning Oregon over. And once we push our domino down, we know that the United States will change. And mark my words will go down in the history books, as Oregon being the first state in the nation to change the entire country. So come Collin Stackhouse: Yeah. Todd Farris: get in, be a part of this. Kimber Sieffert: Yeah, Oregon has been the first in a lot of different things. Todd Farris: Yeah. Kimber Sieffert: And and I think we're gonna be the first in this one too. This is gonna be huge. Absolutely Todd Farris: We are. Kimber Sieffert: huge because the entire nation right now, that is a talking point. Universal health care, or Medicare for all, which is pretty similar, is a talking point. It's something that people are realizing we need. We've got these HR one cuts that have occurred and are going to be actually worse in January. And we're gonna be looking at hospitals and clinics that are gonna be closing down, especially in rural areas. And I think that a lot of people that maybe aren't fully on board right now are going to be once they realize, you know, how hard it's gonna be hitting them and how difficult it's gonna be for them to be able to get health care and having to travel to to get health care in the rural communities, people being dropped from their health care. My clients are going to be struggling. Collin Stackhouse: Right. Kimber Sieffert: because, there's so many different things that they're adding on to that to make it difficult for people to be able to have health care. And people without having the ability to be able to take care of not only their health but their mental health. And that's something that because I work in behavioral health, that's something that is very important to me is to ensure that people are able to get their medications, the psychotropic medications that are necessary for them to be able to survive whether they're on the streets or, living in their own home, they need to have that medication to be able to function in their daily lives. Collin Stackhouse: I wanna talk about one thing which like I said, the three of us are plugged in. We are fully committed to this as being a the better idea for Oregon, a better pathway for workers and just residents of Oregon in general. And so I taught a while ago, maybe ten minutes ago, you're Shouting certainly gonna save money. And then a few breaths later, you reveal to the you know the reality at this time of recording, which is Friday, October 23rd, that the draft plan from the Universal Health Plan Governance Board has not been submitted entirely. There is a draft available right now that you can look at if you're curious. Everything that the board has done, so not Healthcare for All Oregon, we're a advocacy group, we're a nonprofit. We are not the members of this government board that are working on this project. You can find The draft plans and the eventual real plan, which will be delivered on December 1st at Oregon.gov slash UHPGB. Todd mentioned that there are about five financial plans that will be included in this draft and of and this eventual plan. And so we can't have the calculator that we all desire. There's been discussions from the governance board about ways that it'd be so great if a union member from AFSME eighty eight could type in what their the current scenario with how their employer is contributing and how the union's contributing, how they are personally contributing to their healthcare plan, and compare it easily to what this new plan is. And at this time, and likely on December 1st, that's not going to exist. What we all want Is some sort of calculator later where we can shift between those five potential funding plans. people in Oregon can make that comparison on their own, and then we can advocate for what we think is the best choice to our legislators who will be building this bill in the 2027 session. So at this exact second, it's not easy for you to see as a user, as just a person, that this potential universal healthcare plan will save money. But we know that our current system is the most expensive system on the planet. We know that universal healthcare saves lives and saves money everywhere else Todd, do you have any more words to assuage any fears or people who are yet yet Kimber Sieffert: Mm-hmm. Todd Farris: Yeah, Collin Stackhouse: to be convinced by three talking heads on a on a podcast? Todd Farris: There's two Two things I'll add. One, I want to build on what Kimber was saying earlier about rural hospitals. rate normalization is a huge thing. So many, many rural hospitals are their majority or a big portion of their customers are Medicaid customers. And hospitals and doctors don't get as high of reimbursement rates. In other words, they get less money for the same procedure depending on the payer. And under this university, Universal plan there'll be one pair and you'll get the same rate, which is gonna be phenomenal for rural hospitals. if you're in a rural community and your hospitals close or they've threatened to close, if we pass universal health care, they're probably not gonna close. In fact, they'll probably open up because suddenly the customers that were paying them not enough are gonna pay them enough, and so there will be a demand there. So I wanna say that to people passing universal health health care will bolster rural hospitals. Primary care doctors have the same issue where they don't get high enough reimbursement rates. We think there'll be more primary care doctors. In other words, the whole thing where, you know, it's funny people say when you pass universal health care, you might have to wait in lines. Well how long does it take you to get a doc appointment now with a darn doctor when you're sick? You know, like I have good health care and I still have to wait forever. And so it would be great for our doctors to have you know one pair with one rate. They know what it is. It's a reasonable rate. don't have to do all this, limbo to figure out how to pay it and who's going to pay how much and beg the insurer to pay the right amount. No. It's just known and they get paid. Another good thing I want to say is now, don't just believe these three talking heads that the system work. Believe every other developed country in the world. Or you can believe this like obscure research institution called Yale, Kimber Sieffert: Yeah. Todd Farris: which recently released a report, which is fantastic, right? It's fantastic. It says, if we implement By universal healthcare in the United States, the United States will save one trillion dollars with a T. Yeah. Every year, a trillion dollars a year. It's an insane amount of money. A hundred and twelve thousand lives a year saved from this report, right? Let's just break that down for Oregon. What does that mean for Oregon? If we just did like a population proportion, that would be twelve billion dollars a year saved in Oregon. And 1,500 lives a year in Oregon. People who are not dead, who were gonna die but didn't die because they got health care, fifteen hundred. Every single year. And so $12 billion, like, well, what is that? Well, our schools are budgeted for every biennium. That means two years, right? We get a two-year budget. The current budget is eleven point four billion dollars. So if we implemented universal health care at a national scale, we would have Everything that we spend funding schools, which is our greatest expense as a state right now, our greatest individual expense. We would have that and more every year saved just because of implementing universal health care at the national level. Now I'm not saying we're gonna make that savings at Oregon because we're at a small scale. But could we get a quarter of that? A third of that? would three billion dollars be pretty sweet? Or four? Right? So there's just like so many reasons to to do this. And also there's a lot of people who are saying, no, it's not gonna save money, it's gonna be more expensive. Baloney. There's a ton I mean, if you look into it, the wealthy people, and it's like just becoming more and more painful and evident, you know, like huge, huge amounts like One and two Americans have more wealth than 50 to 60 percent of Americans. The wealth concentration is insane. They are expert at funneling money. And once we break into this and we get to a single payer and like we shine light on this, we're gonna find all these ways where money is being wasted on profits. And then the horrible thing is, you know, we have a really convoluted healthcare system, health insurance system that helps hide money. Collin Stackhouse: Mm-hmm. Todd Farris: And it waste a ton of money to help hide the profits. why do we need thousands of different plans. So you might Collin Stackhouse: Mm-hmm. Todd Farris: have Kaiser or Health or or Blue Cross or whatever you have. Within that, every group buys a different plan. So doctors have to literally negotiate thousands of plans. Who is this helping? It's just mind-bogglingly dumb that we add this complexity where it's not needed. We know how much things cost, we know a reasonable compensation, and we're gonna pay it, and all the savings will come back to us. And that is a beautiful thing. Who can't love that? Kimber Sieffert: So I I'd like to talk on a different end Todd Farris: yeah, go ahead. Kimber Sieffert: of that, if that's okay. Because Todd Farris: Sure. Yeah. Kimber Sieffert: what I'm thinking about as I'm listening to Todd's, I'm thinking about my clients. I'm thinking about the people who are on Medicaid, I'm thinking about the people who are already struggling, people who don't have money to be able to support themselves, people who don't have money right now to be able to f live in you know, in a home, be able to buy groceries, be able to take care of the essentials that they need. And those people will look at me though and say, Hey, so, you know, I do have at least Medicaid. I have care Oregon. I have Trillium. You know, different insurances like that. And those actually have been extremely helpful for my clients to be able to get, you know, even if they are not housed, they're able to get into a doctor They're able to take care of their medical needs. And as I said before, they're able to get in to see a therapist and get their psychotropic medications. And that also is helping them to get into treatments. It's helping them quite honestly to get into housing. Because to be honest with you, you're not gonna be able to access and and have housing without without universal health care. It just is what it is. Healthcare plays a role in so many aspects of our life that this is really essential. But even those people who are on Medicaid, they also have to really how shall I say it? They cannot choose what doctor they want to go to. They cannot choose what clinic they want to go to. they also have prior authorizations that they have to deal with. They have so many different issues that and barriers that stop them from being able to get the care that they need, whether it is medical or behavioral health. it's still very, very difficult for them to get that level of care that is essential for them. And with universal health care, that would be available to them. They would be able to go to any doctor they want to go to. They would be able to get referred to specialists. I mean that's something that is really difficult for them right now. So I see this as a huge win for people who are on Medicaid. Collin Stackhouse: It's the the tier that the governance board is pinning this potential plan to is the PEBB benefits I mentioned before, the Public Employee Benefit Board, which is the best. I call it as the best healthcare that the state of Oregon can buy, because it is. It is the best healthcare that they currently buy for our elected officials. so in your OEA, your teachers, Todd, would have this the highest tier in this potential, future where we finally have universal health care, the state based system. These teachers would have the best care that the state of Oregon can buy. And if there's a tragedy, if somebody's laid off That same person who was a teacher and with OEA could eventually become somebody that Multnomah County and Kimber and their team work with and they would have the same highest level of care that the state of Oregon could buy, whether they're working with their union or whether they're being supported by Multnomah County. and this is this is another thing we haven't mentioned yet, but all of your unions are negotiating on behalf of your entire union and getting those lower drug prescription costs, getting the best plan possible, but you're negotiating as a tiny, tiny fraction of the population of the state, just as your union. This potential universal healthcare plan would mean that we are negotiating for these lower prices, this more affordable system on behalf of the entire state of Oregon, which is how those other countries are able to have lower prices and lower prescription drug costs. Todd Farris: Exactly. this is why the AFL CIO exists, is because that was the unifier of unions, right? Collin Stackhouse: Hmm. Todd Farris: And so this is the purpose of this, is that it it's one thing if one union asks for something, you know, they can get a lot with with forty or thirty thousand members. But when five, six, seven, eight, ten unions ask with two hundred thousand members, it's a different ballgame. And when the state of Oregon says collectively, we're gonna buy drugs for our state, and you better give us a good price because we've got, a couple of million people Who are going to buy drugs, and so you can negotiate things down. I know that's going to be part of the plan. If it's not on the first piece, I know people are working on it right now. there are plenty of people who work 20, 30 years and are ready to retire, but they can't retire Kimber Sieffert: Mm-hmm. Todd Farris: because of health care, and it would be nice if you put in your time and you had everything else you needed if you could just retire when you needed to. Another thing is I have several friends. friends, two family members actually who are trying to start small businesses. And one of them, you know, he he can't quit his job because he needs the benefits. He's he's got a long-term disability issue. He still works, So he can't quit his job to start the small business. And another friend who who's got several kids and they tried for a year and it's like it's too much risk. risk. So one of them went back to work and they can't fully invest in that. In fact, you know, there's a study that says twenty-five million Americans are in a job they don't want just because of healthcare. So imagine how if we're talking about the pursuit of happiness, let's let people be happy. Let's let people do what they want to do. And let's let some amazing companies and businesses start, because there's entrepreneurs out there. I think it'll be a boom in Oregon. Because entrepreneurs will say, look, I want to start this business. I can't risk not having care. But I know if I do this business in Oregon, I can get it going. And then, of course, once they get going and they're big enough, then they start paying into it. these are the things that people don't think. About when we talk universe health care it's gonna transform Oregon's economy in all these ways. people retiring when they need to, people starting businesses when they want to. Insurance rates will change, disability rates will change because you don't have to cover medical things. So we should be able to negotiate lower car, you know, car insurance rates, which people may not think about. certainly our disability insurance rates should go down, and we should work on negotiating those to go down because they don't have to cover all the medical pieces. we're not like just talking about the cost of paying for this, we're talking about what other costs and finances are are impacted. This is going to be crazy good for Oregon. Kimber Sieffert: my union asked me local eighty eight. We had a membership meeting the other night. We had a record number of people who attended for different reasons, but there were about two hundred and thirty members that attended this virtual meeting. And it just happened to be the meeting that I proposed to that the union endorsed this workers' rally that we are working on right now. And I just wanna say that of all the at the time I think there's about two hundred and twenty five members present, there were two hundred and twenty four yeses. Only one person. And I have Todd Farris: Beautiful. Kimber Sieffert: no idea why that one person, but the majority, one hundred percent, said that they want to endorse the workers' rally. And then I've had several union members come to me afterwards and talk about their own personal stories and how much they really want to see Oregon bring universal health care and for them to be able to to have that level of insurance. I mean and and these are people who all work for the county and they want universal health care. So I I this is just extremely important for so many different people in our state. it doesn't matter where you are and it comes to income levels and you know, your employment or non employment, where whatever is going on for you in your life, this is going to be life changing for so many different people because it affects so many different things in your life as Todd had said. Not not just your healthcare, but your housing and and your car insurance and so many different aspects are gonna be affected. Todd Farris: That's great. And I want to build on what Kimber said too, because Kimber has been really working hard within Kimber's union to like make things move. And I've been working hard in OEA to to move this forward. And we've got other colleagues working in other unions, but we need help. Like we need Collin Stackhouse: Exactly. Todd Farris: more people. If you are a union member out there and you believe in this, we'll help you. I've got copies of resolutions. I've got copies of the NBI. We'll help you if you are willing to put a little bit of time and effort. We will help you get your union involved. There's plenty of unions that support this, yeah, yeah, we universal healthcare, yeah, we love that. But no, no. No, we need you to go get it. We need you to send your government relations people and those are your lobbyists to go to the legislators and say, hey, we want this and we'll help you finish writing it. Like now's the time to be involved too because you can look at the sausage make and you can say, let's I I you know this thing I I'd rather it be this way. You can get input now. let's get our government relations people involved and reach out to us. You can reach out to, we just got this activated, unions at hcao.org. And I get it and I'll share what we get. But that comes to me and Lou. Unions at hcao.org, easy to remember. And then we can we can connect you with whoever. So please reach out to us. Collin Stackhouse: And a another way for you to get connected with Todd and other statewide leaders is to attend the Healthcare for All Oregon Labor Caucus meeting, which I'm looking at the calendar. It looks like it's the second Wednesday of the month from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. You can find that on our events page at hcao.org slash events. So the upcoming dates are it looks like November eleventh and December 9th of 2026 from seven to eight. It's on Zoom. if you come as a representative or, you know, from any of the unions that are heretofore not connected, Todd and Lou would be happy to get you connected with everything you need to know to bring your bring your union on board. Todd Farris: Whoever. Yeah. Yeah, work work with you as a team. And then the final thing we need to say, we need to say the final Collin Stackhouse: So Todd Farris: thing, which is November fourteenth. Kimber Sieffert: Mm-hmm. Collin Stackhouse: Yeah. Todd Farris: Did Collin Stackhouse: please. Kimber Sieffert: What what is November fourteenth, Todd? What is that all about? Collin Stackhouse: What's happening? Yeah, what's going on? Todd Farris: November 14th. Now November 14th is the workers' rally, right? So this is our chance. This is your chance, people, friends. This is your chance. If you don't want to do anything else, please just show up downtown at noon on November 14th at the World Trade Center and wear your union colors. Wear your union shirt. Because what we want is a rainbow of union colors. We want C I U standing next to ONA, standing next to AFSME, standing next to whoever shows up that time, OEA. And then we're going to take pictures and video and we're going to send it to our legislators to say, look, the unions are united. We want this to happen. We're going to have some great speakers there who are going to talk about the work that they're doing and how this can impact all of us. But this is really a time just to stand in solidarity. So if you can't do anything else, or if you can do other things, either way, just come on the stay. Put this on your calendar, November 14th. That's coming right up. Collin Stackhouse: Mm-hmm. I'm looking at the address for the World Trade Center in Portland and it looks like it's at 121 Southwest Salmon Street, Portland, Oregon, nine seven two zero four. So that will be where the center of this meeting is. Todd Farris: Perfect. Union members, come to our rally this November 14th at the Portland's World Trade Center and help us send our legislators a message. Oregon workers demand a universal health care ballot measure Kimber Sieffert: Union members come to our rally this November 14th at Portland's World Trade Center and help send our legislators a message. Oregonian workers demand a universal healthcare ballot measure in twenty twenty eight. Learn more and sign up at hcao dot org forward slash events. Todd Farris: in 2028. Learn more and sign up at hcao.org/slash Collin Stackhouse: Heck yeah, okay, I'll go now. Todd Farris: events. Collin Stackhouse: thank you both so much for joining us for this Workers' Rally for Universal Healthcare special podcast episode highlighting this November fourteenth event and also just the perspectives of these labor leaders within the state of Oregon that see that universal healthcare is a pathway forward for a stronger working environment and better, you know, society for our whole state. And Todd Farris: Union members, come to our rally Collin Stackhouse: the workers and the residents within it. Todd Farris: this November 14th at the Portland's Collin Stackhouse: If you want to support Health Care for All Oregon and The Health Care for All podcast, please consider making a donation at hcao.org. Todd Farris: World Trade Center and help us send our legislators a message. Oregon workers demand a universal health care ballot measure in 2028. Learn more and sign up at Collin Stackhouse: I'm a part-time staff member. Todd and Kimber are volunteering so much of their time to get this event and Todd Farris: hcao.org/slash Collin Stackhouse: many other Health Care for All Oregons off the ground. Your donation goes Todd Farris: events. Collin Stackhouse: a really long way to help us continue to produce this podcast, to do more educational events like this workers' rally around the state, Your donation goes really far within our small scrappy nonprofit Todd Farris: Okay, we'll see. I'm not so sure about that, but Collin Stackhouse: that really truly does have the potential to help Todd Farris: I'm willing to try calling. Collin Stackhouse: direct this transformation Kimber Sieffert: Okay. Collin Stackhouse: for our state and for our country. Kimber Sieffert: Okay, say say three two one and then we'll do it. Collin Stackhouse: thank you for listening to the end of the Health Care for All podcast. Please leave a positive review. Todd Farris: Union members. Collin Stackhouse: add some comments to whatever platform Kimber Sieffert: Union members. Collin Stackhouse: you're listening on. Tell a friend to take a listen. And if you have any questions that you want myself and the rest of the podcast team to Kimber Sieffert: What speed are we going? Union members. Union members. How about bum bum Okay. Todd Farris: Three, two, one, union. Collin Stackhouse: address going forward, please Submit those questions at hcao.org slash podcast. thank you, Todd. Thank you, Kimber for joining us. I'll be seeing you guys very soon, I'm sure, but we hope that many of our listeners join us on November 14th at the Workers Rally Todd Farris: Union members come to our rally this November fourteenth. Kimber Sieffert: Union members come to our rally this november fourteenth at Portland's World Trade Center and help send our legislators a message. Oregonian Collin Stackhouse: in downtown Portland. Kimber Sieffert: workers Thank you, Colin. Todd Farris: Thanks, Colin. See you on November 14th, everybody. Woohoo! Kimber Sieffert: Yay! W where are your colors? Todd Farris: Where Collin Stackhouse: Learn more and sign up at hcao.org slash events Todd Farris: sorry.