Uniting for Universal Healthcare?

Check out this odd grouping of organizations, unions and corporations(???!!!) who are coming together to support the notion of universal healthcare. From yesterday's NYT:

The meeting between H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of Wal-Mart, and Andrew L. Stern, president of the S.E.I.U., which caps months of secret conversations, could be the beginning, however tentative, of a détente between the nation’s largest employer and its labor critics.

At least on one issue. But the issue — providing affordable health insurance — is arguably the biggest facing both Mr. Stern and Mr. Scott. Wal-Mart, which insures fewer than half its workers, has identified health care as potentially the biggest vulnerability to its image and business, and the S.E.I.U., one of the country’s biggest unions, has called it the No. 1 priority for its members.

So during today’s meeting, Mr. Stern and Mr. Scott will announce a campaign to seek public acceptance of several principles of health policy. One goal is universal health coverage by a specific date, somewhere around 2012. Another is the idea of shared responsibility, emphasizing that individuals, businesses and government all play roles in financing health care and expanding coverage.

This speaks large volumes about Andy Stern, the president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). A divisive figure in labor politics himself, he has moved beyond the traditional labor approaches, and is in charge of the fastest-growing labor union in the country. In the last twenty years, America has seen its labor movement whither and its political significance in national politics lessened. Call it Reaganomics, globalization, or post-industrialism, but nothing will reverse this trend in the near future and Mr. Stern has shown his eagerness to adapt and to re-invigorate labor's pull. It is impressive he is able to get Wal-Mart on board for this.

This leaves one last thing to be discussed: the dysfunctional Healthcare system in the U.S. and the inability of business, big or small to keep health insurance costs down, and why this is needed. To read this one almost doesn't believe what he is seeing is real. I mean how is that possible? But it is one of those moments in time when interests collide.

Harley Shaiken, a professor specializing in labor issues at the University of California, Berkeley, said the meeting represented “a combination of pragmatism, idealism and desperation on the part of Wal-Mart and S.E.I.U; health care has become a devastating issue for both."

Wal-Mart stands to gain tremendously if it has the burden shifted off its back for healthcare, and all the while, looking concerned for the average person. From a PR standpoint, it is a winner. AT&T and Intel are among some of the other corporations joining in support of this movement. With corporate interests backing a plan of such magnitude, I wonder how long really will it take to overpower the insurance industry.