Remember Dave Regan’s
scheme to put two propositions on California’s statewide ballot in November? As
Tasty reported in this earlier
post, Regan claimed the measures -- which are part of his “Let’s Get Health
California” campaign -- would rein in healthcare costs and improve access to “charity
care.”
In December, Regan announced he would begin spending $5.5
million of SEIU-UHW members’ dues money to gather signatures to qualify the
measures for the ballot. He also called on union members to volunteer their
time to collect signatures.
Unfortunately, Dishonest Dave forgot to mention that
the measures contain hidden loopholes designed to exempt one-quarter of
California’s hospitals from the so-called reforms. Last month, the Los Angeles Times busted Regan when it
published this
article about his deceptive efforts to sell the measures to the public.
Now, after spending millions of members’ dues dollars to
qualify the flawed measures for the ballot, Regan is preparing to pull the plug on the doomed
initiatives, which are headed to certain defeat. In fact, last week, Regan asked
SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board to authorize him to NOT file the initiatives
with election officials.
So how will Dave explain this multi-million-dollar fiasco to
the union’s membership? Well, Tasty hears he’s been desperately searching for a
face-saving maneuver to hide his massive failure.
And it looks like he’s settled on a scheme. According to a resolution
that was sent to SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board last week (see below), Regan says
he wants to abandon the ballot measures because he negotiated a “groundbreaking” and "strategic"
agreement with the California Hospital Association that will "transform California healthcare." (The California Hospital Association is
the “Chamber of Commerce” for the state’s hospital corporations.)
What will Regan’s “groundbreaking” agreement actually do?
According to the vaguely worded resolution, it will allow the California Hospital
Association and SEIU-UHW “to work together to fight chronic disease, lower healthcare
costs, improve healthcare quality and improve the livelihoods of California
healthcare workers.”
Hmm… super vague, right? Tasty has a hunch that the agreement is all
about Wellness Programs… and that SEIU-UHW will soon be working hand-in-hand
with the Hospital Association to promote Wellness Programs across California.
Hardly
a victory for workers. After all, aside from Regan and John August, the biggest promoters of Wellness Programs are corporations
like WalMart, Safeway and Kaiser Permanente that hope to use Wellness Programs
to shift more healthcare costs onto workers’ backs.
So… turn on your Bullshit Meters and get ready for Dishonest
Dave’s inevitable announcement about his “groundbreaking” agreement with the
California Hospital Association! This should be an interesting one.
