CSEA pushes back against single-payer healthcare

The Civil Service Employees Association, one of the largest public worker unions in the state, is continuing to press forward with an effort opposing the New York Health Act, a bill that would create a single-payer health care system in the state.

CSEA in recent weeks released a flyer to members raising concerns with the cost of the proposal and warning workers they would be shifted out of their current insurance plan to a government-run entity.

“Your current health insurance would be eliminated,” the flyer says, and urges union members to call their state lawmaker.

For some public-sector labor unions, the concern surrounding the New York Health Act is an acute one: Health benefits were negotiated by the union with management, altering other benefits and pay schedules along the way.