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Health Care

Chili’s Grill & Bar answered a healthcare question and took us all on an educational journey

Image: Brinker International

Forget Chili’s dinner for two special—the bar and grill just served us a hot fresh plate of healthcare knowledge in just under 140 characters. 

Twitter user Colin Gray (@subtlerbutler) went on a tweetstorm on Wednesday about why people should start asking each other information outside of the internet. 

SEE ALSO: Denny’s craptastic new mascot has inspired some pretty good poop jokes

“There’s this weird thing you can do, where, if you need information from someone, you can ask them instead of the internet,” he wrote. “If you live in the same town, you might be able to see them in person. Who knows! The world is your goddam [sic] oyster.”

In case no one understood his rant, he decided to include Chili’s restaurant as a prime example of someone to ask, because who doesn’t love or trust Chili’s? 

Someone decided to humor Gray and ask him what questions he would ask Chili’s. He responded with a serious question about his medical bills and a role the healthcare system plays in paying for his checkups. 

Chili’s came to the rescue and schooled all of us on the meaning of copays. Who knew a restaurant had so much knowledge on healthcare? No more asking the lady at the front desk what the charges mean.

“If your deductible hasn’t been met, your copay is how much it costs to simply leave your doctor’s office. They can charge way more later,” Chili’s tweeted.

After Gray thanked the restaurant chain for answering his question, it didn’t take long for others to ask Chili’s for some advice and have their lives changed forever.

However, we have to understand the restaurant chain isn’t Wikipedia. Sadly, some answers must remain unsolved. 

Aside from the advice, some people took to Twitter to show the similarities between Chili’s take on healthcare and our local politicians.

Chili’s just took their famous slogan “for great American food…think daily” to a whole new meaning. 

WATCH: Apple’s iOS 11 finally turns the iPad into a ‘real’ computer… mostly

Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/09/21/chili-restaurant-answers-healthcare-question-twittter/

Health Care

Stocks Drop as Tech Gets Hit, Bonds Rise on Korea: Markets Wrap

U.S. stocks fell as selling in large-cap technology shares intensified, while Treasuries advanced with gold after North Korea ratcheted up tensions with America.

The Nasdaq 100 Index posted its steepest loss in five weeks, with the FANG cohort of megacaps leading declines. Small-cap shares fared better as investors continued to rotate into the year’s laggards. Haven assets advanced after North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho described President Donald Trump’s recent comments as tantamount to a declaration of war.

“Without a doubt, North Korea is hovering over the market, but it sort of zigs and zags onto the scene,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial Inc. “What you are seeing is those tech names pulling back. The fact is that right now, you have a fully valued market and little catalysts at this point to push the market higher. ”

Ri, speaking in New York Monday, also declared that North Korea can shoot down U.S. warplanes as part of its right to self-defense under the United Nations charter, adding to weeks of rhetoric that has intermittently rattled financial markets. U.S. markets also kept an eye on the latest domestic political developments, with the most recent effort to overhaul the health-care system on life support and a Republican tax proposal still lacking details.

Elections dominated trading overseas. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed, and the euro weakened after Chancellor Angela Merkel won Germany’s election, while the country’s main far-right party had a surprisingly strong result. The process of building a new government could take weeks, so markets may well move on from the result quickly.

“Investors were expecting a victory for Angela Merkel, but there has been a surprise in the relatively poor performance of the CDU and SPD, who suffered their worst results since 1949,” Nick Peters, multi asset portfolio manager at Fidelity International, wrote in a note.

The yen stayed weaker as Japan’s prime minister unveiled a fresh stimulus package and said he’ll dissolve the lower house of parliament ahead of a general election. Most government bonds advanced.

Terminal subscribers can read more in our Markets Live blog.

What to watch out for this week:

  • Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks in Cleveland on Tuesday. Later in the week, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney speaks, as does soon-to-depart Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer.
  • European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and U.K. counterpart David Davis begin their next round of negotiations.
  • Household spending last month in the U.S. probably posted the smallest gain since February as motor-vehicle sales shifted into a lower gear, economists forecast government figures to show.
  • The euro-area inflation rate may have accelerated a touch to 1.6 percent in September from 1.5 percent but the core will probably remain at 1.2 percent on Friday.

Here are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • The S&P 500 Index fell 0.2 percent to 2,496.66, the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.9 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.2 percent and the Russell 2000 gained less than 0.1 percent after rising to a record high earlier in the session.
  • Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.2 percent to the highest since July.
  • The MSCI All-Country World Index declined 0.4 percent to the lowest in two weeks.

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.4 percent to the highest in more than three weeks.
  • The euro dipped 0.9 percent to $1.1847, the weakest in a month.
  • The British pound slipped 0.3 percent to $1.3466.

Bonds

  • The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped three basis points to 2.2198 percent.
  • Germany’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 0.399 percent.
  • Britain’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to 1.334 percent.

Commodities

  • Gold jumped 1 percent to $1,310.25 an ounce.
  • West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3 percent to $52.18 a barrel, the highest since April.

Asia

  • Japan’s Topix index advanced 0.5 percent at the close in Tokyo. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index ended virtually unchanged and South Korea’s Kospi index slid 0.4 percent.
  • The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 1.4 percent with Chinese property developers slumping after several cities on the mainland tightened rules on home sales.
  • The Japanese yen fell 0.2 percent to 112.22 per dollar.

    Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-24/euro-weaker-with-kiwi-dollar-as-politics-dominate-markets-wrap

    Health Care

    Jimmy Kimmel’s baby may save healthcare for 30 million people

    Image: randy holmes/ABC via Getty Images

    Welcome to 2017, where the American government has ceded its already crumbling moral authority to the former host of The Man Show.

    Don’t you miss the 2016 election now?

    Still, the last few days have produced some of the best material late night television has ever had to offer, and all it’s because of former Man Show star, Win Ben Stein’s Money co-host, and late night host, Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel has not only taken on the Senate’s practically homicidal Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill, he’s done it without resorting to lies or distortions (how quaint!). He accomplished this by speaking from a place of deep empathy, and by centering on a character that remains untouchable across the political spectrum: his baby.

    Back in May, Kimmel’s newborn son had to undergo an emergency open-heart surgery. It was this hardship that brought America’s perilous healthcare situation into sharp focus for the comedian. And as he’s grown more vocal about the issue, he returns to his own child as the impetus for his outspokenness.

    That’s why every counter-attack by GOP politician and pundits against Kimmel has fallen flat on its face: in the symbolic war between sick babies and man-baby Senators, the sick baby will always win.

    SEE ALSO: Thank you Jimmy Kimmel for slamming the GOP’s new health care bill

    By positioning his baby at his monologue’s heart and center, he’s created the most sympathetic protagonist imaginable and made anyone who opposes that character a hateful antagonist by extension (which, I mean, is accurate). Everyone who attacks Kimmel’s position, is essentially attacking his baby. 

    Not a good position for a politician.

    “Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there’s a good chance you would never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition,” Kimmel said in May. “If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make … we all agree on that, right? I mean, we do!” 

    Babies work. There’s a reason why every politician is required to take a photo with them at some point in their campaign.

    When I was a social worker, we talked a lot about “worthy victims” and “unworthy victims.” “Unworthy victims” are people a society has collectively decided are victims because of their own poor choices: the poor, victims of sexual assault, the homeless, welfare recipients, people of color, criminals and undocumented immigrants. “Worthy victims,” by contrast, are folks that society has deemed sufficiently worthy of empathy (and consequently, of charitable donations) including sick children, the elderly and people with *certain* disabilities.

    That doesn’t mean that worthy victims are exactly living large in America. Just think of the folks who were cruelly pulled from their wheelchairs by Capitol police while protesting Trumpcare that summer. But it does mean that they, culturally at least, have tremendous worth. I can’t think of a stronger symbolic lead than Kimmel’s son — a sick, wealthy kind with a devastating illness — followed closely by his acerbic father. Is there anything Americans love more than a cynical man, who simultaneously knows his facts and is deeply in touch with his own tenderness?

    Of a Fox and Friends host who attacked Kimmel for his monologues, Kimmel had this to say:

    “And you know, the reason I’m talking about this is because my son had an open-heart surgery and has to have two more, and because of that, I’ve learned that there are kids with no insurance in the same situation,” Kimmel said. “I don’t get anything out of this, Brian [Kilmeade], you phony little creep. Oh, I’ll pound you when I see you.”

    Just look at how these Republican politicians and pundits tiptoed around his attacks, especially as  they relate to Kimmy’s son, and relied on the tired excuse than Kimmel wasn’t smart enough to analyze the bill because’s he’s a late night comedian. 

    Remember: these folks voted for a man who recently made up an African country in front of Africans and didn’t realize that Frederick Douglass was dead, so we’re not exactly dealing with “wonks” here. 

    All late night comedians have in some ways impacted culture and by extension, politics, but Kimmel might become the first late night politicians to have an immediate, substantive impact on policy. There’s a Jimmy Kimmel test Senator Cassidy once told Congress it has to pass. Kimmel even ended his monologue with a screen full of Senator’s phone numbers, amplifying his personal story and turning it into collective action.

    Babies work. There’s a reason why every politician is required to take a photo with them at some point in their campaign. There’s a reason why political ads that include children, like this one of Hillary’s, are far more effective than those that feature rehabilitated criminal — even though both would be endangered by Graham-Cassidy.  Kimmel even admitted that he was “politicizing his baby” for the greater good.  

    Doing anything that might directly harm babies is one the last moral lines we have around these broken parts. Let’s see if one man’s 13-minute monologues are powerful enough to keep us from crossing it.

    WATCH: Stephen Colbert grills ‘The Mooch’ on why he’s still defending Trump

    Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/09/21/jimmy-kimmel-secret-weapon-baby/

    Health Care

    John McCain pretty much killed Trumpcare and the bill’s sponsor tweeted a surprising response

    Sorry, Lindsey.
    Image: Getty Images

    The latest trainwreck of a GOP health care plan looks likely to die — and, once again, John McCain could be the dude who killed it. 

    On Friday, the Republican senator announced he would vote against the Graham-Cassidy bill. With zero support likely from Democrats, and Republicans Rand Paul and Susan Collins against it, that pretty much dooms the measure. 

    SEE ALSO: Jimmy Kimmel tears apart his critics on health care bill

    One of the men behind the bill — Sen. Lindsey Graham — was likely frustrated. But he still had some kind words for his colleague and longtime friend. 

    McCain, Graham, and Joe Lieberman are known as the “three amigos” of the senate. Apparently, that’s a sacred bond that can’t be broken by torpedoing your friend’s terrible health care bill.

    Remember, it was McCain who dramatically killed the last GOP effort to repeal Obamacare. His heroics the second time around are being praised by people across the political spectrum. 

    The Arizona senator’s decision was met with support from Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has proposed his own “Medicare for all” plan, at a rally in San Francisco.

    Jimmy Kimmel was pretty happy too, after absolutely slamming the plan on his show. 

    Don’t relax yet, though. It’s possible that before the Sept. 30 deadline, Republicans somehow get the necessary votes for a bill that would — according to the Brookings Institution — cause 21 million people to lose their health insurance every year from 2020 to 2026. 

    Thank you McCain and Collins (and I guess Paul, even though he’s not supporting the bill because it’s not draconian enough) for hopefully saving the country from this monstrosity. 

    WATCH: Stephen Colbert and ‘SNL’ have figured out the right way to use President Trump

    Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/09/22/john-mccain-tweet-graham-cassidy-healthcare-bill/

    Health Care

    John McCain won’t back Graham-Cassidy bill, likely ending GOP health care push

    (CNN)Sen. John McCain announced Friday in a statement that he cannot “in good conscience” vote for the GOP’s latest plan to overhaul Obamacare, likely ending Republicans’ latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

    “I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal,” the Arizona Republican said in a statement. “I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried. Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will (affect) insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it. Without a full CBO score, which won’t be available by the end of the month, we won’t have reliable answers to any of those questions.”
    McCain’s “no” vote makes it very likely Republicans won’t be able to repeal and replace Obamacare before September 30, as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would not back the effort and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is also expected to vote “no” on the proposal.
      Republicans need at least 50 votes to pass the measure under the process of reconciliation.
      McCain was one of three most-watched members on the fence and considered a key vote on the bill. Without his support, Republicans would need to get Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, as well as Collins to sign on. It’s unlikely considering the fact that Collins said Friday afternoon that she was leaning against the bill and had key concerns that the legislation did not do enough to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions.
      “I’m leaning against the bill,” Collins said Friday at a Portland, Maine, event, according to The Portland Press Herald.
      A Republican aide involved in the process said Friday afternoon that GOP leaders are at the “evaluating options” stage right now.
      The aide added, “I’m not breaking news telling you this isn’t good.”
      Paul, the only other Republican other than McCain who has so far definitively come out against Graham-Cassidy, is “unlikely” to change his mind even if changes are made to the bill, his spokesman Sergio Gor told CNN.
      McCain’s announcement comes despite that one of the bill’s key sponsors — Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — is a close confidant. The thinking was if anyone could convince McCain to vote “yes,” it would be Graham.
      “I take no pleasure in announcing my opposition. Far from it,” McCain said. “The bill’s authors are my dear friends, and I think the world of them. I know they are acting consistently with their beliefs and sense of what is best for the country. So am I.”
      McCain has said for weeks that he would not support health care legislation that had not gone through “regular order,” meaning Senate hearings, an amendment process and a rigorous floor debate.
      Graham said he “respectfully” disagrees with McCain and will “press on” with his legislation.
      “My friendship with John McCain is not based on how he votes but respect for how he’s lived his life and the person he is,” Graham said in a statement and on Twitter.
      McCain voted “no” on the last health care proposal in July for the same reason. McCain’s dramatic floor vote, which happened just weeks after he was diagnosed with brain cancer, came in the early morning and was captured as one of his most “maverick” moments in the Senate.

      Democrats praise McCain

      Just moments after McCain announced his opposition, Democrats seized on the opportunity to bring back bipartisan talks that had stalled last week.
      Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee had held bipartisan hearings over the last month on how to stabilize Obamacare marketplaces and were making progress in their negotiations. But the House leadership made it clear last week that the chamber probably would not be able to pass such a bill.
      As soon as McCain announced his opposition, Murray announced she was still open to reigniting those talks.
      “I agree with Senator McCain that the right way to get things done in the Senate — especially on an issue as important to families as their health care — is through regular order and working together to find common ground,” Murray said. “I’m still at the table ready to keep working, and I remain confident that we can reach a bipartisan agreement as soon as this latest partisan approach by Republican leaders is finally set aside.”
      Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also praised McCain shortly after his announcement.
      “John McCain shows the same courage in Congress that he showed when he was a naval aviator,” the New York Democrat said in a statement. “I have assured Senator McCain that as soon as repeal is off the table, we Democrats are intent on resuming the bipartisan process.”
      For her part, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said her members would continue working “to put the stake in the heart of this monstrous bill.”
      “This weekend, we will continue to highlight the devastating costs Republicans are trying to inflict on hard-working Americans,” she said in a letter to colleagues.
      This story has been updated and will update with additional developments.

      Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/22/politics/john-mccain-health-care/index.html

      Health Care

      A furious Jimmy Kimmel slams the new GOP health bill in a monologue everyone should watch.

      Sen. Bill Cassidy has failed the “Jimmy Kimmel Test.”

      Spectacularly so.

      In a blistering monologue delivered Tuesday night, late-night host Kimmel accused the Louisiana Republican of coming on his show and lying “right to my face” about health care.

      At issue: the latest Republican attempt to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, with a bill co-sponsored by Cassidy. This bill comes just a few months after Cassidy appeared on Kimmel’s show in the wake of Kimmel’s newborn son’s open-heart surgery and his heart-wrenching monologue about the importance of health insurance.

      “A few months ago, after my son had open-heart surgery, which was something I spoke about on the air, a politician, a senator named Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, was on my show, and he wasn’t very honest. It seemed like he was being honest. He got a lot of credit and attention for coming off like a rare, reasonable voice in the Republican Party when it came to health care for coming up with something he called — and I didn’t name it this, he named it this — the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Test,’ which was, in a nutshell, no family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they can’t afford it.“

      Kimmel argued that instead of passing Cassidy’s Jimmy Kimmel Test, the new bill cruelly rips away many of the protections Cassidy promised to uphold.

      “Now, I don’t know what happened to Bill Cassidy. But when he was on this publicity tour, he listed his demands for a health care bill very clearly. These were his words. He said he wants coverage for all, no discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, lower premiums for middle-class families, and no lifetime caps. And guess what? The new bill does none of those things.

      Coverage for all? No. In fact, it will kick about 30 million Americans off insurance. Pre-existing conditions? Nope. If the bill passes, individual states can let insurance companies charge you more if you have a pre-existing condition. You’ll find that little loophole later in the document after it says they can’t. They can, and they will.

      But will it lower premiums? Well, in fact, for lots of people, the bill will result in higher premiums. And as far as no lifetime caps go, the states can decide on that, too, which means there will be lifetime caps in many states. So not only did Bill Cassidy fail the Jimmy Kimmel Test, he failed the Bill Cassidy Test. He failed his own test. And you don’t see that happen very much.”

      The proposed law, as drawn up by Cassidy and three other GOP senators, would indeed drastically weaken many of the Affordable Care Act’s consumer guarantees, much as Kimmel described it.

      According to an NPR analysis of the bill, states could indeed waive the Affordable Care Act’s essential benefits requirement and allow insurers to charge customers with pre-existing conditions more or reject them outright.

      Additionally, states could permit insurers to reinstitute lifetime coverage caps, limiting the amount they pay out over a customer’s lifetime.

      Cassidy responded to Kimmel shortly after the segment aired, disputing the host’s characterization of the bill and encouraging his colleagues to vote for it.  

      Senators and bill co-sponsors Dean Heller (left) and Cassidy. Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images.

      “We have a September 30th deadline on our promise. Let’s finish the job,” he said in a statement provided to Vox. “We must because there is a mother and father whose child will have insurance because of Graham Cassidy Heller Johnson. There is someone whose pre-existing condition will be addressed because of GCHJ.”

      It is difficult to imagine that will be enough for Kimmel, who concluded by pleading with his audience at home to “call [their] congressperson.”

      “You have to do this. You can’t just click ‘like’ on this video,” he said.

      The future of health care in America could hang in the balance.

      Read more: http://www.upworthy.com/a-furious-jimmy-kimmel-slams-the-new-gop-health-bill-in-a-monologue-everyone-should-watch

      Health Care

      Heres Whats in Republicans Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill

      When Republicans in the U.S. Senate fell one vote short in July, it looked like their seven-year bid to undo the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, had failed. Now there’s an effort to see if a different repeal bill, known as Graham-Cassidy, can make it through the Senate before a Sept. 30 deadline. Proponents say it would put reshaping health insurance in the hands of the states. Its detractors call it the same old steep cuts in coverage in a new wrapper.

      1. What would Graham-Cassidy do?

      The proposal by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana would replace Obamacare’s insurance subsidies with lump-sum "block grants" to states, which would decide for themselves how to help people get health coverage. The bill, if signed into law, would spell an end to the Obamacare requirements that individuals obtain health insurance, that most employers provide it to their workers, and that insurers can’t deny coverage or charge more to people with pre-existing medical conditions. The proposal would end the Obamacare tax on medical devices while keeping others intact, including taxes on the wealthy, to fund the block grants. Those grants would expire in 2026.

      2. How is it different from previous repeal attempts?

      The Graham-Cassidy bill leaves to the states many questions that other Republican proposals would have had the federal government handle, like setting the size of insurance subsidies. It also strives to equalize Medicaid spending between states, and would cut the program in the mostly Democratic states that expanded it under the ACA, while sending billions to the mostly red states that didn’t.

      3. How is it like previous repeal attempts?

      In addition to ending Obamacare mandates, it would cap spending on Medicaid, the huge federal program for the poor and disabled.

      4. Why does the bill face a deadline?

      Republicans hold 52 seats in the 100-member Senate. They want to use a procedure, budget reconciliation, that allows legislation to pass with a simple majority rather than the 60-vote supermajority required to move most bills to a final vote. The Senate’s parliamentarian has ruled that the ability to use reconciliation under the current budget resolution ends when the fiscal year expires on Sept. 30.

      5. What has to happen between now and Sept. 30?

      Graham-Cassidy was formally introduced last week. Major bills usually aren’t voted on without a score from the Congressional Budget Office, which will assess whether Graham-Cassidy meets the standards for a simple-majority reconciliation measure. The CBO said Monday it will offer a partial assessment of the measure early next week but won’t have estimates of its effects on the deficit, health insurance coverage or premiums for at least several weeks.The parliamentarian also has to rule on whether any of its provisions aren’t eligible for reconciliation, which is supposed to be limited to tax and spending provisions.

      6. What are its chances?

      Uncertain. Since Democrats have unanimously opposed efforts to repeal the ACA, Republicans need the support of at least 50 of their 52 members. (Vice President Mike Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, would cast the tie-breaking 51st vote.) Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky says he’ll oppose Graham-Cassidy because even it retains too many elements of Obamacare. So much depends on the three Republicans who caused the defeat of the last Obamacare repeal bill — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John McCain of Arizona.

      7. What would happen in the House?

      If the Senate passes Graham-Cassidy, the Republican-controlled House would have a chance to adopt it — but only word-for-word, unchanged. If the House demands changes, they would need the support of 60 senators, which is a near-impossibility. House Speaker Paul Ryan has spoken positively about the bill, as has Republican Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. But a significant number of House Republicans come from states that could lose billions in Medicaid money under Graham-Cassidy.

      8. Who’s for the bill?

      President Donald Trump says he supports it, though he has yet to do any active lobbying. Republicans feel pressure from their base for failing so far to repeal Obamacare — a failure Trump has excoriated them for.

      9. Who’s against it?

      Along with Democrats, several Republican governors in states that expanded Medicaid. Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings said Friday that because Medicaid spending represents one-third of state budgets, the bill would pose big challenges for them, particularly those that took advantage of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.

      10. What happens if it fails?

      Democrats and Republicans on the Senate’s health committee are working together to see if they can write a narrow bill to address some of Obamacare’s flaws that threaten to lead to fewer choices and higher premiums for some people who buy individual insurance policies.

      The Reference Shelf

        Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/what-s-in-last-republican-shot-to-kill-obamacare-quicktake-q-a

        Health Care

        Union Power Is Putting Pressure on Silicon Valleys Tech Giants

        Organized labor doesn’t rack up a lot of wins these days, and Silicon Valley isn’t most people’s idea of a union hotbed. Nonetheless, in the past three years unions have organized 5,000 people who work on Valley campuses. Among others, they’ve unionized shuttle drivers at Apple, Tesla, Twitter, LinkedIn, EBay, Salesforce.com, Yahoo!, Cisco, and Facebook; security guards at Adobe, IBM, Cisco, and Facebook; and cafeteria workers at Cisco, Intel, and, earlier this summer, Facebook.

        The workers aren’t technically employed by any of those companies. Like many businesses, Valley giants hire contractors that typically offer much less in the way of pay and benefits than the tech companies’ direct employees get. Among other things, such arrangements help companies distance themselves from the way their cafeteria workers and security guards are treated, because somebody else is cutting the checks. Silicon Valley Rising, a coalition of unions and civil rights, community, and clergy groups heading the organizing campaign, says its successes have come largely from puncturing that veneer of plausible deniability.

        That means directing political pressure, media scrutiny, and protests toward the tech companies themselves. “Everybody knows that the contractors will do what the tech companies say, so we’re focused on the big guys,” says Ben Field, a co-founder of the coalition who heads the AFL-CIO’s South Bay Labor Council. Labor leaders say their efforts have gotten some tech companies to cut ties with an anti-union contractor, intervene with others to ease unionization drives, and subsidize better pay for contract workers.

        “If you want to get people to buy your product, you don’t want them to feel that buying your product is contributing to the evils of the world,” says Silicon Valley Rising co-founder Derecka Mehrens, who directs Working Partnerships USA, a California nonprofit that advocates for workers. Tech companies have been image-conscious and closely watched of late, she says, and the coalition is “being opportunistic.”

        The first such recent effort, in 2014, unionized 87 Facebook Inc. shuttle drivers employed by contractor Loop Transportation Inc. “We won by beating up Facebook, not beating up Loop,” says California Teamster leader Rome Aloise. Initially, Loop resisted recognizing the union, citing Facebook’s opposition, according to Aloise. So the Teamsters forced a vote by the drivers that was supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (the union won); union activists drew media attention to stories of Facebook shuttle drivers sleeping in their cars between grueling split shifts. “We got press in Japan and Germany and all over the world by saying Facebook,” Aloise says. “Nobody would’ve given a shit if I was saying Loop.”

        Eventually, Facebook says, it OK’d proposed terms of the contract, which hiked drivers’ average pay by half, to $27.50 an hour, and for the first time provided fully paid family health care. Facebook also agreed to cover Loop’s added costs. Loop signed the contract. It didn’t respond to requests for comment, but Facebook denies discouraging unionization. “Our vendor workers are valued members of our community,” Facebook said in a statement. A spokeswoman says collective bargaining is up to contractors and their employees, but notes that since 2015, Facebook has required contractors to provide anyone doing “a substantial amount of work” for the company an hourly wage of at least $15 and three weeks of paid time off.

        When more than 500 cafeteria workers employed by Flagship Facility Services sought this year to join the union Unite Here!, Facebook says it didn’t direct Flagship’s handling of the situation. But it made clear to the contractor that Facebook would be neutral toward the organizing campaign and wouldn’t punish Flagship if the workers unionized, the spokeswoman says. Like Facebook, Flagship took a neutral position, and the workers joined the union in July.

        Where possible, Silicon Valley Rising has pushed for policies that would more broadly strengthen labor’s position. In San Francisco the coalition persuaded the city transit authority to make it easier to deny permits to companies facing labor strife. In Santa Clara, where Intel Corp.’s unionized cafeteria staff had lost their jobs after the company brought in a new nonunion contractor, the coalition led the passage of a municipal law designed to avert such situations. The ordinance requires that new building service or food service contractors retain the old contractor’s employees for at least 90 days. After protests outside Intel’s headquarters, the cafeteria workers unionized again in an election last year. According to Unite Here, Intel and its contractor didn’t campaign against the union in the lead-up to the vote. Intel declined to comment.

        The Valley campaign resembles a 1990s-era push by the Service Employees International Union to organize tens of thousands of janitors who were technically employed by building management companies. Apple Inc. was a prime target—the campaign included a hunger strike, a boycott, and a full-page ad in the —and workers there unionized after the contractor dropped its opposition to the union, presumably with Apple’s blessing. That offered a model for SEIU’s organizing of other tech janitors and, more recently, the Valley’s security guards.

        Tech companies are open to such outcomes partly because contracted service staff represent a tiny share of their overall costs, says former SEIU leader Stephen Lerner, who led the ’90s campaign. It’s much less threatening to a company to have outside contractors unionize, he says, than it would be to let, say, Facebook engineers do so. David Huerta, president of one of SEIU’s California locals, says organizing among direct employees is a longer-term possibility.

        Union critics say tech companies will come to regret intruding on contractors’ labor relations. “The fact that they have to browbeat employers or subcontractors into taking away rights from workers shows that the union business model is failing,” says F. Vincent Vernuccio, a fellow at free-market think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy who served on President Trump’s transition team.

        Leaders of Silicon Valley Rising say they’ll support any workers who want to organize. Their near-term challenge is establishing a role for organized labor in Google Inc.’s massive planned expansion in San Jose. The city has voted to negotiate exclusively with Google on the sale of land for a new campus, and organizers want any deal to include provisions addressing such issues as affordable housing and the creation of quality jobs for local residents. “We expect our contractors to treat their employees well and we choose partners who do so,” Google spokesman Ty Sheppard said in an emailed statement. “We’ll be collaborating closely with city officials and community members as part of the public approval process.”

        On Aug. 24, Silicon Valley Rising hosted a forum for San Jose residents to air their concerns and demands. As English-, Spanish-, and Vietnamese-speaking attendees broke into groups to brainstorm, an official from the city manager’s office circulated through the crowd to listen. When the crowd reconvened, Andrew Barney, a former Intel cafeteria worker, drew cheers and applause when he said, “I think Google should pay the residents of this community for being allowed to squat in our backyard.”

        “Google’s vulnerable right now with all this building and everything they’re doing, and they need a lot of approvals,” says the Teamsters’ Aloise. “We may just pick one, one time, to get involved, and see if we can stop it and have them come to us and say, ‘What do you need?’ ”

          BOTTOM LINE – Silicon Valley Rising has unionized about 5,000 contract employees by working consistently to call out the tech companies where they work.

          Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-14/union-power-is-putting-pressure-on-silicon-valley-s-tech-giants

          Health Care

          Schumer, Pelosi say they have deal with Trump to protect ‘Dreamers’

          Democratic congressional leaders emerged from a meeting with President Donald Trump Wednesday vowing to pursue an agreement protecting immigrants who were brought illegally into the U.S. as children from deportation.

          In a joint statement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said they and Trump had “agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”

          An estimated 800,000 young immigrants are currently covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which was formed by former President Barack Obama in 2012. Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it was winding down the program over the next six months, putting pressure on Congress to pass a legislative solution.

          A source briefed on the meeting confirmed to Fox News that Trump and the leaders agreed to pair the DREAM Act, which provides for giving young illegal immigrants eventual citizenship, with some measures enhancing border security. The source said that those measures do not include Trump’s long-promised wall across the U.S.-Mexico border.

          However, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders issued a tweet denying that the border wall was off the table. A Democratic aide familiar with the conversations told Fox News that Trump “was clear he would continue to fight for the wall separate from this agreement.”

          Prior to Sanders’ tweet, the White House issued a statement describing the meeting as “constructive” and “a positive step toward the President’s strong commitment to bipartisan solutions for the issues most important to all Americans.” The statement added that the three had discussed “policy and legislative priorities,” including “tax reform, border security, DACA, infrastructure and trade.”

          During a White House meeting with moderate House members from both parties earlier Wednesday, Trump had urged lawmakers to come up with a bipartisan solution.

          “We don’t want to forget DACA,” Trump told the members at the meeting. “We want to see if we can do something in a bipartisan fashion so that we can solve the DACA problem and other immigration problems.”

          The apparent deal is the latest example of Trump’s sudden pivot to bipartisanship after months of railing against Democrats as “obstructionist.” He has urged them to join him in overhauling the nation’s tax code, among other priorities.

          Trump, who was deeply disappointed by Republicans’ failure to pass a health care overhaul, infuriated many in his party when he reached a three-month deal with Schumer and Pelosi to raise the debt ceiling, keep the government running and speed relief to states affected by recent hurricanes.

          “More and more we’re trying to work things out together,” Trump explained Wednesday, calling the development a “positive thing” for both parties.

          “If you look at some of the greatest legislation ever passed, it was done on a bipartisan manner. And so that’s what we’re going to give a shot,” he said.

          The “Kumbaya” moment now appears to extend to the thorny issue of immigration, which has been vexing lawmakers for years.

          Funding for Trump’s promised wall had been thought to be a major point of contention between Republicans and Democrats as they attempted to forge a deal.

          House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who also sat down with Pelosi to talk immigration Wednesday, told the Associated Press that deporting the so-called “Dreamers” was “not in our nation’s interest,” and said the president had “made the right call.”

          “I wanted him to give us time. I didn’t want this to be rescinded on Day One and create chaos,” Ryan said, arguing the time would allow Congress to “come up with the right kind of consensus and compromise to fix this problem.”

          Fox News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

          Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09/13/schumer-pelosi-say-have-deal-with-trump-to-protect-dreamers.html

          Health Care

          Universal healthcare in the US is possible. We already have proof | Farzon A Nahvi

          Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harriss universal healthcare bill is a step towards a humane and cost-effective system. Naysayers are denying reality, writes emergency medicine physician Farzon A Nahvi

          Speaking to opponents of universal healthcare in the US today is much like speaking to a moon-landing denier or any other conspiracy theorist they insist on arguing impossibility in the face of proven reality.

          As Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and 15 other senators release details of their universal healthcare bill one that guarantees access to healthcare for all Americans while simultaneously creating cost savings there will be many healthcare conspiracists claiming that such a plan is infeasible. So as we consider these arguments in the coming weeks, we must always be prepared to make sure they pass the look! test.

          That is, when someone argues that something cannot be done, we neednt argue. Rather, we simply need to point and say: Look!

          Someone doesnt believe we landed on the moon? But look! Theres an American flag up there! Someone doesnt believe we can insure every single American while simultaneously reining in the exorbitant costs of our healthcare system? But look! Every other developed country in the world is already doing it!

          These medical conspiracists claim that such a system would be impractical, overly expensive, or provide inferior care. But to make these claims in the face of obvious proof is laughable.

          If Canada is able to provide coverage for each of its citizens from birth to death, with no out-of-pocket-costs to any of them, all the while providing high-quality care with excellent patient outcomes at half the cost of our system, it is unacceptable to say that we somehow cannot.

          Real people living in other countries are currently enjoying these systems. They can change jobs without fear of losing access to their diabetes medications. They can go jogging without worry that one slip and broken bone would send their families into bankruptcy. They can go to their doctor never questioning that, at the end of the day, she has any incentive to do anything but make them better.

          So how could one be so bold as to deny this reality?

          The truth is that nobody is content with our current healthcare system. We do poorly when it comes to access to care and equity, administrative efficiency and cost containment, as well as basic health outcomes.

          We pay more than double what other countries do, and get worse results. Our life expectancies are shorter than any other developed nation. Children die in the US unlike in any other modern society. Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US. Our overspending in healthcare directly limits what we can do with defence, education and infrastructure.

          Yet when it comes to talk of change, people become skittish. Doctors become scared that change would mean lower incomes. Patients fear longer wait times and loss of access to services.

          The fear of losing the small benefits we currently enjoy is prohibiting us from enjoying far greater ones at half the cost. Its as if were so scared of losing our crumbs that we are ignoring the entire loaf sitting within reach.

          We need to learn to trust our eyes and ears and be suspicious of the naysayers fearmongering us away from something better. We can, and should, argue about the precise form our system will take the USs universal healthcare system will almost certainly have a different flavour than, say, Frances but we can no longer accept that such a system is impossible.

          Importantly, we should never forget the stakes. Real Americans are going through real pain every day. I have seen a patient come to my emergency room stating: They diagnosed me with cancer but said they couldnt see me because I have no insurance. I have nowhere to go.

          I have seen a patient having a florid heart attack walk out against medical advice stating, Thanks doc, but my brother went through this and lost his house. Im gonna go. And I have heard many well-insured patients say I hear you and you seem nice, but all you doctors want to do is make money off me, so I dont know who to trust.

          To experience all this while knowing that something better is already out there is simply unacceptable.

          Those who deny the plausibility of a universal healthcare system are inevitably the same people who stand to benefit most from our current system. They can argue up, down, left and right, but ultimately they can never pass the look! test. The next time they try to claim that universal health care would be impossible in the US, point them to footage of Neil Armstrong bouncing on the moon and dare them to deny reality. A universal healthcare system is not only possible here, but long overdue.

          • Farzon A Nahvi is an emergency medicine physician and an instructor of emergency medicine in New York City

          Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/15/universal-healthcare-us-possible-bernie-sanders-kamala-harris