iblv editorial:

Timely coverage

Culinary health plan a huge help

Fri, Jun 26, 2009 (3 a.m.)

With Nevada’s unemployment at a record level, the Culinary Union is rolling out a low-cost health plan for members who are unemployed or without insurance.

As Nicole Lucht reported in last week’s In Business Las Vegas, the Life Saver plan costs $75 a month and covers basic health care for workers and their families, including doctor visits, prescriptions and laboratory tests.

Culinary boss D. Taylor said the plan is intended to help people until they can get back to work and regain full benefits. The union’s health and welfare fund will subsidize it.

The program could end up covering hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Taylor said the union has seen a 10 percent decrease in full-time positions. During the economic boom, the union represented 60,000 full-time workers.

The union’s plan should take some pressure off government health programs that help the poor and uninsured. It should also ease stress on hospital emergency rooms, which often become the first stop for uninsured patients. That is a serious problem considering nearly a quarter of adults in Nevada ages 18 to 64 are without insurance.

Taylor called the program a joint labor-management plan because the trust fund’s board, made up of union and business representatives, approved the subsidy. The board and the union should be commended. This program appears to be a win-win, benefiting workers and the community.