Nurses Union That Backs ‘Medicare for All’ Prevails at This Hospital
MIDDLETOWN, Pennsylvania—Not every nurse at St. Mary Medical Center supports “Medicare for All” or the political goals of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
But every nurse at that Bucks County hospital soon will pay dues to a labor union that has backed Sanders and government-run health care, now that a majority of their colleagues has voted to join the union.
“Medicare for All is a horrible concept that is not rooted in reality,” Vicki Zaino, a nurse manager in oncology, told The Daily Signal before the second day of voting began Friday. “The proposal would greatly burden taxpayers while destroying private insurance opportunities for people across the country.”
Other nurses who asked not to be named also expressed misgivings about being required to pay dues to Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, a union that already represented more than 8,000 nurses statewide.
“I don’t want to pay union dues to an organization that is devoted to politics instead of health care,” another nurse in oncology told The Daily Signal.
“It’s fine to support whatever candidate you want to support and it’s fine to support whatever policies you want to support,” this nurse said. “But it’s not fine to do this with …read more