Major Labor Boss Admits: Yeah, Obamacare Needs Some Work

Richard Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), openly admitted in an interview this week that the Affordable Care Act has some major issues that need to be worked out.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in an interview the new health care law needs to be "tweaked." (Getty Images)

His admission is particularly noteworthy considering the CIO campaigned extensively to see President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law passed in Congress.

“The Affordable Care Act does need some modifications to it,” Trumka told Al Jazeera America in response to a question about certain unions complaining about the effect Obamacare will have on labor’s health care plans and work hours.

“What’s happening is you have employers that the law says if…your employees work 30 or more hours a week, you got to give them health care. So they’re restructuring their workforce to give workers 29 1/2 hours so they don’t have to provide them health care,” Trumka said.

He continued, explaining that certain employers are taxing non-profit plans to pay for for-profit plans.

“[The law] is sound,” he quickly added, “the country surely needs something done with health care, the millions of people that don’t have health care should have health care as a matter of right, the Act is a good first step.”

“It just needs to be tweaked right now to make it better,” he said.

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(H/T: Weasel Zippers) Featured image Getty Images.

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