Take Action
Stop Medicaid Fraud
For years we have been fighting in Olympia to stop hours cuts, keep health and dental insurance and ensure that a shrinking state budget doesn’t leave more seniors and people with disabilities without care and more caregivers without work.
But this week, we testified in two hearings in favor of a bill that would make sure Medicaid dollars are going to the people who really need them, not big pharmaceutical and healthcare companies trying to pad their profits by cheating the system.
These two bills, one each in the House and Senate, are designed to curb Medicaid fraud by drug companies that overcharge for medications or healthcare systems that fraudulently bill for services paid for by Medicaid. Instead of cutting services for our most vulnerable, we should be saving millions of dollars by eliminating fraud within the Medicaid system.
The public has demanded greater accountability and transparency, as part of I-1163, by setting up audits of the Long-Term Care program. That accountability should extend to all places where fraud is evident and costing the state money.
Send a letter to your legislator and tell them to fight wasteful fraud in the Medicaid system.
It was a busy week in Olympia, with a wet, but successful Lobby day on Tuesday, the Medicaid fraud bill, and attempts by a few legislators to actually extend a tax loophole indefinitely. See more about lobby day here.
While our state continues to struggle through a massive budget deficit, there are members of the legislature who think corporations deserve more tax breaks. They introduced two bills that would extend loopholes, leaving no accountability, and hand out more tax breaks to corporations. That is the kind of backward thinking that got us into this mess in the first place. We need our wealthy and corporations to pay their fare share, so that our most vulnerable don’t continue to lose services.
We are in a thick of a fight to get caregivers out of poverty, by ensuring wealthy pay their fare share, cleaning up fraud in the Medicaid system, and calling on our elected leaders to raise revenue, instead of slashing more vital services. Pharmaceutical and healthcare companies are trying to protect their profits just like big corporations are trying to keep their tax breaks and loopholes.
We have to stop them from doing it at the expense of the most vulnerable and hard-working caregivers across Washington state.
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Leaders in Action
Find The Role That’s Right For You!
Create change. Host a coffee. Exercise creativity. Advocate for Quality Care. Connect with Other Members.
Welcome to LEADERS IN ACTION. By participating in a union leadership position, you are contributing your skills, time and spirit to help our community of caregivers grow and thrive. Thank you for making SEIU Healthcare 775NW – and the experiences of other caregivers – a priority.
If you are interested in joining Leaders in Action, call our Member Resource Center toll-free at 1 (866) 371-3200 or fill out our online form today.
Member Political Organizer
Holding politicians accountable. Calling voters. Gathering signatures. You can do it!
Encourage other caregivers to become involved in the political process through electoral volunteer work and grass roots advocacy. Work on holding politicians accountable on behalf of caregivers at the local, state and national level.
Participate in any number of political activities, including our annual lobby day or meetings at the state capitol. Call prospective voters before elections, gather petition signatures, and go door-to-door on behalf of candidates who support our issues. Member Political Organizers (MPOs) also encourage other caregivers to join the political accountability fund.rough electoral volunteer work and grass roots advocacy. Work on holding politicians accountable on behalf of caregivers at the local, state and national level.
Host
Coffee get-togethers. New friends. Leading discussions. Your cup of tea?
Hosts organize neighborhood coffees, teas, house parties or picnics to bring caregivers together in an informal small-group setting. Through social activities, hosts build small, local communities of caregivers with similar interests.
Hosts are provided resources for their get-togethers. You may use your group time to learn about a particular union program or service.
Or, use the group to create a book-of-the-month talk, a weekly craft club, or hold a “conversation of the moment.” The frequency of get-togethers and the personality of the groups are up to each host.
Greeter
Phone calls. Welcoming caregivers. Providing resources. Is this you?
Welcome new caregivers to a supportive community through phone calls, letters, emails and community on our social networking web site www.myseiuhealthcare.org on your own time.
Greeters will be our union’s “first face” for new members and will encourage caregivers to participate in our union. Greeters will help members understand our union benefits, services and rights.
Greeters can introduce other caregivers to improvements won through union action, the history of our union victories, upcoming events and ways to get involved. This is a fun, easy-to-do position for members who prefer to volunteer from home.
Recruiter
Public speaking. Answering questions. Teaching. New employee orientations. Sound fun?
Encourage caregivers to join our union by attending new employee orientations and training. Recruiters are personable and have excellent relationship-building qualities and skills.
Recruiters are also “on the go” and travel to orientation sites or training. to help other caregivers get active in the union.
Recruiters answer new caregivers’ questions about our union. They also introduce caregivers to our political work and hold politicians accountable to their promises. Recruiters encourage other caregivers to contribute to our political accountability fund.
Bulletin Board Decorator
Update information. Keep up with news. Be creative. Up your alley?
Put your creativity and sense of style to work designing and updating union bulletin boards.
In the workplace, these bulletin boards provide essential information about our union and will include local resources and opportunities for members. Bulletin Board Decorators will make sure these boards maintain a fresh look and are continually updated with new information.
Your artistic and decorative skills will be important in making your bulletin board “one of a kind.” The bulletin board is an important channel of communication for caregivers. Your creativity will provide other caregivers a fun and easy way to access information.
Other Leadership Roles You Can Apply For
Apply and get involved
Advocate
The goal of an Advocate is to promote quality care in the workplace by building and maintaining a professional and productive relationship with management. The Advocate also provides contract support to all bargaining unit members.
Bargaining Team Member
The goal of the Bargaining Team Member is to represent the interests of long-term care providers at the negotiating table and to bargain a union contract between SEIU Healthcare 775NW and long-term care organizations. The Bargaining Team Member will update members on bargaining, and assist in turning out members to vote on the contract.
Labor Management Committee Member
The goal of the Labor Management Committee is to improve quality of care in the workplace by developing and maintaining a professional and productive relationship with management. Members of the Labor Management Committee will meet quarterly with management to discuss ways to improve resident care, staff satisfaction, staff involvement in care-related decisions, and any other issues the committee agrees to discuss.
Take action now: tell legislators to raise revenue and stop cuts
On January 9, the state Legislature returned to Olympia, facing the task of cutting more than $1.5 billion from the budget. That means legislators will consider a proposal to cut the reimbursement rate to home care agencies by $1 per hour, forcing many of them to close.
The calendar may have turned to January, but the devastating effect of these cuts remains. Some agencies would lose as much as a third of their budget, costing clients their services and caregivers their jobs.For the next 60 days, the Legislature needs to hear that we can no longer use an all-cuts approach to solve our budget crisis.
Tell legislators to raise revenue and stop the cuts.
Last month, when the legislature cut $500 million from the budget, they did it without presenting a plan to raise revenue. While long-term care was not part of that round of cuts, several vital programs are this time around.
That $1 per hour represents thousands of jobs. It represents services to thousands of clients. It represents people’s health and their livelihoods. Our legislature needs to know that these cuts affect, and hurt, real people.
Write a letter to your legislators. When it comes to cutting vital services, our most vulnerable just can’t afford it.