Executive Director of America’s Agenda Mark Blum recently joined Dr. Stan Schwartz on his podcast, 360° of Healthcare with Dr. Stan, for an episode titled, Advanced primary care with concierge benefits isn’t just for the wealthy. Mark discussed how the collaboration between Labor-owned SolidaritUS Health, the United Auto Workers in Oklahoma, and Spirit Aerosytems has achieved remarkable reduction in company health costs, while producing impressive improvements in workers’ health.
In the conversation, Mark shared how unions continue to lead the way in developing, bargaining, and implementing workplace solutions that benefit all Americans.
Mark observed that SolidaritUS Health has applied America’s Agenda principles of advanced primary care design to provide working families concierge-level access to great care at a price point that employers can afford to offer to their workers. For example, SolidaritUS Health has eliminated patient deductibles and copays for accessing a full range of advanced primary care services, elective surgeries, lab tests, vaccinations, and scores of prescription medicines, while reducing overall employee health costs significantly. Union families are guaranteed same-day appointments and 24/7 urgent care access by mobile phone connections to their personal doctors – services only the wealthy could afford before.
“Everybody wins -- employers, workers and their families, their doctors, too," Mark noted. "But I don’t think innovation of this kind could have been possible if it weren’t designed and led by unions.”