Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/117852
59. Poorer health barometers (such as lower life expectancy) than countries with national health systems 60. Patients delaying preventive care or necessary treatment due to high cost, leading to medical complications 61. Hospital price gouging, billing additional charges for labs, services, and personnel, often without advance patient consent 62. ���Non-pro���t��� hospital chains exploiting tax-exempt status for ���nancial gain that vastly exceeds what they provide in community bene���ts or charity care 63. Medical credit screening being used to track patients based on ability to pay, including requiring advance payment from those least able to pay 64. Healthcare tourism, i.e. patients going out of the county for care 65. Federal government tying reimbursement to ���patient satisfaction��� scores 66. Hospitals subcontracting travel nurses from outside companies rather than employing RNs directly 67. Increased mergers and acquisitions by big corporate hospital chains resulting in fewer independent and locally-controlled hospitals 68. Hospital and emergency room closures 69. Privatization of public health facilities and services 70. Pro���table hospital units being moved to independent medical specialty centers to extract concessions from unions based on budgetary considerations or to justify closing a hospital completely 71. Establishment of for-pro���t non-acute medical specialty centers to increase pro���ts by evading public oversight 72. Private equity ���rms buying hospitals to squeeze them for pro���ts, then leaving them drowning in debt 73. Inadequate funding for county and state hospitals and clinics 74. Private hospitals dumping low-income patients on underfunded public hospitals 75. Nurse executive organizations claiming to speak and legislate on behalf of directcare RNs 76. ���Nurse leaders��� disdainful of directcare nursing 77. Differentiated practice and ANA campaign for requiring BSNs 78. State nursing boards being stacked with employer representatives to reverse RN licensure and practice protections 79. Push for national Compact State Licensure to lower standards for all RNs to lowest state requirements NOVEMBER 2012 80. Expansion of scope of practice for LVNs/LPNs and unlicensed staff at the expense of RN scope and jobs, as well as patient safety 81. Layoffs and hiring freezes dictated by budget goals, not patient need 82. Hospitals trying to erode the public���s trust in RNs with ad campaigns attacking RNs as overpaid or unreasonable 83. Loss of collective voice through erosion of union rights 84. Non-RN unions seeking to represent RNs, resulting in low priority for RN practice and workplace needs 85. Weak and partner healthcare unions undermining RNs by accepting concessionary contracts 86. Cuts in nursing programs and reduced access for low-income nursing students 87. Private nursing education increasing debt for new RNs 88. Unemployment among nursing school graduates 89. Corruption of the democratic process by corporate/wealthy spending on lobbying and elections 90. Elimination of public regulatory oversight 91. Nurses supporting extended family members due to the economic crisis 92. Declining health due to economic crisis job loss, home foreclosure, high medical bills, and poor nutrition 93. Environmental degradation increasing preventable illnesses 94. Budget cuts for Medicaid and public health programs 95. Campaigns to cut and privatize Medicare and Social Security 96. Deep, widespread cuts in mental health services 97. Anti-union ���right-to-work��� laws being extended to more states 98. Weak labor law penalties for employers who violate worker rights 99. Growth of healthcare anti-union industry, including management attorneys, consultants, and strike replacement ���rms 100. Prevalence of labor-management partnerships in which unions advocate for employers and against the interests of workers and the public 101. Lack of nurses and women generally in leadership roles RoseAnn DeMoro is executive director of National Nurses United. W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G The Case for a Stronger National Nurses Movement Over the past few years, we have seen a sharp escalation of employer assaults, especially on patient protections and nurses��� health coverage and retirement security, as well as on other standards nurses have fought for decades to achieve. This escalation has coincided with the economic crisis, growing income disparity, and increased political and economic clout for the one percent on Wall Street and in corporate board rooms, including those of hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare employers. The signs are widespread���from uncompromising demands for unprecedented concessions in bargaining to legislative attacks on collective bargaining rights in state after state, to increased discipline and threats against even long-term nurses, to more coercion of nurses and other employees seeking democratic union rights. We know the pressure on those without a union voice for protection, the disparities and denials of rights they face daily, and the sacri���ce demanded of them are far worse. In the 25-plus years I have been honored to be a director in an RN organization, what has echoed loudly and profoundly for me is how unjust the daily struggle is for RNs and how little they can take home after a lifetime of caring for others. It is disgraceful when supervisors tell RNs they do not need a union, that their professional status will be reward enough. It���s a lie, a horrendous lie with deadly consequences perpetrated by supervisors who are doing the bidding of rich corporate of���cers and investors.��And these supervisors come and go with good bonuses while the RN is so often left with nothing. All RNs must demand a decent life with fair compensation to support themselves and, increasingly, their families, with good health coverage, a secure retirement plan, and a therapeutic, effective work environment where they can fully advocate for their patients, which means safe working conditions free of harassment and intimidation. For far too many RNs across this land, every day is a struggle to ���ght for decent care for their patients, themselves, and their communities. For that reason, and because we are ���ghting the clock against aggressive employers who increasingly put their bottom line ahead of nurses, patients, and our communities, and because we live in a society where worker rights and a caring culture often look like endangered species, we need to take the next step. We have no time to lose in building National Nurses United and unifying all nurses behind one, powerful voice and movement. ���RAD N AT I O N A L N U R S E 9