CEA Executive Director Leading Voice for Appropriate Funding of Health Care Reform

CEA Executive Director John Yrchik being interviewed by an AP reporter.

John Yrchik, CEA’s Executive Director, has become an outspoken advocate on the national and state scene for national health care reform that is fair to public school teachers.  Yrchik was quoted in a New York Times article in October, and last week he was interviewed by the Associated Press (AP) for their upcoming Faces of Health Care interactive feature.

In his interview with the AP, Yrchik expressed his concerns about a proposed excise tax on high-cost insurance plans before the U.S. Senate.  Many factors influence the cost of teachers’ health plans, such as the experience ratings of their local insurance pools, the gender of plan participants, etc.

Listen to audio excerpts from Yrchik’s interview.

Yrchik talks about why good health coverage is fundamental to the teaching profession.  (58 seconds)

Yrchik describes why CEA’s largely female membership would be unfairly affected by the proposed excise tax. (37 seconds)

Yrchik explains how the simultaneous loss of stimulus money and proposed phasing in of the excise tax would really hurt local public schools. (41 seconds) 

CEA supports health care reform and believes it is vitally important for all Americans to have access to quality health insurance.  Yrchik points out, however, that the equitable way to fund health care reform is not on the backs of teachers and other members of the middle class.