Healthcare Workers Strike Against HMO
About 1,700 nurses and other healthcare workers at clinics in western Washington formed picket lines to start a five-day strike against Group Health Cooperative -- one of the nation’s oldest HMOs -- over the cost of their own health benefits.
Nurses, medical assistants, therapists and others represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1199 get benefits with no premiums or deductibles. They make $5 co-payments for office visits and prescriptions. Group Health, started in 1947, wants to raise co-payments to $15, institute deductibles and charge premiums.
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