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Transportation Centers Workers Tell Lawmakers at Town Hall
of Challenges Accessing Health Insurance
State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, Assembly Member Alicia Hyndman and 32BJ SEIU President Hector Figueroa led the discussion on
providing benefits supplement compensation for transportation centers’ workers to use to acquire quality, affordable health insurance
Jordany Bueno, a 28-year-old La-
Guardia Airport wheelchair agent,
told a panel that his employer’s health
insurance is not an option to treat his
epilepsy because it is simply too expensive
but that the costs and expenses of
going without health insurance are piling
up.
“I had a seizure at work one day
and was rushed by ambulance to the
emergency room,” Bueno said. “The
ambulance bill alone came to $1,000.
I am still paying that and the hospital
bills. I kept getting bills and bills.”
State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi and
Assembly Member Alicia Hyndman
have introduced the landmark Healthy
Terminals Act bills to provide workers
benefits supplement compensation
that thousands of workers at New
York’s transportation hubs can use to
acquire this health insurance. If the
bills become law, they would apply to
workers at the John F. Kennedy International
Airport, LaGuardia Airport,
New York Stewart International Airport,
the Port Authority Bus Terminal,
Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central
Station.
“At the airports, we fought long
and hard to improve our wages and we
finally won,” Bueno continued. “But
one of the unintended consequences of
our victory is that I am no longer eligible
for the city health insurance that
I was using to get treatment and pay all
the expenses for my epilepsy medications.
“I see my doctor every three
months. That is $125 each visit. My
epilepsy medication, plus a calcium
supplement to beat back lupus, which
is a possible side effect of the medication,
cost me $75 discounted. I also get
terrible headaches, another side effect
of the epilepsy. It costs $200 to get the
medication for the headaches. I take a
blood test every three months so my
doctor can calibrate my epilepsy medication.
There is a cost for that. I also
have to have annual MRI and other
scans, which I’ve been putting off, because
of the costs.”
Bueno was one of the workers who
spoke at a Queens town hall today convened
by lawmakers to address challenges
workers at New York transportation
hubs face trying to acquire the
quality, affordable health insurance
they desperately need while working in
public service, high interaction jobs.
32BJ SEIU President Hector
Figueroa pointed out one study that
showed four out of 10 Americans say
they couldn’t pay for a bill of $400 or
more if they had an unexpected medical
expense, and the same goes for Terminal
workers.
“A large share of workers in this
country have medical debt which
leads to financial hardship, including
bad credit scores that inhibit working
families and poverty that further cripples
our communities,” Figueroa said.
“The New York Healthy Terminals Act
will get workers at these vital transportation
centers out of this morass
and provide a path to achieving quality,
affordable health insurance.”
Workers at the town hall shared
personal stories of crushing debt and
struggles to find quality, affordable
health insurance in New York City.
Juniya Montomery, a 55-year-old
wheelchair agent, said he took his job
at JFK Airport two years ago specifically
because he wanted health insurance.
“Before I became eligible for my
company’s insurance, I had not been
to a doctor in six years,” he said. “I
felt I had to look out for my health. I
had never had any of the screening
and tests that a man my age was supposed
to have had. No screening for
colon cancer, diabetes, prostate, heart,
whatever.”
He took his employer’s health insurance
as soon as he became eligible
on January 1, 2018.
“My company’s health insurance
cost me $58.85 each pay period,” Montomery
said. “That’s $235.40 during a
four-week month and $294.25 in a fiveweek
month. That plan, I believe, has a
$5,000 deductible. So, that’s more than
$10,000 before I can get meaningful
healthcare. It is unaffordable but I take
it and pay for it because my health is a
priority for me right now.”
Horace Foster, 61, battled depression
and homelessness before undergoing
chemotherapy treatment for throat
cancer last year. He said he has the opposite
problem to Montomery.
“I don’t have health insurance because
I cannot afford my employer’s
plan,” he said. “I don’t want to be sick
again. I don’t want to be depressed
again. I don’t want to be homeless again.
But, without health insurance, like the
one being proposed in the Healthy Terminals
Act, I am afraid that all those
things may be in my future.”
The lawmakers discussed how
transportation center workers could
use their proposed law to address the
health insurance challenges they described.
“Why fight for economic justice
only to have the lack of quality, affordable
health insurance push you back
into poverty?” Sen. Biaggi asked. “A
stable, trained, experienced workforce
that knows the facilities, protocols, and
chain of communication is essential to
the safe and secure operation of New
York’s major transportation centers.
That is why we introduced in the New
York State Senate and the Assembly
the New York Healthy Terminals Act.”
Assembly Member Hyndman said
the new New York Healthy Terminals
Act will establish higher minimum
standards for pay and benefits—including
healthcare, holidays and vacations—
at travel hubs across the city.
Starting Sept 1, 2020, the new law
will establish an employer-paid benefits
supplement that has already been
proven effective with the Service Contract
Act, which currently provides
$4.48, with small annual increases.
Worker could then use this $4.48 for
health insurance or employees working
under collectively bargained contracts
could negotiate to use this supplement
to provide affordable, quality
health insurance directly.
“I stand with the members of 32BJ
SEIU in their fight for affordable and
adequate healthcare insurance. As one
of the largest transit hubs in the world,
New York needs a well-equipped,
healthy workforce to support our local
economy,” Assemblywoman Hyndman
said. “By establishing minimum wage
rates to assist with the high costs of
healthcare, the New York Healthy Terminals
Act would improve retention,
lower turnover and create an environment
where experienced workers can
envision long-term success.”
With 175,000 members in 11 states,
including 9,000 airport workers in New
York and New Jersey, 32BJ SEIU is the
largest property service workers union
in the country.
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