Positive Changes in New Health Care Law

CWA played a big part in getting health care reform through Congress, and President Obama invited CWA President Larry Cohen to the White House for the official bill signing to recognize that hard work.

"After decades of working for quality health care for all, this bill moves us forward and provides a framework for future improvements," Cohen said.

Through CWA's Health Care SIF campaign, thousands of CWAers called, wrote, participated in town hall meetings and visited their members of Congress. They told their senators and representatives how they worried about skyrocketing health care costs and whether they would be able to maintain their health care benefits.

They talked about how being laid off meant losing affordable health care. Retired workers wondered how they would pay sky-high premiums until they were eligible for Medicare, or how they would afford their prescription drugs when they reached the "donut" hole in Medicare's drug coverage.

Health care reform takes away a lot of these worries for working families. How? Keep reading.

What Does Health Care Reform Do For Me? And When?

1. Children can continue to be covered by their parents' health insurance until their 26th birthday, instead of being forced off the plan by age 19. When? IN SIX MONTHS.

2. Insurance companies cannot exclude children under age 19 from health care coverage because of pre-existing conditions. When? IN SIX MONTHS.

3. Insurance companies cannot charge higher rates for women, whether they're covered by an employer's plan or have individual coverage. When? IN SIX MONTHS.

4. Adults who can't get insurance because of a preexisting condition can buy into a national pool until the exchanges start operating in 2014. When? IN 90 DAYS.

5. Insurance companies can't cancel your policy because you get sick. When? IN SIX MONTHS.

6. Insurance companies can't put a lifetime limit on your medical coverage. When? IN SIX MONTHS.

7. Retired workers who have hit the Medicare "donut hole," the gap in benefits that hurts millions of seniors, will receive a $250 rebate. When? THIS YEAR.

8. "Donut hole" completely gone in 2016.

Tell Congress: A Working NLRB is a Top CWA Priority

CWAers are on the phone to their members of Congress, urging them to sign on to Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard's letter that calls on President Obama to make recess appointments of Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board.

So far, more than 100 U.S. representatives have signed on. With a March 25 deadline, CWA activists are working the phones, to let their representatives know that this is a top priority for CWA.

What's our message to Congress? Workers need a fully functioning NLRB. There are just two members now and that has delayed justice for workers and made a huge backlog of cases even worse.

With Senate Republicans continuing a campaign to stall these nominations, the only way to get a functioning majority on the NLRB is for President Obama to make appointments over the Easter congressional recess.