[MBANurse]

Originally Posted by spacenurse

You are right. I apologize.
I assumed they were reacting reacting to decades of hospital management saying that nurses are a cost drain. In the 90's they laid off licensed nurses and hired people who weren't even certified nursing assistants as replacements.
(I think CNA certification should me the minimum required before providing nursing care)

I am not sure but they may be referring to this article:

Possibly; but even that article is an attack on medicare and not on the nurses' salaries. The article states several times that the high nursing salaries are needed to attract and maintain nurses because of the high cost of living in the area. They state that the problem is medicare and the designation of a "rural" area as to the problem.

In ANY health care facility; hospital or otherwise, labor is almost always going to be the highest cost. It stands to reason then that if there is a high cost of living; the cost of labor is going to cost more than places where the cost of living is lower. The article even states that SF-Bay nurses may make more... but because of the "urban" designation medicare reimburses more per procedure or treatment.

The labor costs are going to hold true for any skilled position as well. I am willing to bet that other jobs in that area also pay more because of the high cost of living; not just nursing.

To me; this article is not an attack on nurses or even the nurses union... but again medicare.
The "rebuttal" that the CNA provided makes little or no sense imo.

This is how I read the article and CNA response....


Article: We have high labor costs because of the high cost of living... but because Medicare sucks in its ability to pay ... doctors are leaving and more expenses are paid by other insured patients!

CNA Response: Nurses are not the problem... we work very hard for our money. How dare you blame us! MEDICARE IS THE SOLUTION!

The article that I linked as well as the second one that you posted both state that poor payout by Medicare is problem... so in response the CNA states that we need to go to medicare for all?

As I stated earlier; I fail to understand why the CNA would propagate a system that will ultimately hurt the salaries of their "constituents" and end up costing taxpayers a fortune while at the same time; do very little, if anything, to improve the healthcare in the United States.

Remember- socialism just means that everyone is equal; that is, equally miserable.