Robert Wood Johnson Univ Hospital Nurses to Strike

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Sep 12, 2006

maybe the reporter got it wrong, but about half of rwj nurses don't contribute anything towards their healthcare. those hired in the last few years pay the most - about $120/month for a family plan. no one pays anywhere near $200/month.

how would you know this inside information unless involved in rwj mgmt??? ....seen nothing in the press.

still does not address issues of:

a. lack of rwj medical professionals accepting facilites insurance.

b. high deductables and copays as forced to use outside physicians due to lack of specialists in network.

c. patien't right to choose health care provider------when you can't get appoint for 2-3 months, there is not choice if urgent concern.

d. patient privacy concerns.

part of my professional responsibilities is directing insurance verification clerks in my department and confirming homecare patients health care benefits.

re aetna:

seeing more aetna copays of $30.00/day even as high as $40.00/day copays plus $1,000.00 deductible with limit of 60 visits/calendar year.

aetna medicare patients have $20.00 copay per day for homecare past 2 years. if patients can't afford to pay $20.00 copay for medicine, they surely cannot pay for homecare, therefore provider eats the cost---or patients decline service and have higher rehospitalization rate.

if your benefits are low cause your job pays

great post slave_to_cats!

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Sep 12, 2006

How would you know this inside information unless involved in RWJ mgmt??? ....seen nothing in the press.

I've made critical comments in this thread about the strike, but I was thinking the SAME thing.

At least w/ over 3,000 posts over the last year and a half, nobody could argue that I only signed up to post comments in THIS thread.

And, it DID seem like that poster had some 'inside' info. Maybe some of that attempting to unduly influence union workers that the strikers are complaining about?

Especially since EVERY post ever made by that poster is in THIS thread. Even the ID lends to the belief that it's a throwaway ID for purposes of use ONLY in this thread.

Voice of Reason? Or Voice of the Bossman telling you goldbrickers to get back to work? Hmmmmmm.

~faith,

Timothy.

lee1 · Sep 12, 2006

Thank you Slave to Cats for the link!
To the writer, a critical care nurse, the right to advocate for his patients is the major issue.
...The hospital refused to include five lines on patient advocacy in the latest contract. Why? This patient-advocacy language is something all RNs should read every day before the start of their shift and is something all our nurse managers should have read before the strike began...
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/OPINION02/609090359/1080
The American Nurses Association's
Bill of Rights for Registered Nurses
"Nurses have the right to freely and openly advocate for themselves and their patients, without fear of retribution."
http://www.nursingworld.org/ajn/2001/nov/issues.htm

What five lines did he want to include. The ANA bill of rights for nurses includes 7 rights.

pickledpepperRN · Sep 12, 2006

What five lines did he want to include. The ANA bill of rights for nurses includes 7 rights.

I don't know. The letter stated, "The hospital refused to include five lines on patient advocacy in the latest contract."

The patient advocacy language from the previous contract.

I included the ANA Bill of Rights because I agree 100% with the ANA that nurses must have the right as well as the obligation to advocate for the best interest of their patients without retaliation.

I haven't seen their previous contract.

fedupnurse · Sep 12, 2006

The ANA can say we have the right to advocate without the fear of retribution but we do experience retribution each and every day! I guess many of you haven't been Disney-fied yet!! Just wait till that happens to those of you with a mind and a mouth. It's like a cult indoctrination!!! The bottom line is hospital executives expect nurses to give "perfect" care in far less than perfect circumstances. This is the newest trend just like re engineering was in the mid 90's. Smile and profess this is the best hospital in the world. This is exactly what most strikes revolve around-administrators want complete and total power over their staff.

I agree, when I read voice of reasons posts I began to get the stink of an executive!!!!!!!!

nyforlove · Sep 12, 2006

of course, "voice of reason" is a mgmt-operative...s/he confirmed that as soon as s/he posted yesterday afternooon:

"$500 - $700 doesn't sound so bad. didn't they already come down on what it used to be?"

come on, voice of reason, at least make yourself believable....but, if mgm't truly feels $500-$700 is a reasonable co-pay, then there is no question that they are out of touch w/people making hourly wages.

how would you know this inside information unless involved in rwj mgmt??? ....seen nothing in the press.
still does not address issues of:
a. lack of rwj medical professionals accepting facilites insurance.
b. high deductables and copays as forced to use outside physicians due to lack of specialists in network.
c. patien't right to choose health care provider------when you can't get appoint for 2-3 months, there is not choice if urgent concern.
d. patient privacy concerns.
part of my professional responsibilities is directing insurance verification clerks in my department and confirming homecare patients health care benefits.
re aetna:
seeing more aetna copays of $30.00/day even as high as $40.00/day copays plus $1,000.00 deductible with limit of 60 visits/calendar year.
aetna medicare patients have $20.00 copay per day for homecare past 2 years. if patients can't afford to pay $20.00 copay for medicine, they surely cannot pay for homecare, therefore provider eats the cost---or patients decline service and have higher rehospitalization rate.
if your benefits are low cause your job pays
great post slave_to_cats!

mrsmitty · Sep 12, 2006

The reduced deductibles are not that unreasonable. Really, how many non-emergent admissions is one likely to have. The dedectible can be covered on a pre-tax basis by contributing to the medical expense reimbursement plan.

Lets see, at least 3 weeks out of work, $4-5000 in lost wages, covers a lot of deductibles.

tridil2000, MSN, RN · Sep 12, 2006

The reduced deductibles are not that unreasonable. Really, how many non-emergent admissions is one likely to have. The dedectible can be covered on a pre-tax basis by contributing to the medical expense reimbursement plan.
Lets see, at least 3 weeks out of work, $4-5000 in lost wages, covers a lot of deductibles.

if rwj is not interested in negotiating in person, you're sure doing a heck of a job through all nurses!

btw, your headers can give away your server and where you're posting from.

just a heads up.

VOICE OF REASON · Sep 13, 2006

I don't have anything to do with hospital administration. I work at RWJ and only wish I made as much $$ as the average nurse there. ($42/hour!). I can see that having actual facts makes you all angry such as the fact that nearly half of RWJ nurses don't contribute anything to their healthcare. Facts can do that if they don't help with your argument. Hence the name calling. I've been called many things, and "executive" isn't nearly the worst. (By the way, the fact that newspapers haven't reported that most nurses pay nothing for health insurance doesn't mean your fellow RWJ employees don't know it. Who do you think pays more so you dont have to!) Name calling does not make me angry. What makes me angry is the unfair class system that RWJ has set up over the years where nurses get special treatment, unbelievable raises (27 percent was the average increase over the last contract), no contribution towards health insurance, and now they want a special health plan that just by the way happens to be run by their union, the United Steelworkers Union. Gee, I'm sure the union doesn't make any money off that. Call me all the names you want. But I remain the (Angry) Voice of Reason.

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Sep 13, 2006

I don’t have anything to do with hospital administration. I work at RWJ and only wish I made as much $$ as the average nurse there. ($42/hour!). I can see that having actual facts makes you all angry such as the fact that nearly half of RWJ nurses don’t contribute anything to their healthcare. Facts can do that if they don’t help with your argument. Hence the name calling. I've been called many things, and “executive” isn’t nearly the worst. (By the way, the fact that newspapers haven’t reported that most nurses pay nothing for health insurance doesn’t mean your fellow RWJ employees don’t know it. Who do you think pays more so you dont have to!) Name calling does not make me angry. What makes me angry is the unfair class system that RWJ has set up over the years where nurses get special treatment, unbelievable raises (27 percent was the average increase over the last contract), no contribution towards health insurance, and now they want a special health plan that just by the way happens to be run by their union, the United Steelworkers Union. Gee, I'm sure the union doesn't make any money off that. Call me all the names you want. But I remain the (Angry) Voice of Reason.

I'm worth twice what I'm paid. You eye our serious underpayment of worth because you have no idea what it takes to earn that money.

Hospitals don't exist for doctors. They have their offices. They don't exist for administrators. Hospitals exist for NURSING care. To the extent such a hospital makes its millions, the few dollars I get paid are so not enough.

And THAT's the bottom line.

I personally might not agree with the specific solution that the RWJ nurses are advocating, but I understand that their problems should be addressed. And I respect the fact that 1300 nurses can't all be wrong.

For what we do daily, 42 bucks an hour - an exaggeration to start with - is STILL chump change.

~faith,

Timothy.

oneLoneNurse · Sep 13, 2006

Well said, ZASHAGALKA !! Can't say I agree with you on most of your postings, BUT have to hand it to you on this on. I notice most if not all of your arguments are well thought out.

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Sep 13, 2006

I can argue --- DISCUSS --- things with my friends and peers. But, while I MIGHT feel entitled to express my opinions in our domain, I will absolutely close ranks against the outside.

Nurses don't just earn their keep: they earn it for EVERY employee of a hospital, from the CEO on down.

Without us, a hospital is just a building with a bunch of empty beds and turned off equipment.

Even to the EXTENT that RWJ is open for business during a strike, it is because of NURSES, whether they've crossed the line or donned scrubs instead of business suits.

Even as they engage in a strike, management can't HELP but value the roles of NURSES. Without THEM, even management would be on unemployment.

~faith,

Timothy.