SEIU opts out of ad campaign opposing tax on 'Cadillac' plans

"The healthcare negotiator for one of nation's most powerful unions made clear that it opposes a tax on high-cost-insurance plans, despite abstaining from an multi-union campaign objecting to the plan," The Hill reports. "The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was not among the 27 unions to sign on to an ad criticizing a proposed tax on 'Cadillac' insurance plans that was included in the Senate Finance Committee healthcare bill."

The ad, which ran in several newspapers, "was signed by the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the United Steelworkers, among others." Dennis Rivera, "SEIU's point man on healthcare," said that although his group was not a signatory, they are still "opposed and not open to the proposed tax" (Bogardus, 10/18).