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A ?master contract? between 1199SEIU and New York City?s largest private hospitals is set to expire on July 15th and the negotiations are already framed around the issue of who should bear the burden of the healthcare workers health insurance. Currently the 110,000 union members, who are nurses and healthcare support workers, receive comprehensive healthcare benefits for free, including no co-payments. The employer group, the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes of New York, says that the current cost is more than $900 million annually and is beginning to force the hospitals into uncomfortable cost choices. One proposal which both sides have begun analyzing would have 55,000 low-wage workers at nursing homes and long-term care facilities cover part of their insurance costs out of pocket, but the union membership has already expressed dissatisfaction. Other issues jockeying for airtime during the negotiations will likely be hospital executive pay, hourly workers wages, and increasing the proportion of the hourly workforce that is represented.