One can’t underestimate the power of the action Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, and his colleagues made last week with the passage of a Senate bill that aims to stop the taking of money from unsuspecting home health care workers in Michigan.

More than $29 million has been skimmed off the top of home health care worker paychecks since the Service Employees International Union pushed a unionization drive on them through a series of intricate and suspect dealings that took place under the governorship of Jennifer Granholm.

Think about that. With $29 million you could buy Michael Jordan’s suburban Chicago mansion. You could fly first-class to Rome at least 4,758 times.

Or you could line the pockets of union bosses for almost four years.

The Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill in June that would have ended the scam. It made its way to the state Senate where it was passed out of the Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee but languished because Senate leadership didn’t put it up for a vote.

In the nine-plus months the bill sat idle in the Senate, more than $4 million was taken from home health care workers.

Think about that. With $4 million you could buy premium single-game seats at Comerica Park for 47,058 games (553 years); or the most premium game suite at Ford Field at least 266 times (33 years).

Or you could line the pockets of union bosses.

Majority State Senate Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, on Thursday finally put the bill up for a vote — and then voted to stop the scam, saying he did so because he now realizes that the “vast majority” involved were relatives and friends caring for loved ones.

Better late than never.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair, Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who received $5,000 from the SEIU on the day in June that the House bill was sent to the Senate, still voted with the SEIU — the lone Republican to side with the union.

The newly passed Senate bill will go to the House where it surely will pass given that it originally came from that chamber.

Then it’s on to the governor.

The unions, predictably, are screaming and talking about suing. Perhaps doing so will shed some light on the dirty practices that have taken place.

This isn’t the first unionization scam to happen. Remember the daycare workers who were “unionized” also when Gov. Granholm was at the helm of Michigan? Gov. Snyder stopped that in its tracks.

If the unions were delivering a service that was worthy of the dues they charge, they wouldn’t have to organize workers surreptitiously. If union services were so fantastic for workers, then workers would line up to join unions. Unions wouldn’t be afraid of letting workers decide not to join. Unions would compete honestly and openly and be proud of the so-called services they deliver.

Instead, millions of dollars are taken from workers by unions that can’t — or won’t — publicly justify their existence or account for the millions they’ve taken from people, including those home health care workers who mostly had no idea they were part of a union.

Thankfully, Michigan Senate leaders finally took this issue seriously and took action.

Let’s hope this kind of scam doesn’t happen again.

The unionized maintenance workers for the Brighton Area Schools pay between $400 to $600 a year for their top-shelf MESSA health insurance plan, far less than what most private sector workers pay.

Taxpayers by way of the school district pay $1,411 a month for the unionized maintenance workers' plan and absorb up to 12 percent of the yearly increases, according to the Brighton Educational Support Personnel Association’s contract, which expires in 2013.

Brighton privatized its unionized janitorial workers two years ago. The unionized maintenance workers include electricians and plumbers who receive MESSA, which is affiliated with the Michigan Education Assocation and considered the Cadillac of insurance programs.

Although those types of deals are less prevalent than they once were, taxpayers have yet to realize the full impact of Gov. Rick Snyder’s law that required public employers to pay no more than 80 percent of the annual cost of medical benefits.

While school districts have to implement the 80-percent mandate once union contracts expire, municipalities have the ability to opt-out.

For example, Salem Township employees do not contribute to health insurance premiums, says Robert Heyl, the Salem Township supervisor. The Salem Township board voted to exempt their employees from the state’s mandated cost-sharing program.

But there could be financial consequences if that continues into 2013.

Ken Silfven, deputy press secretary for Gov. Snyder, said in an email that what is being proposed is that municipalities that opt out could see a 10-percent cut in statutory revenue sharing fiscal year 2013.

But some unions aren't accepting the changes and Dearborn is facing legal action for trying to implement the 80 percent mandate.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly said his city wanted to institute the state’s cost-sharing plan as soon as possible.

The city of Dearborn intended to begin collecting premiums from all full-time employees covered by city health insurance beginning January 1, said Mary Laundroche, the city’s spokeswoman. However, two city unions filed lawsuits saying the 80/20 plan shouldn’t begin until their contracts with the insurer expires July 1, 2012.

Currently, insurance benefits per public-sector employee are $7,149 more per year than in the private sector. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average Michigan private-sector workers pays 22 percent of their health care, and the average for federal employees in Michigan is about 25 percent.

“The reason taxpayers won’t immediately benefit from this fiscally sound policy is that lawmakers decided to allow union contracts for government employees to trump state law for the time being,” said Michael Van Beek, education policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, in an email.