Business-Progressive Partnership for Health Care
Mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and AT&T, unions and progressive non-profits have announced a partnership called "Better Health Care Together" to deal with America's unaffordable health care crisis.
Compromises and negotiations between business and activists have a strong track record historically. For good or bad, American business is too big to be left off the political bargaining table. If it works, BHCT might make a great example of not sacrificing the good for the perfect.
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I beg to differ on your statement that compromises with big business have a strong track record. The only track record that has been of benefit to the American worker has been any program that doesn't compromise with big business.
The best programs for the American worker have always come from desperate struggles to defeat the interests of big business. Easy examples are 40 hour work weeks, mandatory overtime rules, safe working environments, retirement programs, and employer funded health care. Perhaps a simple lesson in the history of unionized labor will refresh your memory about the viability of compromise with big business.
The sticking point for business is mandatory contribution levels even from small business. Without employers being the primary contribution point, big business will be free to work the loopholes to their advantage. This loophole is currently the part time versus the full time employee. By requiring a level contribution, massive part time employers such as Wal-Mart will no longer have an incentive to manage employee benefits through shortened unlivable wage workweeks.
Can small business survive with such a policy? Absolutely as the playing field economically is spread across all businesses. In fact it may make small business more attractive to better employees as the lure of bigger business benefit packages is eliminated.
Government will also be required to regulate contributions and service providers and there is a successful model already in place through the government employee health benefit plan.
Big business will fight mandatory employee coverage but it is the only policy that works the best for the employee and the economy.
February 7, 2007 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
We cannot even begin to correct the runaway cost of healthcare and retirement until we are willing to face the facts eyeball to eyeball.
The recently published GAO 2006 Financial Report for the United States gives a loss for the year of $4,600,000,000,000 -- thats 4.6 trillion dollars. This corresponds to almost $3,000 a month for every full time worker in the US. Most of this is attributable to yearly increases in unfunded healthcare and retirement expenses.
We can't tax our way out of this -- there would be no income left to buy products and services and our economy would collapse.
We also can't "unfund" the programs. There is a reason why every other industrial country in the world (except South Africa) supplies health support for their citizens. Its because they know this is necessary for public stability. Here in the US, no one is denied service, but those without insurance use the most wasteful services such as city hospital emergency rooms long after their condition could have been properly addressed.
Sooooo -- what to do. We must rebuild the system from the ground up to increase quality life and career span.
Medicare to cover all citizens. The overhead cost of delivering medical services through Medicare is less than one third that of private insurers. Also, employees are thrown out of the workforce prematurely because of employer"s consideration of their effect on group health insurance rates. It has been shown that the health of such discarded employees deteriates prematurely.
Automation of the Health Delivery System. Place all prescriptions, diagnosis, test results etc. in a database. Computers can process information orders of magnitude more cheaply than humans. Also the computers could then assist with diagnosis, find drug incompatiblities and other trends long before they are detected today.
Extensive use of walk-in clinics to replace more expensive health care delivery options.
Go after preventative healthcare with a vengeance. Include education for healthy life styles in the schools. Require check ups of all individuals with computer monitoring of any at risk conditions.
Attack chronic diseases which account for over 75% of all health care expenses. A major federal effort to launch stem cell research with mandatory publication.
In 1950 to 1955, the average retirement age in the US was 67 years and in 1995 to 2000 had dropped to 62 years. Let's get this back on track in time!
February 11, 2007 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink