Senator Ed Kennedy has proposed a bill that "would require employers with 15 or more employees to offer seven sick days to their workers, who could use the days for a medical condition or to take care of a sick family member." He's onto a real problem. In our ongoing study of people losing their homes to foreclosure, we are finding that missing work for medical emergencies is one of the primary causes. (The lost wages may be even bigger than the medical expenses themselves.)

Kennedy's bill might just be the gap-filler that people need between full employment and disability insurance, which may come too late. Below the fold -- a few words from the homeowners themselves, and some analysis from me.

Here are a few relevant snippets from the respondents in our study:

My husband had surgery in April – and we got behind on our bills – since he is in plumbing and his work is physical – he did not work a few months. We are trying to work out something with option not to foreclose with our mortgage company.

In November, our daughter who has bipolar disorder was suspended form school for 45 days. I could not work during the daytime because of tutoring appointments and fear of a bipolar episode – there were frequent visits to the crisis center about 1 ever other week, she was hospitalized in April, we tried the work out program but fell behind yet again.

My husband has been unable to work for almost a year and I only gross $24,000 per year. He has degenerative disk disease, just had surgery [] and will be laid up 3 months.

These people would have needed more than seven days of compensation to avoid foreclosure, but imagine the fate of a renter living month-by-month who misses a week's work. Of course, Social Security provides some disability insurance, but as another respondent explains, it can take months to kick in.

I fell behind on my mortgage because in January of 2006 because my husband was injured in a car accident and went out on disability. We lost our income due to this accident. We have been waiting for the disability check to come, but the mortgage co. won’t work with us. I asked them to backload the payments but they wouldn’t. I still don’t know what to do.

So Kennedy's proposal for seven days may not be enough to make a difference for these people, but seven days is surely better than nothing. We also don't know how much this mandate will cost in terms of lower wages, higher prices, lower profits, or fewer jobs in America.

Alternatively, the federal government could provide this sort of insurance directly, by creating a new social security program in which workers were required to bank some of their pay, for withdrawal in times of medical crisis. Yet, nobody wants their payroll taxes to be hiked. This sort of employer mandate is another way to achieve the same goal.

Large questions loom. Nonetheless, this proposal moves the debate forward to address real problems facing real Americans.

(Thanks to my co-author Richard Egelhof for compiling these snippets. Look for the full, published report of our study this fall.)