This is most likely going to sound like insane troll logic, but I'm giving it a whirl.
Can't you just have taxes raised to pay for health care?
Sigh. If it only it were that simple. Bush, Bush Sr., and Reagan were all elected based on their promise not to raise taxes. Bush got approval because he cut taxes.
There is apparently nothing Americans hate more than taxes. We have a long violent history regarding this topic. Boston Tea Party ring any bells? Heck even the Civil War was partly about taxes. Talk to any American and the first thing they do? Complain about their taxes - have you noticed how many people on your flist (Americans) whine about doing their taxes? We all think we pay too much. (I pay city, state, federal and railroad, along with railroad medicare, and railroad social security - which is the same that congress pays and is higher than normal social and medicare. Most people pay property, car, state, and federal - some may do city.)
It's bizarre that a capitalistic society would force health care costs onto businesses, wouldn't they be more competitive without having to pay that for their employees?
Some companies don't pay, actually. And some pay - but very little. The dwindling health care benefit has become a huge problem and is most likely the reason universial health care has come up again as a viable issue (which it wasn't ten years ago, when most companies could afford to pay this benefit and stay competitive). In fact its gotten so bad, some employees have decided it is cheaper to purchase their own than to go through the company's plan.
What the companies do is they require that their employees contribute or carry a portion of the cost. One companies I worked for required that I pay at least 40%. Another gave me a choice - I got to choose which deductible - a low one with a limited number of doctors ( HMO), a high one with an unlimited range of doctors( PPO), or Total Blue - a nice cheap plan for employers in which the employee basically puts their money in what can best be described as a savings account reserved for health care expenses - you put $2000 to start and it goes down over time. All pre-tax, so you take your gross down a bit and save on federal taxes. The company contributes to it, but very very little.
By the way - health care benefits are considered part of a person's total compensation in the US. Some company's who can afford the benefit or choose to provide it - have been known to give you say a much lower salary (like the last place I worked which paid $10,000 less than market value but included stock options and free health insurance) but give you your health care benefits for free. No deductible. All you have to do is a cheap co-pay of $20 per doctor visit and maybe $5 for pharmaceuticals. The company can attract qualified people but at a lower salary,which keeps them competitive. And - many employees will stay with a company longer because of their need for the insurance - cuts down on turn-over. (Didn't work at the last place I was at, but is definitely a factor at the place I'm at now.)
And yes, Health insurance is a huge business. At the moment it is amongst the few that are still doing well on the NY Stock Exchange. When you have a moment - go check out WLP (Wellpoint) on NY Times.com stock - last I checked it was up 86, it may be at 75 a share now. That's amazing, when you think how low everyone else is. Wellpoint (the nation's largest health care company) made a little over a billion last year and employs close to 40,000 people across the country. How'd they do this? They acquired the Blue Cross/Blue Sheilds - which were once "non-profit" entities and became "for profit" so they could become more efficient and make lots of money (or that was the reason my company, which was one of those Blues gave me.)
Businesses and Health Care
Can't you just have taxes raised to pay for health care?
Sigh. If it only it were that simple. Bush, Bush Sr., and Reagan were all elected based on their promise not to raise taxes. Bush got approval because he cut taxes.
There is apparently nothing Americans hate more than taxes. We have a long violent history regarding this topic. Boston Tea Party ring any bells? Heck even the Civil War was partly about taxes. Talk to any American and the first thing they do? Complain about their taxes - have you noticed how many people on your flist (Americans) whine about doing their taxes? We all think we pay too much. (I pay city, state, federal and railroad, along with railroad medicare, and railroad social security - which is the same that congress pays and is higher than normal social and medicare. Most people pay property, car, state, and federal - some may do city.)
It's bizarre that a capitalistic society would force health care costs onto businesses, wouldn't they be more competitive without having to pay that for their employees?
Some companies don't pay, actually. And some pay - but very little. The dwindling health care benefit has become a huge problem and is most likely the reason universial health care has come up again as a viable issue (which it wasn't ten years ago, when most companies could afford to pay this benefit and stay competitive). In fact its gotten so bad, some employees have decided it is cheaper to purchase their own than to go through the company's plan.
What the companies do is they require that their employees contribute or carry a portion of the cost. One companies I worked for required that I pay at least 40%. Another gave me a choice - I got to choose which deductible - a low one with a limited number of doctors ( HMO), a high one with an unlimited range of doctors( PPO), or Total Blue - a nice cheap plan for employers in which the employee basically puts their money in what can best be described as a savings account reserved for health care expenses - you put $2000 to start and it goes down over time. All pre-tax, so you take your gross down a bit and save on federal taxes. The company contributes to it, but very very little.
By the way - health care benefits are considered part of a person's total compensation in the US. Some company's who can afford the benefit or choose to provide it - have been known to give you say a much lower salary (like the last place I worked which paid $10,000 less than market value but included stock options and free health insurance) but give you your health care benefits for free. No deductible. All you have to do is a cheap co-pay of $20 per doctor visit and maybe $5 for pharmaceuticals. The company can attract qualified people but at a lower salary,which keeps them competitive. And - many employees will stay with a company longer because of their need for the insurance - cuts down on turn-over. (Didn't work at the last place I was at, but is definitely a factor at the place I'm at now.)
And yes, Health insurance is a huge business. At the moment it is amongst the few that are still doing well on the NY Stock Exchange. When you have a moment - go check out WLP (Wellpoint) on NY Times.com stock - last I checked it was up 86, it may be at 75 a share now. That's amazing, when you think how low everyone else is. Wellpoint (the nation's largest health care company) made a little over a billion last year and employs close to 40,000 people across the country. How'd they do this? They acquired the Blue Cross/Blue Sheilds - which were once "non-profit" entities and became "for profit" so they could become more efficient and make lots of money (or that was the reason my company, which was one of those Blues gave me.)
TBC