Should business being paying for health care at all?
Why should business be expected to pay for their worker's health care? In all other countries, the government does this. With the cost so high, doesn't that put US businesses at a competitive disadvantage? Isn't that why businesses are dropping health care benefits like ballasts from a hot air balloon because it just drags them down? Don't all these "reform" proposals, requiring business coverage, institutionalize what is becoming an outdated custom? Is single payer really socialism? Or is it actually the only way to get health care off the backs of businesses?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Everett Pollard on -
Hi Bob - I have had my own small business for 33 years and it has been a terrible struggle to find health insurance for my wife and me, as well as our employees. Last year in the face of huge premium increases on our HMO plan, we switched to a HSA type of insurance with $5K deductables for individuals and $10K for couples and families. Guess what? Our HSA premium has gone up 47.6% and our dental up 50%!! In one year!! In NH, we have only 4 companies that offer health insurance down from about 25 in the mid 90's which limits any sort of competition. From my perspective, we have made obtaining health insurance as complicated as we can. Why are insurance companies regulated by each state with hugely differing restrictions? Why can we only buy insurance within our state? Why are businesses expected to provide and pay for some portion of health insurance? Why not buy it from any company across the nation? Why not buy it much as we do car insurance or homeowners insurance? Frankly, I would be interested in seeing an honest discussion of the costs of a single payer system since we now spend 18 or 19% of our GNP on health "care" now and the most expensive single payer program in any other country is less than half of that. Logically, we should be able to cut costs with a single payer system, make our population healthier and more secure, and make our businesses, large and small, more competative.
I just don't get the opposition to a single payer system since we already insure a significant portion of our population through government programs now like the VA, Medicare and healthy kids programs. Why not simply make Medicare available to all? I don't see any movement among seniors to "free" themselves" from that "socialist" program. Just the contrary - They want to keep it. It works! Certainly Medicare for all could be properly funded with all that money that we now spend on health care now in various ways. My 2 cents!
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Permalink Reply by Bob Sanders on -
I think your 2 cents is worth a dollar. But single payer has been off the table from the get go. I don't get why insurance companies don't like single payer. They would be put out of business. But I don't get why businesses who are paying through the nose for health insurance don't want it. Do they like paying these premiums. I mean whatever you have to pay in taxes to run a single-payer system couldn't be as bad as those premiums, could they? Just imagine, no premiums, no scrambling with insurance agents. Just imagine no dealing with your workers getting denied benefits. Just imagine not spending all that time explaining a complicated options to your staff. Just imagine letting the government take the heat for premium increases, rather than you. I better stop myself. I'm sounding like John Lennon. Someone else kick in, and tell me why single payer is bad for businesses.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Gaydos on -
Hi Bob and Everett,
There is in fact a problem in this country with rising costs of health care. Everett you have seen it first hand in your company. There are many reasons for this, one as Everett cited is competition. NH has very few carriers, therefore there is not enough choice to drive down costs. There is also a hidden reason behind these increases. Brokers. Almost all brokers are paid commissions based on plan premium. Most employers will not see this commission number (usually 3-5%) because it is built into the rate.
Let's think about this for a second. If you are a broker and health plans are rising at 3 times the rate of inflation, why would you care? The more the health plan costs go up, the more you get paid.
I am an employee of BGNE, we are an employee benefits consultants. Technically we are brokers, however we do not charge this commission, we charge fees. This way we are able to negotiate rates with these carriers without seeing our bottom line depleted, and the bottom line of our clients.
So why do most employers pay their brokers these commissions? The answer is most employers don't realized they do.
To sound off on the single payer system, yes the employer is free of paying costs however the costs still have to be paid, and they will still be rising. And if the government is the one who has to pay, then in turn we all still pay, most commonly through taxes. While a single payer, or many of the reforms being debated in congress well intentioned they simply do not fix the real problem. The cost. What drives down cost the most is simply more competition.
Everett also, an HRA is much more cost effective than an HSA. HRA is a promise to pay, while an HSA has funds that automatically become the employees to take with them and use however they wish. An employer can fund each account with say, $2,000. In an HSA, that money is gone. With an HRA, the employee will use on average 50% of the funds.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Boilard on -
Definitely not in favor of a single payer system.... especially if that payer is going to be the US Government. Everything they get their hands on is OVER budget and bankrupt. What needs to happen is to allow all carriers to practice in all 50 states – this will reduced cost by 50% right away… FREE ENTERPRISE is the name of the game and is what made this country great.... States like NH where Lynch and Sheehan has booted everyone except a small few that give their kickbacks.... We need tort reform.... WE DON'T NEED, nor does socialized medicine work.
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Permalink Reply by Everett Pollard on
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Hi Bob (Boilard) - I am an entrepeneur and certinaly believe in the free enterprise system . . . for most things. But there are some instances where society needs to provide services that are not based on enterprise, but are needed for the common good. Defense and secuity are examples and I believe that health care is another.
But back to your point that "free enterprise is the name of the game" and the only way to address social problems. Consider General Motors, Chrysler, AIG Insurance, Bear Stearns, Circuit City, Frontier Airlines, Hospital Partners of America, Lehman Brothers, Linens 'n' Things, Sharper Image, Tribune Co. (media), Tropicana (casinos), and Washington Mutual (banking) all of which, along with nearly 100,000 other private enterprises, filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and 2009. (Thanks to Anthony Roisman, Valley News Forum, for the list) And now Fairpoint. What price are we all paying for their "free" enterprise?
Simplistic generalizations don't address the real issues. Our capitalistic system should not reject the government role, but include it as part of the solution where appropriate. Let's agree that there is a serious issue with the current cost and availibility of proper health care and that there's way too much at stake to not find an equitable solution.
Robert Boilard said:Definitely not in favor of a single payer system.... especially if that payer is going to be the US Government. Everything they get their hands on is OVER budget and bankrupt. What needs to happen is to allow all carriers to practice in all 50 states – this will reduced cost by 50% right away… FREE ENTERPRISE is the name of the game and is what made this country great.... States like NH where Lynch and Sheehan has booted everyone except a small few that give their kickbacks.... We need tort reform.... WE DON'T NEED, nor does socialized medicine work.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Harvey on -
I'm in agreement with Everett. My wife and I are also small business owners. Every year when we look at the premium for our health insurance, a high deductible plan with an HSA, I shake my head in disbelief. We employ 35 people and providing health care is becoming a luxury we can not afford. In most cases government should be held in check but health care is an instance where society needs to provide services for the common good. It is a burden that can no longer be placed on the backs of small business and it is not acceptable to let families go with out health insurance. I don't know if a single payer system is the best option but something must be done to make health care affordable without it being subsidized by your employer.
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