Recovery redux
I also see, via Macaronies, that 43.6 million Americans don't have health insurance-- an increase of 2.4 million over last year. Though this is short of the 1998 high, this kind of sucks. The main cause is that employers are finding new and exciting ways to deny their workers health care (extending the part-time designation, or just flat out not having a health plan), and the secondary cause is rising unemployment.
Some, like my esteemed coblogger, see this as inherent in the system. I see this as a problem that bears addressing. Basic health care is so simple, and so important, [update: and so expensive!!] that the Good Old Liberal Try seems attractive to me in this case. What do we do? What DO we do?
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Hey, here's a thought. When
Hey, here's a thought. When you want to talk about an anti-business-development problem of massive nature, why not start with health care?
It is incredibly difficult for a company to provide health care to its employees. The costs have escalated dramatically (like almost 50%) over the past couple of years.
Using the "corporation" as an organizing group for the purposes of negotiating health care is STUPID. Employers change, grow, shrink, and move around.
I'm not saying you have to take it away. It's fine for those who want it, and those companies that _choose_ to provide it.
Rather, I'm saying that there should be other units of organization. Why not have a Fairfax County Heath Plan? FC negotiates a good rate. Anybody in FC is welcome to join the plan. FC acts like a corporation in this regard -- it becomes an organizing group. It selects from the available health plans and makes that group rate available. FC might not subsidize the rate at all.
Any local government can do this _instantly_ by informing its insurance company that forthwith, the plan will have to be made available to any resident of the area. That resident will have to pay the full cost of it, but it's available.
If these kinds of plans spring up everywhere, it'll get control over what's going on.
Even insurance co-ops could
Even insurance co-ops could work, were the laws amenable to that sort of thing.
Ross, that seems like a
Ross, that seems like a REALLY good idea.