We have all heard the argument for health reform….more insured people…healthier people….cheaper insurance….on and on….and yes we have all definitely heard the supposed downside if there is reform coming from the GOP mostly.
But with all said could there possibly be other benefits if health reform is passed?
Liz Wolgemuth writing for U.S. News And World Report:
If healthcare reform makes insurance much more affordable to individuals and businesses, it could result in a greater variety of career options for workers. For one thing, it would reduce barriers to entrepreneurship. Reform also could make it easier for workers to leave employers to whom they are “job-locked,” or committed to solely for health benefits–a situation more common to older workers and those with pre-existing conditions.
It also could ease one of the greatest obstacles to older workers’ job searches–even more pressing after nearly two years of recession and rocketing unemployment rates. “One of the long-standing barriers to hiring elderly workers is healthcare costs,” says David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Because rates are higher for smaller employers, “if that concern were taken off the table,” it would be easier for more businesses to hire older workers,
This would, in general, be a good thing for the economy. Workers who choose to stay with employers merely to receive health insurance are not ideal for employers, who benefit more from motivated and productive workers. At the same time, workers are not helped by staying in jobs so they can maintain their coverage. There is what Lahey describes as a “loss of well-being” when, say, an older worker is ailing but continues to work until he or she reaches 65 and can be covered by Medicare. Yet many workers, particularly low-income ones, feel that’s what they have to do.
Could there possibly be any disadvantage? There is ALWAYS going to be a disadvantage to any government reform.
Small businesses pay as much as 18 percent more than large firms for the same health insurance policy, according to the president’s Council of Economic Advisers. Employees at small businesses also tend to get leaner benefits packages and pay higher deductibles. “Small firms are likely to be at a competitive disadvantage in the market for hiring workers,” according to the council’s report. While Obama’s goal may be competitive parity, opponents to existing healthcare reform legislation have argued that payroll taxes to pay for more affordable healthcare or mandates for levels of coverage could be prohibitive for small businesses.
There you have a few good versus bad of any health reform…weigh that as you struggle to make any sense of the noise coming out of Washington during the health debate.
YOU SEE? THAT’S what bothers me about government run systems of any kind. You pay tax. If you have a job, your employer pays tax. If you work for a giant company they have thousands of employees, including accountants and bookkeepers and they’re much like the government and bogged down in red tape anyway… BUT, if you work for a small employer, you’ve paid your tax and he’s paid his tax and THEN they want to add a whole other type or layer of fucking TAX!!!!!!!!
What’s THAT about?
Believe me on this subject because I’ve BEEN a small employer in the UK and I KNOW! All the various taxes cost me almost AS MUCH AGAIN to administer and do the paperwork as the taxes themselves – how bloody stupid is that?????
Government: Charge me ONE tax, paid ONCE and then YOU chop it up and spend it on what you think is important, but DON’T tax me for this and that and a dozen other things all separately, because it just makes a huge amount of expensive extra work for me and creates HUGE departments to sift through the rainforests of paperwork it generates!
What a cock up this is going to be!
It’s SO simple too! Pay for basic essential healthcare for ALL American citizens of ALL ages and regardless of their states of health and ability to pay. Take the cost out of taxes already paid (increase them a touch if you really must) and sweep away ALL the legislative and administrative crap that costs the country propably half goddam bill for the healthcare in the first place.
Then fuck off and leave ordinary people and small businesses alike to get on with their lives!
Quin…your idea is too simple….government cannot think in those terms…..but beyond that it sounds like a pretty good plan.
PS (Lobotero): The more complicated you make the legislation the bigger the army of LAWYERS you need to interpret it. Remember THAT! 😈
So we are back to the lawyers….Dammit!….LOL