I was reading some political stuff tonight when I was hit by a question that I really have never seen anyone ask or answer before.
Why, in the US, it is considered an employer's responsibility to provide health insurance?
Can anyone explain this for me? So many are questioning in our society whether or not universal health care is socialist, but I would really like to know why health insurance falls into the benefits employers are supposed to provide. Disability insurance I could understand, but health insurance? Does it stem from the fact that a healthy employee is a more productive one? I wonder why it got started because it seems to be a rather silly way to doing things given job turnover and changing economic landscapes.
If Anton and Bethany Gibson (John and Jane Doe is just too boring) get laid off from a company that has HIJ health insurance and hired somewhere with QRS insurance, one insurance company has to do the administrative work to remove them from the rolls, send out letters of prior insurance and whatnot and the other company has to do the work to add them to the insured roster, send out cards and whatnot. Care providers have to spend extra time and money updating insurance information. It seems to be an added layer of duplicated administration that is just wasting money and resources.
Who came up with this system? Do we as Americans really think this is the best we can do? I do not understand why it is considered such a good system of insurance or such a good idea given the changing nature of the workforce in the US. We do not spend our entire careers with one or two companies any more. The average US worker changes jobs rather frequently, meaning we change health insurance rather frequently too, if the new employer even offers it.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Help me understand this
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2 comments:
Found your blog through The Daily Digress. Thought you might be interested in this link which talks about health care...
http://www.blogher.com/universal-health-care-no-thank-you
Thanks for stopping by and posting, Nikki. I do enjoy reading things on all sides of the issues because that is how I learn more about it all.
Like that writer, I am not convinced on nationalized health like offered in the UK and some other countries, but I do think that public health insurance is valuable, like what is currently offered in MA.
Also, I am a bit different from the normal US citizen because I do believe that health care goes too far, that we are pushing life beyond what it is meant to be and playing gods. The idea that medical care should save a life or treat a condition just because we can is not one of my core beliefs. So, arguments like care will be rationed gets me thinking "So?". Of course, that leads to a discussion of who gets to decided how and where lines are drawn, and that is a WHOLE 'nother can of worms, LOL.
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