The New Road

Employer Funded Healthcare

The most important thing to get done in the next four years is the fix healthcare. I'm not sure how we get there, but it's vital for us as country to have a healthy and well-educated workforce. Which is why it seems odd to me, and always has seemed odd to me, that medical insurance is somehow wrapped up in employment contracts. Why should employers have to deal with this? Why should the unemployed turn into the uninsured? What does having a job have to do with having a doctor?

Coupling medical insurance to a job creates a vicious cycle. You lose your job, you lose your insurance. Your stressed out, you get sick. You get sick you can't get healthy because you don't have insurance. You can't get healthy, you can't get a job.

It's all about economics to me. Righties talk about how horrible it is to have companies like GM pay for employee health care. I agree. But what's the choice? The right wing provides no other options. Unless you want individuals to pay for their insurance directly, where the prices of insurance are astronomical. McCain's plan was to get rid of employer funded insurance and stick you with the bill, but give you a $5,000 credit. Oh great. Do the math. $5K for any modern plan that covers even a reasonably sized family is just a drop in the bucket.

We need to move towards universal coverage. That would reduce costs for companies, create a healthy workforce, and reduce insurance and medical costs across the board.