Obama Care

Universal Health Care is the ultimate reactionary hot button. There is a considerable opposition to the new Health Care law, but I have seen little to improve on it. I see lots of calls for rescinding the law, but nobody is proposing something to take its place. By calling the law "Obama Care" they are able to tie in an emotional edge attracting others who know absolutely nothing about health care, but don't like their President.

I certainly think the current laws passed on health care will be sufficient to reform the system or support the high level of professional care we expect in this country. We are, however, better off than we were simply by the fact that we are now bankrupting the system a little more slowly, but we're still bankrupting the system.

Interestingly, none of the "business" advocates have addressed our health care system as an incredible disadvantages for businesses that compete globally. We complaints about taxes and the unreasonable demands workers put forth for wages, but nobody has screamed about the health care issue.

Here it is: GM was spending more to provide health care for their employees than they spent on steel to make cars before their bankruptcy. There are many other companies that share this burden. We expect employers to provide health insurance. In many companies it is the cost of providing health care that keeps them from being able to compete. Small and medium businesses are harder hit because they can't negotiate the deals that the large companies demand from their insurer. So individuals, small businesses and medium businesses subsidize large businesses by picking of the tab for the health care breaks that get passed on.

When we talk about the high cost of American workers, we're talking about health care. In the beginning businesses jumped on the deal taking a full deduction for health care costs while offering this to the employee in lieu of higher wages. Well, the higher wages are long gone and the businesses are now trying to put much of the health care burden back onto the employee as they can.Businesses in most developed nations do not have to consider the cost of health care as part of employee compensation.

I don't know what the final solution might be. It certainly won't be what is on the books now, nor will it be what was on the books before.

Do some research. Get with your HR department and find out what percentage health care is of your employer's operating cost. The Kaiser Foundation estimates the annual employer contribution to an employee's family plan to be over $9000. I don't think that figure will be going down any time soon.