For those of you wondering why I believe a universal health care financing system would be a major stimulus to the economy, I have fixed the hypertext error on this post so you can read the whole thing. Included as an attachment is a complete overview of the problems, proposals and solution I wrote in January 2008.
A recent MSNBC story, however, illustrates some of the issues nicely.
You have a late baby boomer my age (about 48) who had owned his own company, which went bust, and then could only find work as an independent contractor. He is now unemployed without unemployment insurance, is seeking a wage and salary job so he can get health insurance, but can't get one in part because any small company that hires an older worker sees its insurance rates go up. Older workers how have health problems (or who have family members with health problems) are even less employable, even by companies that needed their services. So they don't work, and their potential work is wasted. And he is being discouraged from starting a new company. We need people to start new businesses to turn the economy around.
As his home is auctioned off he tells a critic "hey, I’m an independent contractor who lost my job in the fall when the bank cut off credit to my client. As a freelancer I have no right to unemployment, no health insurance, and if there’s anything I can do to save my house…" It is presented as a mortgage story, but this situation is unrelated to the housing bubble and bust. He'd have lost his home in any housing market situation.
His older daugher, now on her own, has also no health insurance. "Nancy called in again, this time from a health clinic. She was with her mother trying to sort it all out. She’s a college student in New York, no longer a resident of Massachusetts. She needs to be treated, but the clinic was asking who was going to pay for it and how. Nancy has no insurance — another story."
Looks like New York will get stuck with the Medicaid bill for a family that, when things were going good, paid a lot of taxes in Massachusetts. That happens a lot.
People trapped in jobs because new jobs will not cover their pre-existing conditions, or because companies fear the health insurance cost impact of older workers. Laid off workers who can't get new jobs for the same reason. Older companies and communities drowning due the cost of health care for their retirees. Young and old discouraged from starting new businesses by the fear of ending up like these two.
And for what? Adding up total government spending — direct and indirect through the tax subsidy — on health care, we already spend more tax dollars (or future tax dollars as we keep borrowing) than countries with universal health insurance financing at the national level.
The tie between health insurance and place of work must be broken.