Universal Health Care

[pegkerr]

Starbucks spent more last year on health care for its employees than it did for the raw materials to brew coffee.

This is just insane. We need universal health care.

Comments

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I agree that universal health care would be a good thing. But if you'd said, "Last year, Starbucks spent 3 times more on labor-related expenses than on raw materials," I would not even have been surprised, much less shocked. They are selling a service, and that makes labor most of the point.

[gamps-garret.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

But we need a carefully developed plan that is NOT designed by politicians without medical input (or we'll be lucky to get something even approaching the level of medicaid), and that is neither designed nor implemented by the National Institute of Health (who don't know how to manage their money for beans).

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm sure *Starbucks* is unhappy about it. Seems like what's insane is how much medical care can cost, and how big a burden that is to pile on top of retail-service employers.

It was a basic mistake to tie health care to employment in the first place -- but it was done as a way to get around wage controls, and still compete for the best employees. Which never got backed away from.

I'm not sure I want to make health care a government monopoly; that makes every medical decision a political decision.

I'm a lot clearer on what I *don't* like than what I *do* like here, though.

The first step I know I want to see (this won't "solve" the "whole problem") is to get rid of the cherry-picking in insurance rating. I'd do this by one simple insurance regulation -- that any policy you offer to somebody in your service area, you offer to *anybody* in your service area. So they can compete, employers can negotiate for deals they like -- and everybody can get insurance at those rates. (I think I'd also require that their service area be drawn along existing county boundaries, to avoid most opportunities to red-line poor neighborhoods.) Insurance is about pooling risk. Health insurance has especially high risks in the worst cases, and needs the biggest pools for it to make sense. This simply keeps insurance companies on that track.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about that this morning. I was having ovulation pains, but they were on the right side of my body and I was thinking, "Please, please, don't let this be appendicitis. At least, not until after I get a job with health care."