Before I get started, I would like to define what I mean by “Universal Healthcare.” There seems to be a lot of confusion on the issue, and frankly several implementations of the concept in various nations. “Various nations” in this case means “virtually every industrialized nation except the United States,” so it is worthwhile to learn from what all those other nations have done.
Universal Healthcare is a system under which basic health needs are paid for by a single government payer. Basic health needs includes treatment for urgent, emergent, preventative, reconstructive, routine, and chronic care. Any system which mandates basic coverage be purchased by employers is not Universal Healthcare. Any system which involves for-profit insurance companies selling policies for basic health coverage is not Universal Healthcare. Health insurance companies can still sell supplemental policies, and employers have the option of providing them as a benefit to employees and their families.
How Universal Healthcare will Improve the Economy:
1. It will make the Big 3 American automobile manufacturers — and other manufacturers — more competitive. Depending whose figures you like to use, healthcare costs add between $1000 and $1500 to the price of every new American car. Toyota has also found health insurance costs to be unreasonable, and is trying to do something about it that is beneficial to employees. But when all is said and done, the fact that the heads of the Big 3 are not demanding Universal Healthcare is an issue about which shareholders should scream holy hell. Although the figures for the automotive industry are the most readily available, it must be noted that other manufacturers have similar issues. Reducing the cost of manufacturing products in the United States will make our manufacturing companies more competitve at home and in the world markets.
2. Universal Healthcare gives employers greater control over the cost of providing benefits. As the CEO of GM has pointed out, healthcare costs are rising 14-18% annually, a number which exceeds inflation and GDP growth combined and doubled. It is difficult to control costs when certain expenses grow that rapidly. Some companies have tried to work around this company by slashing coverage, or by making employees pay a greater share of their coverage. This is nothing more than a band-aid on a gaping wound. Such practices put off the day when costs actually have to be controlled, and insurance companies told “no.” And of course, this “solution” creates resentful employees.
3. Universal Healthcare evens the playing field for employers competing for labor. Many job seekers have to do some internal calculus to the effect of “Company A pays more but has Insurance X, but Company B pays less and has Blue Cross. Which is a better deal?” Many job seekers can’t take a chance on a small company that can’t afford to provide “good” benefits due to health concerns. This brings us to….
4. Universal Healthcare will stimulate the growth of small business and create jobs. There is no way to know how many businesses have never been started because the potential entrepreneurs couldn’t get insurance for their families. Universal healthcare will encourage people to be in business for themselves, and make it easier for them to hire people to help make their dream a reality.
5. Universal Healthcare will improve worker productivity. How? By giving workers the means to treat small problems before they become big problems, and by providing better access to preventative care. When workers spend a day out of the office, sure they aren’t doing anything, but how does that compare to the slow pace that worker might take if they came in sick for a week? And they’ll do even less if they have to spend a week in the hospital. Strangely enough, that means….
6. Universal Healthcare will allow more efficient spending of healthcare dollars. If Jane Average can have her infection treated in the doctor’s office, that’s a lot cheaper than treating her raging infection with complications in the emergency room. If Joe Average can get his high blood pressure under control before he has a heart attack, it will save both time and money in the long run. And that is to completely discount the effect of reducing crowding in the emergency room!
7. Universal Healthcare will insure a better educated and healthier workforce for the coming generation. One of the great tragedies of employer-provided health insurance is that children don’t have employers. Sure, many employers that provide health insurance will provide it for employee’s kids, but usually for an extra fee. As a result, there are millions of American children with no healthcare insurance, and parents who pray they don’t get sick. These kids are less likely to get preventative care, less likely to have chronic conditions treated, and more likely to miss school. Someday, these kids will grow up. Even if there is not enough support among politicians to get Universal Health, the very very least we can do as a society is provide a MediKids program that would cover all minor children (and in an ideal world, college students).
8. Universal Healthcare will help prevent chronic illness from becoming disabling illness. It is sad but true that certain illnesses, if not treated promptly and properly, will result in permanent disability. Diabetes is a prime example. Untreated and uncontrolled, it can result in blindness, limbs which must be amputated, kidney disease, strokes, and a host of other terrible problems. And since chronic conditions by definition can go on for years and years, many people find themselves in a position where an insurance company will decline to cover their single biggest health problem as a “pre-existing condition.” This is of course a business decision, not a moral or ethical decision. It is also disgusting.
9. Universal Healthcare will prevent medical debt from forcing people into bankruptcy. You may recall a couple of years ago when Congress was trying to force through a bankruptcy reform bill, then-new research found that medical debt can often lead to bankruptcy. People who cannot afford to pay their bills are not generally out making lots of consumer purchases. Consumer spending is of course the largest single part of the GDP.
10. Universal Healthcare will facilitate early detection and prevention of epidemics and pandemics. The United States Government is concerned enough about the risk of a flu pandemic that they have set up a website called PandemicFlu.gov. They’ve even had the CDC figure out the economic impact of a flu pandemic. Oh, and don’t forget the possibility of an outbreak of some of the old, traditional diseases like measles. Like other illnesses, the sooner we as a population realize there is a problem the quicker it can be contained. In this case, time may be money, but more importantly it is lives.
In closing, if Bradford Plumer is not on your regular read list, he should be; WikiHow; and where exactly can we get a copy of this so-called radical homosexual agenda? Is that the sort of thing you can get at a bookstore, or do you have to order it from some radical website?