Posted on 05/07/2007 6:12:05 AM PDT by oblomov
SACRAMENTO — Abandoning the business lobby's traditional resistance to healthcare reform, a new coalition of 36 major companies plans to launch a political campaign today calling for medical insurance to be expanded to everyone along lines Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing for California.
Founded by Steve Burd, chairman of the Safeway grocery chain and an ally of the governor, the coalition could boost efforts in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to overhaul healthcare laws. It also formalizes a growing division over the issue among businesses.
The coalition includes some of the nation's largest companies: PepsiCo, General Mills, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., The Kroger Co., a number of Safeway vendors and grocery item manufacturers such as Bumble Bee Seafoods LLC.
It also includes insurers and drug firms that probably would benefit from mandated health insurance: Aetna, Blue Shield of California, Cigna HealthCare, Eli Lilly and Co. and PacifiCare.
Such large firms already provide medical coverage to their employees and have become increasingly frustrated as premiums have increased over the years. That has made them more willing to look to the government for solutions.
But small and midsized operations, such as restaurants and retail stores that usually don't provide coverage, have resisted wholesale changes to healthcare laws.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Why are they in such a hurry to extinguish individual liberty? Is it "for the children"?
Which is absolutely nothing new. Why do you think "K" Street exists? As for socialized medicine, we'll get it when Corporate America demands it, and not a minute sooner.
It's worth noting that "big business" would have been 100% behind the Clinton administration's proposed health care reforms in 1993, except that those reforms would have required employers to pay almost all of the insurance costs anyway.
One must never make the mistake of confusing corporatism with capitalism. Corporatism is simply an oligarchic form of socialism. Corporate America left the confines of capitalism early in the last century. It isn’t even remotely surprising that corporate managers would join in calls for government health care.
Time to purge our portfolios of these outfits.
I understand your point, but I’d look at this a different way . . . There is no reason why any of these companies should have been responsible for paying medical insurance premiums for their employees in the first place. This archaic relic of the World War II era has resulted in a huge distortion of our concept of what exactly “individual liberty” is all about.
Speaking as an employer, I would not mind handing off my health care bill to someone else.
To think you are handing it off to someone else is like taking home a date while wearing beer goggles.
If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it’s free.
I don’t know why they think it’s “unlikely.” Big business wants to shift the cost of these healthcare programs to the taxpayer, so that they don’t have to pay them.
Interesting.
Corporations could completely remove themselves from the healthcare issue - just stop offering it and compensate their employees commensurately.
As a healthy single man, I’d actually prefer to self-insure if my company gave me the money they’re using to pay my premiums.
It would be expensive, just not an expense I alone would have to bear. Right now my insurance dollars are used to cover a lot more than just my employees although my intent is to only cover my employees.
I would prefer such an arrangement, too.
Business has been on board for a long time. Health care is one of their highest overhead costs and they would love to reduce this.
A national health care plan (AKA social medicine) would mean that the onus is on the government, not the private firm and the government would manage costs through rationing programs essentially. It costs less because you get less.
bookmark
“just stop offering it and compensate their employees commensurately.”
Why stop offering it if they still have to pay for it? That makes no sense.
They want to reduce their costs, not keep their costs up.
It’s already a done deal.
I’ve been saying it for years, Nationalized Health Care is inevitable because ultimately the corporations will demand it.
Many corporations are proving themselves to be nearly as dangerous as government.
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