Why Health Care Should NOT be Tied to Employment

If we made health care an individual program, rather than tying it to your employment - things in this country would look very different.

Consider this:

Jerry's wife had a difficult pregnancy when their daughter was born, and she suffers some minor health issues as a result. They're relatively minor, but are easily manageable with the proper care. Unfortunately, their daughter, now 4, has juvenile diabetes, which can also be well managed, but only if they have the medical coverage that Jerry is provided in his job.

Jerry's a mechanical engineer, and a big dreamer. He's developed a new technology, but he can't leave his employer to go develop it and market it, because he would no longer have the medical bennies he needs for his family.

If Jerry, his wife and his child all had coverage not tied to his work, he could leave his employer, make a huge contribution to his society (make a fortune) and take care of his family with no worries. Oh, and, there would be an open position at Jerry's company...for which a huge line of people would line up for, seeing there's such a shortage of good jobs.

There's a ton of Jerry's out there.

Then there's my brother:

My sister-in-law is a teacher. She's overdue to retire by four years, but yet, she still works to provide those bennies that they can't access otherwise. She makes pretty decent money as she's been teaching for 34 years. My brother's disabled, but isn't eligible for health care benefits such as medicaid or medicare. His wife has to continue to work until they're eligible for medicare in another 7 years. Oh, and my brother is uninsurable on his own since he's declared disabled, just not disabled enough.

Suppose they each had health care having nothing to do with work. Someone else would be able to have that teaching position, thereby employing another person.

There's a ton of people like my sister-in-law out there. Thousands upon thousands of people put off retirement because of just this issue.

And here's Bob:

Bob is a retired Marine. A decorated one at that. He's been separated from his wife for almost 20 years, but they've never divorced. She has a chronic disease and has always received the best care from the VA, due to the VA benefits that extend to her as Bob's wife.

Bob won't divorce her, because she can't get that care any other way. But the woman Bob's been seeing for the last couple years - while she thinks he's a good man for always making certain to still care for his ex - would like to marry him someday...but that's out of the question. Out of the question at least, until Bob's wife dies.

There's other Bob's out there.

And Elizabeth...

I've known Elizabeth for years, and she is in the most miserable excuse for a marriage. She has MS. Some days are better than others, but mostly it's one lousy day after another - especially when it comes to her husband Mac. He works at a local mill, and has excellent benefits. She accesses those benefits constantly because of her MS. Problem is, Mack beats the hell out of her, and he always has. Well, not always, it took him a few years to ramp up to actually physically beating her. But now, she can't leave him, because she'd have no health care. But the worst situation in that house, is that their pre-teen son, Jacob, has a congenital defect, and he wouldn't be able to continue the care he's had. Elizabeth doesn't care for herself and her care, but the kids' docs are so good, she can't risk losing them for his sake.

Go ask anyone in your local abused women's shelter...there's lots of Elizabeth's out there.

And duh, (DUH!) if all of a sudden, 46 million people had instant access to health care, have you thought about the mayhem to come up with enough people to serve all of these newly covered folks? Doctors, Nurses (of all flavors), pharmacies, hospitals and medical clinics (that would need to be built) and corresponding staff...pharmaceutical companies, bedpan manufacturers, computers, air conditioning, coffee machines for all these facilities...technology, telecommunications for same, classrooms and educators to teach them....cars and mass transit for them to travel in to their work destinations...shoe and uniform manufacturers, identification lanyard manufacturers, magazines for waiting rooms on and on an on...

And...AND...how would this free up businesses in not having to deal with the disastrous effects of health care costs on them? No more mandating coverage - mandates that have been difficult to disastrous to business. Businesses could take the money they save, and actually employ more people. There's a thought. Even though many would just pocket the savings as a healthier bottom line.

Employment Crisis solved.

Health Care Crisis solved.

Technology Bank restocked.

Battered Spouse issues eased.

Well, I guess I just solved it all. Next?

PS: I've actually heard the fact that there's not enough docs and hospitals to serve that many people bandied about as a valid excuse as to why health care reform would be disastrous. Go figure.

Picture graciously provided by James Garza, a Bay Area artist. Other work from James can be seen here