Robert Donovan wrote:
> What we need to do is get from the curent arrangement of doctors,
> hospitals,
> and patients competing for insurance money to doctors hospitals and
> insurance companies competing for the patient's money. To do that, do
> three
> things, remove the tax exemption for employer provided health benefits
> and
> replace it with an equal tax exempt status for higher wages to get
> employees
> demanding higher cash wages to buy their own healthcare, and make ANY
> third-party payer health benefits from employer to employee illegal,
> period.
Like most simple solutions to complex problems, this sounds good on
it's face, but it's not a real solution to anything. Insurancese
companies hold all the cards. And who really believes that an
individual has a better negotiating position than another corporation.
If you believe individuals can negoiate themselves a better deal than
they now get through their employer I have some beachfront property in
Yuma I'd like to sell you. This is a formula for even more uninsured
employees, more overtaxed emergency rooms and lower pay for doctors.
Here's what would really happen with your plan. It would accelerate
the existing trend for mployers to stop offering healthcare as a
benefit. Wages would continue to remain stagnant or decline, and the
standard of living for american employers would decline even more
rapidly than it is today. Please don't do us any favors.
--
Neil Schneider pacneil_at_linuxgeek_dot_net
http://www.paccomp.com
Key fingerprint = 67F0 E493 FCC0 0A8C 769B 8209 32D7 1DB1 8460 C47D
"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the
intelligent are full of doubt." --Bertrand Russell
--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
