Imagine that an employer can hire professional talent for a day, a week or for years and not have to consider health care as a fixed cost.
Imagine that same professional talent is without work, whether through illness or simply lack of work, and yet does not have to worry about paying for health insurance.
Sound like a health reformers ideal. Provide employers the flexibility to hire talent as needed. Provide health care for workers even when they have no income.
This model exists now
This is the model of the multi-employer health & welfare plan.
Multi-employer plans are common in those unionized industries with seasonal or irregular employment: transportation, needle trades, construction trades, and theater trades, for example. They are governed by a board with equal numbers of employers and union representatives. Employers pay a negotiated rate per hour worked into the Fund and the Fund provides benefits through periods of employment and transitional unemployment. Some funds are fiscally sound enough to provide benefits through retirement. Continue reading ‘Health Care Reform: A Model for the Future – Here Now’
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