Archive for the ‘Small business health insurance’ Category

Faith Organizations Support Single Payer

May 2, 2011
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The current health care system does not make life easy for lots of people and organizations.

Churches, for example.

The current issue of The Lutheran discusses the prospects for matching new pastors with congregations.   They do not specifically mention health care. They should.   The Lutherans are not unique.  They face the same challenges as other Protestant churches.

Congregations face declining worship attendance and, with that, declining offerings in the collection plate.  Senior pastors who saw their retirement savings seriously diminished during the recent recession, are staying on the job longer, reducing the number of vacancies.

Graduating seminarians, on the other hand, are graduating with larger debts.  They want and need more in a market of shrinking opportunites.

What does this have to do with health care?

How can a congregation save money?  Hire a minister who is married to a spouse with health insurance for the family.

Is that fair?

No.  Emphatically, no.

It limits the candidate pool for churches and it limits the opportunities for aspiring ministers.

Eleven faith organizations have endorsed a single payer solution to the health care crisis.  Most all offer theological reasons for their positions.  But churches should not shrink from their economic motives.

After all, they are in the exact same position as many small businesses and other non-profits.  Only 49% of private sector employees get their health care coverage from their employees.  Another 20%, of private sector employees get their coverage from their spouse.

The inability of too many employers to offer both competitive benefits and competitive salaries limits their candidate pool and restricts the opportunities of people who might otherwise be willing to work for those employers.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America should join with the other eleven faith organizations to support single payer.  It is not just the right thing to do theologically.  It is not just a social justice issue.  It is an economic issue that they share along with many other smaller organizations fighting for survival.

Photo credit     Truus, Bob & Jan, too

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Employer Mandates – Close the Loopholes

November 21, 2009
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Most people across the political spectrum agree that health care is a social good.  They agree that someone else’s health is in their interest.

People may not express it that way.  But as the adage goes- actions speak louder than words.Golden-Gate-Bridge-Fog-800

We support health care for old people through Medicare.  It was Republican President George W. Bush who partially filled the biggest gap in coverage for older people with legislation to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare.

We support health care coverage for poor people through federally supported state Medicaid programs.

We support the Children’s Health Insurance  Program (CHIP) that expands Medicaid programs to the children of the working poor.

We support health care for Native Americans through the Indian Health Service.

We just seem to have a problem with people who work.

It might seem logical that, since we clearly have recognized that health care is a social good, that we should require all employers to provide health insurance.  After all, we require employers to pay for workers’ compensation insurance, and unemployment insurance. Continue reading ‘Employer Mandates – Close the Loopholes’

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Health Care Reform – Three different themes

January 17, 2009
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Three reports this week about the costs of health care and health care reform caught my attention.  One said that health care reform will be a sure fire economic stimulus because it will replace jobs lost from the current recession.   Another suggests that a modest upfront investment will produce $530 billion in savings.  The third moans that without a commitment to hard choices, we are doomed to health care spending profligacy.

John Nichols in The Nation describes a report and follow-on campaign by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association (NNOC/CAN) that attempts to bolster the argument for a Single Payer health care system by describing its impact on jobs and the economy.

A report in Reuters describes a report by DeLoitte that argues that a $220 billion investment in e-prescribing and electronic medical records will produce $530 billion over ten years.

Lastly, Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post reports on findings of a report by the McKinsey Global Institute that provides valuable insights into why US health care costs so much more than it does elsewhere in the world.  Unfortunately,  it was short on constructive “shovel ready” policies. 

So how does one react to such disparate perspectives.   Continue reading ‘Health Care Reform – Three different themes’

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Health Insurance for Small Business

November 22, 2008
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Every health care reform proposal attempts to offer some relief for small businesses.  According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), small businesses create 2/3 of American jobs, yet half of the uninsured are in small businesses.

Look at President-elect Obama’s health care proposal on his campaign’s web site.  The first two items:  

  • Require health insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of the health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.
  • Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees.

What’s remarkable about these proposals is that we are still discussing them. Continue reading ‘Health Insurance for Small Business’

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Ask Jesse the Artist

October 25, 2008
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Instead of focusing on Joe the Plumber and his tax phobia’s, perhaps the presidential candidates should talk to Jesse the Artist and ask him or her about health insurance.  On Sunday, October 19th, I visited the Bethesda Row Arts Festival in Bethesda, Maryland.  I did just that.  In a very unscientific survey, I talked to a number of the artists about their health insurance.  

Why should anyone else be interested in artists?  Because they are small business people.  They are also very creative.  It is this creative entrepreneurship of small businesses that candidates like to support because it is the economic engine  that drives the American economy. Continue reading ‘Ask Jesse the Artist’

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