Obama's use of "you'll lose employer-funded health care" scare tactics shows that he either doesn't understand himself, or knows that the rest of America doesn't understand, that health coverage, even when provided by employers, isn't funded by those employers. Rather, it is wages paid in the form of a benefit, rather than cash. Ending employer-backed health care could mean higher monetary wages in employees' pockets, and would absolutely mean more choice in what insurance coverage is purchased.
Raise your hand if you think any employer in the United States would pass on a raise to cover health care costs after ditching the employee health plan. For all of their supposed free market savvy, conservatives sure don't understand how businesses really run.
On the point of "absolutely" more choice, I think I can add a little something.
ReplyDeleteI had a job where the organization that hired me "couldn't" put me into their group health plan. In their magnanimity they gave me money each month to go out and buy health insurance on my own. It did in fact result in increased money in my pocket for a while, since I couldn't find an insurance provider to accept me (and I didn't have any pre-existing conditions). Eventually, I did find an insurance carrier to accept me for $200 a month, with a deductible I never would have met barring catastrophe, and their nearest provider in a town 45 minutes away.
Absolutely more choice? I think it's one more point the conservatives don't really understand.