Medicare for All is a smart decision for business world
By DR. RICHARD PROPP
Times Union
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Every day across New York, doctors, their employees and hospital workers spend much valuable time anxiously dealing with health insurance company employees. And every day, businesses begin the multimonth process of evaluating old and new insurance plans, investing more and more to provide decent health insurance in an attempt to retain good employees and keep them healthy. Increasingly, businesses give up providing health insurance because they can’t afford it.
The United States is the last country in the industrial world without a universal health care system. We spend more per capita ($6,102) yet cover a smaller proportion of the population than Canada ($3,165), France ($3,159), Germany ($3,005) or the United Kingdom ($2,546). At least 47 million Americans lack health insurance. Our outcomes for infant mortality and life span are worse than in these other countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported this year.
The universal health care movement seeks a practical way to solve the health care needs of all Americans. Because the business of America is business, and with apologies to the Letterman staff, here are the top five reasons the business community should care about expanding the federal Medicare program for seniors and those who are disabled to provide Medicare for All: (5) More capable employees: Fully insured part-time and full-time employees mean improved wellness, less absenteeism and better retention. (4) Reduced auto, truck and business insurance costs: Businesses will pay less for upfront insurance because most of the medical portion of bodily injury or chronic disability care needs of an injured party will be covered by Medicare For All. (3) Reduced administrative responsibilities. Expansion of Medicare to cover all citizens, financed by the government but run privately, would eliminate costly employer time and energy to explain benefits each time a new plan is purchased or an old plan is changed. All bills would be paid from a single pool, eliminating time spent dealing with multiple bills from multiple vendors of multiple services using multiple forms. Improved employee morale would follow and labor management expenses would decrease as negotiations on health care benefits would be off the table. Providers and consumers on a payment council would negotiate fair and affordable reimbursements. (2) New money for investments and payroll. The money that responsible large and small businesses pay for health care costs represents a substantial portion of their annual overhead. The modest tax increases that would be required to cover Medicare For All will leave substantial savings in annual overhead costs. Where will businesses spend that windfall? On better wages? Investment in new equipment to be more competitive in the global economy? To create better working conditions?
And the No. 1 reason small and large businesses will benefit from universal health care: (1) Reduced workers’ compensation costs. Workers’ compensation is a huge cost for businesses because of high rates that cover long-term health care costs. Medicare For All would include high quality standard coverage for illnesses or injuries, work related or not, thus eliminating the portion of premiums that pays for special health care under Workers’ Compensation.
The Medicare system is in place. It has a low and reasonable 3 percent overhead for administration. It is essentially nonprofit. Remuneration decisions are politically negotiable; witness the rollback of planned fee cuts for 2006 that would have decreased physician participation. Medicare quality initiatives are active and Medicare quality data are available on the New York state Health Department Web site.
It is time to end the procrastination and to expand Medicare to all citizens. Citizens are in favor of this. A recent Zogby International poll of 1,200 New York residents found 62 percent would prefer a universal health care system like Medicare. An October 2003 Washington Post/ABC poll found by a 2-to-1 ratio Americans preferred a universal system that would provide coverage to everyone under a government program as opposed to the current employer-based system. We challenge the politicians and business community to act now.
Dr. Richard Propp is chairman of the Capital District Alliance for Universal Healthcare Inc.