Why Health Coverage Shouldn’t be Tied to Employers
19 Feb 2006 in America, Healthcare, Malcolm Gladwell, Politics by GarrickHealth coverage as a benefit of employment no longer makes sense - financially for employers or employees. Expecting employers to foot the bill and not expecting them to minimize their expense might be a sign of mental illness.
My problem with employer-sponsored plans is their lack of portability. The instability of employers in the dot-com era meant switching plans and doctors every 18 months when I switched business cards - annoying to say the least.
The three benefits I see of individual sponsored plans are:
- a better understanding of where their healthcare dollars are going
- more direct control over the services that make sense to them
- portability
I don’t see these points conflicting with a national health care plan. To me, healthcare is the same type of problem as roads/highways and defense.
J Wynia has a good write up of choosing an individual healthcare plan.
Malcolm Gladwell takes the healthcare = transportation metaphor one step further.
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