During the economic growth that erupted during the World War II era, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1942 as a direct attempt to combat excessive wartime profiteering by companies. In “One Nation, Uninsured”, Jill Quadagno revealed that an unexpected side effect of this law swiftly arose when employers decided to provide health benefits to their workers as a way to reduce paying the mandated government taxes on excess profits. By providing these benefits, many companies in the industrial sector were able to recruit new workers who were willing to accept slightly reduced wages in exchange for receiving tax-deductible benefit plans, along with satisfy the demands by trade unions to include fringe benefits in employment contracts. The symbiotic relationship that resulted when employers took on the burden of purchasing health insurance plans for their employees became the foundation for the American employer-based health insurance system which is still being used today. …show more content…
The Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that prior to the Affordable Care Act, around 43 million citizens were unemployed in the United States and unfortunately not eligible to obtain health insurance under this employer-based system. While the Affordable Care Act’s objective to bridge the coverage gaps of this employer-based system, 28 million Americans still remain uninsured. Some workers prefer to take on cash paying jobs for personal reasons and as a result, they often trade off receiving benefits such as health care. Some immoral companies have no regard for acting in the best interest of their employees and will hire part time workers simply because this allows them to avoid paying them benefits such as health
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
From the previous discussion it is clear that mandated increases in health insurance participation which could have a significant labor market effects, causing changes in the market wage and in the number of workers employed. The recent substantial increase in malpractice payments and premiums for physician malpractice insurance has greatly increased the cost of employer provided health insurance. Due to these increases it is estimated that there will be a decline in employment, a cutback in the number of hours worked, and as well as reduction in wages of workers with employer provided health insurance. Providing health insurance threw mandates or payroll taxes entirely depends on if there will be a shift in the supply curve. The reason the supply curve shifts in mandates is because workers valued the benefits. There is no shift in the supply curve when it comes to payroll taxes for the reason that there is an implicit assumption that the benefit is not tied to employment. However, benefits provided through taxes could possibly be tied to employment and that would alter the supply curve. If the benefit is tied to employment, as it is in this case, it does not matter if it is funded through a mandated benefit or payroll tax. Workers will value the benefit provided by either one,
The United States spends vast amounts on its healthcare, while falling short of achieving superiority over other developed nations. One cannot overlook that the deepening recession has left many without jobs and therefore lacking health insurance. According to Fairhall and Steadman, (2009), even though the recession is hard on all, it is worse on the uninsured due to health care and insurance cost rising faster than incomes. Nevertheless, even those with jobs are lacking in health insurance due to employers, who provide insurance, are increasingly dropping their sponsored insurance. Many find that purchasing a health policy or paying for medical care out-of-pocket is cost prohibitive. “Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by 3.6 million,” (Fairhall & Steadman, 2009). In 2009 it was stated that approximately 46 million Americans were uninsured, however not all of that number is due to the inability to afford coverage. According to a 2009 story written by Christopher Weaver of Kaiser Health News, 43% of that number should be classified as “voluntarily” uninsured. This subset of uninsured Americans consist of nearly half being young and healthy; therefo...
However, our system is based on money. The more money you have to spend, the better medical services you will receive. ?According to the Bureau of Labor education at the university of main (2003), America spends more money oh health care than any other nation, "$4,178 per capita on health care in 1998?, compared to the average of $1,783. (BLE., 2003, p.23). Still an estimated "42.5 million Americans are living without health insurance", which prevents them from receiving medical treatment. (Climan, Scharff, 2003, p.33). The numbers of un-insured Americans continue to rise. Tim Middleton (2002) states, ?insurance premiums grow at a rate greater than wages,? when you have a low-income job. (¶ 9). With our current economy recession, taxes are rising and small business employers are unable to purchase health plans for their employees. Employees are realizing that they are unable to gain insurance from their jobs and beginning to speak out about the high price of health care.
Health insurance, too many American citizens, is not an option. However, some citizens find it unnecessary. Working in the health care field, I witness the effects of uninsured patients on medical offices. Too often, I see a “self-pay” patient receive care from their doctor and then fail to pay for it. Altogether, their refusal to pay leaves the office at a loss of money and calls for patients to pay extra in covering for the cost of the care the uninsured patient received. One office visit does not seem like too big of an expense, but multiple patients failing to pay for the care they receive adds up. Imagine the hospital bills that patients fail to pay; health services in a hospital are double, sometimes triple, in price at a hospital. It is unfair that paying patients are responsible for covering these unpaid services. Luckily, the Affordable Care Act was passed on March 23, 2010, otherwise known as Obamacare. Obamacare is necessary in America because it calls for all citizens to be health insured, no worrying about pre-existing conditions, and free benefits for men and women’s health.
Then came the question, should the employer be the one responsible for providing health insurance. While everyone on the panel could agree that our health care system in 2008 was broken, most seemed opposed to the alternative solution of universal healthcare. There is an incentive to the company to offer health insurance to a human being that may receive the opportunity to receive health insurance from another company. However, taking health insurance responsibility away from the employer and making it the government’s responsibility would increase availability and possibly eliminate freedom of
Until Obama-care, The United States was one of the only developed nations that did not provide some sort of health care for its citizens. To most other nations that do provide healthcare, it is because it is considered a human right that all people should be entitled to. That hasn’t been the case in America, however, where only those who could afford it could have healthcare plans. Those who stand to gain the most from universal healthcare are the already mentioned 45 million americans who currently don’t have any form of healthcare. For many of these individuals, there are many obstacles that prevent them from gaining healthcare. 80% of the 45 million are working class citizens, but either their employer doesn’t offer insurance, or they do but the individual can n...
In the New York Times (Feb 4 2014), the issue of loss of jobs is well addressed with the Republicans stating that the Obama Care, will lead to major employers limiting their workforce so that they can minimize their contribution to the Care as a firm or a company. This can lead to great levels of joblessness despite there being a guarantee of universal health care.
Health insurance is currently an important issue in the United States. Everyday more and more Americans become uninsured due to job loss and an increase in premiums. These Americans add to the ever growing population of 45.7 million people who are currently uninsured (Bialik). Moreover only 27% of those uninsured are under the age of 65 (NCHC). This is staggering considering most of those who are uninsured have, or soon will, suffer from some sort of illness or injury. As a result they will not be able to afford proper treatment. Insurance premiums can range in cost from fifty dollars per month, to fifteen hundred dollars per month (Kreidler). An individual’s premium is determined by factors they choose as well as other factors looked at by their provider. The cost of health insurance in America varies depending on the controllable factors, like particular insurance policies, and uncontrollable factors, like age.
Since the 60s, government budgets have been influenced by the need to finance healthcare especially the cost of Medicare and Medicaid benefits. According to CMS’ National Health Expenditure Projections , total health care expenditures have grown by an average of 2.5 percentage points faster per year than the nation‘s Gross Domestic Product. For about 60 percent of workers who receive some form of health care coverage from their employers, the cost of their health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses have increased significantly faster than their own wages; and between 1999 and 2008, both average health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-payments for medications, and co-insura...
Employee health benefit plans flourished in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Unions bargained for better benefits, which included tax-free, employer-paid health insurance. When war hit between 1939 and 1945, government froze wages which led to an increase of group health care. Since employers were unable to attract employees with higher wages, employers decided to improve their benefits package by adding health care coverage. Gove...
Paul Fronstin, EBRI (2001). Workers and Access to Health Care: Consequences of Bing Uninsured. Retrieved February 27, 2012, from http://www.ebri.org/pdf/publications/Books/economic_cost_of_uninsured.pdf
Half of the 50 million people in the U.S are currently uninsured. The new healthcare laws were intended to expand health insurance coverage, but one trade association warned that it will end of driving 60 million manufacturing workers out of coverage supplied by their employers over the next decade unless it was fixed before that occurs.(Newton-Small). Companies offered health coverage to their employers but certain laws prevented them from giving some benefits, forcing them into something that is called a one sized fit's all system. Basically like a waiting list. The problem with the one sized fit all system is that healthcare is just simply too large and complexed to manage at a government level. This is a system the government created that they cannot fix. The charge of Obama care would dump 60 million workers into the laws state and federal insurance exchanges which lead to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With the economy down, the ACA is far from being aff...
Most people rely on their employers to provide them with health insurance, but with many health care is not available through the employers. Many small businesses can simply not afford the high cost of health care, or it may be available, but the employee needs to pay the entire premiums. A lot of employers are utilizing part time employees, the part time employees are usually not qualified for benefits, like health insurance. This is very unfortunate for these part timer’s not only because they will not get benefits such as health insurance, but also they probably have a slim chance of going full time because of the health insurance dilemma. Business owner’s need to assess what is good for them financially, and having plenty of part time employees who do not require insurance is probably the most cost effective method to keep the Business up and running.
“47 million U.S. residents have no health insurance, and the numbers keep growing. America’s workers struggle to pay higher premiums, deductibles and co-payments. Working families are experiencing increases in the costs of health insurance, more out-of-pocket costs for doctor visits and skyrocketing prices for prescriptions, forcing many to delay getting needed medical care or words“(2012). The video Sick Around America introduced many issues with the United States health care system. The biggest problems in the United States is medical underwriting, if you lose your job that provides health insurance, you lose the health insurance.