Boo Radley
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2009
- Messages
- 37,066
- Reaction score
- 7,028
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Liberal
If you say so. I have no idea. But do address the point anyway. I can show my point with links, credible links.
Employers — 174 million Americans, or 60.4 percent of the population, had employment-based health insurance during 2003. A December 2004 survey of CEOs found that employee health care costs are the foremost cost concern in the minds of America’s business leaders.
Active Workers — In 2004, employers contributed $3,137 for single coverage and $7,289 for family coverage on average across all plan types.
Retirees — The 2004 Kaiser/Hewitt survey on retiree health benefits found that the total cost of providing health benefits to retirees from 2003 to 2004 increased by 12.7 percent, on average, for surveyed employers.
Local Impacts, Health Sector — The health sector is a significant source of employment for American workers, employing 6.3 million practitioners and technical workers, and 3.2 million Americans in health care support occupations in as of November, 2003.
Employees — Workers with employer-sponsored health insurance will often experience reductions in real (after adjusting for inflation) wages reductions (or wage growth) in response to health care cost growth. The empirical evidence has tended to show that health care cost increases are offset by either direct wage reductions, increased employee cost sharing, or in instances where wages are fixed (i.e., unionized contracts), by increases in the number of hours worked.
Effects of Health Care Spending on the U.S. Economy
Competitive Disadvantage
The United States spent more than 17 percent of its GDP in 2009 on healthcare, higher than any other developed nation. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that number will rise to 25 percent by 2025 without changes to federal law (PDF). Employer-funded coverage is the structural mainstay of the U.S. health insurance system. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 71 percent of private employees in the United States had access to employer-sponsored health plans in 2006. A November 2008 Kaiser Foundation report says access to employer-sponsored health insurance has been on the decline (PDF) among low-income workers, and health premiums for workers have risen 114 percent in the last decade (PDF). A March 2010 report by Thomson Reuters, a business intelligence service, found that employers' healthcare costs rose 7.3 percent in 2009 (PDF) compared with 4.8 percent in overall U.S. health spending that year. Small businesses are less likely than large employers to be able to provide health insurance as a benefit. At 12 percent, healthcare is the most expensive benefit paid by U.S. employers, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Some economists say these ballooning dollar figures place a heavy burden on companies doing business in the United States and can put them at a substantial competitive disadvantage in the international marketplace.
Healthcare Costs and U.S. Competitiveness - Council on Foreign Relations
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How's that worked out so far? Quoting mindless platitudes make some feel better, but prices have not gone down, and we have a competitive situation right now, inspite what you're told.
Nice diversion, but incorrect. Business left here for cheaper wages.
I suspect you're debating someone else again, ignore the argument before you. It's the genaric liberal isn't it? :lamo
Everyone wants to do well. Business owner, stock holders and employees. Both will take advantage where they can. However, I did see a compnay the other day were everyone was a full owner, no difference in position or pay, and they seemed to be doing well. Interesting concept.
But, worker and employer have to both be cooperative and combative in our system. neither can reply on the goodness and fairness of the other.
