The Coming Health Care Crisis - 4 years later

Copy of a post I made to the Daily Kos on 1/23/06 -- interesting read 4 years later
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I feel the same as most of you about national health care but feel that way for what I'm sure is a different reason. I head a regional finance department of a billion dollar company and review the cost of our medical expenses every month. I have been in my job for over 10 years and have seen the cost of medical care grow from about $1,500 per employee to almost $10,000 in that time.

The issue described in detail below....

Part of the issue is our aging work force. Part of it is due to bad luck on the part of some of our employees. But most of it is because the cost of medical procedures and prescription drugs are growing at a rate 8-10x greater than inflation. In the last few years this cost has eaten up our profits to the point where we had no choice but to cut costs in this area. Co-pays on doctors visits and drug benefits weren't enough so we are now increasing the annual deductibles. Last year we eliminated our retirees health plan and long ago froze our pension plan. This is the equivalent of a higher, regressive "tax" on our employees but my company really has limited choices. I tell my Republican co-workers, many of whom are the lower paid people I just mentioned, that a national health care plan would resolve many of the issues. They just look at me like I'm Michael Moore in wingtips. They repeat Republican talking points like "it's not the job of government to run health care". I respond by asking where it is written that it is business's job either. If anyone with half a brain would look, business is stepping away from that responsibility because they can no longer afford it. The doctors and drug company's know that they can continue to charge ever increasing rates and businesses will pay the bill. But business will only do this to a point and then either cut benefits or pass the cost on to consumers in the form of an inflation "tax". Most companies are doing both. Our leaders in Washington have been bought and sold on this issue by the lobbyists even though most have to know this is a real problem. Government might not be the ideal solution however it will be a much better option that what is going to happen with business health care plans in the next 10 years. I just hope when the politicians aren't too late when they finally decide to act.

Note: I originally wrote this in reply to margot's post about public pension plans. I decided to post it in a Diary since it kind of left that topic.

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