Yes, businesses should be required to pay for health care. When businesses pay for health care, they are essentially “protecting their assets”. Just as businesses maintain their buildings, machines, vehicles and computer equipment, it’s just as necessary to make sure the people who work for them are taken care of as well. Employees, especially loyal employees, deserve that protection and it’s just good business.
People work daily (or at least five days a week) and are not machines, but they do “break down”. Overworked, stressed and doing a two-person job can take it’s toll on any person. Employees with (and employers who give) health insurance are armed with peace of mind that if something does “break”, the employee will be taken care of.
Granted, the cost of health care is high, but the cost involved in the hiring and training of a new person is higher. Knowing that “preventative maintenance” is available to and for employees just makes good sense. Just as partners purchase key insurance “just in case”, health insurance is, in fact a “just in case” for hard working employees.
Employers spend millions on health care costs, vacation costs and benefits, but gain something of value in return, but it doesn’t stop there. As mentioned earlier, people are not machines. Employees burnout from too much work and not enough play, they are overloaded performing a two-person job and work hard to not only do their job, but also keep their jobs. Benefits are one way to let the employee know that they are a valuable part of the team.
Think about it, an employee (we’ll call him Employee A) with no medical insurance falls ill, with no health insurance, the employee is forced to cover those medical bills himself (or herself). This, in turn, adds to the financial stress that the employee is already under which causes him (or her) to fall ill from the additional stress. Stress at work and stress at home is a deadly combination.
Employee B has health insurance. Employee B has regular check ups and catches illnesses before they catch him.He pays a $25 copay (amounts vary) and he’s back to work after a regular day off. He has no additional stress from mounting medical bills and is able to channel funds into a Flexible Spending Account. Less stress equals less missed days at work. It just makes good sense.
Employee B also knows that if he switches jobs, he can take his health insurance (the premiums would be increased) with him. So you see, there are more benefits to businesses offering and paying for health care insurance. So, yes they should be required to pay for health care insurance.