What started out as a perk by many businesses to attract good employees who would stay with a company long enough to be worth the expense of his training and bookkeeping while providing a lower premium for the business owners and employees for health insurance, has turned into a mandate by our government. At what point did our government have the right to demand that a company or agency provide insurance for all employees? With new laws that require businesses to add all employees to their health insurance rolls, more and more high risk people have pushed the price of health insurance out of the range of affordability for many smaller businesses and some large corporations.
Because health insurance is a requirement that businesses must meet, insurers can confidently raise prices of premiums at will. If the government wants to meddle with private enterprise, why not begin with health insurance providers? There is little to no oversight in the health insurance companies. Government audits should be mandated to insure that Insurance Agencies are not over-charging. Profit limits should be set if businesses are required to provide health insurance. Businesses should be allowed to offset higher health costs paid out to individuals engaged in high risk activities outside of work by charging those people a percentage of the premium increases insurers charge based on costs paid out for the risk takers.
Because a business with fifty or more employees can acquire health insurance at a lower premium because the health risk is spread out more equitable, there is no reason why the business should have to pay the premium for each employee. If the government supplies tax breaks for the businesses to cover health insurance costs for all employees, a business would be more willing and able to cover this ever growing expense. A better solution for individuals than no coverage at all, would be to pay half the costs while the business pays the other half. This would also be incentive for employees to take less health risks to keep the premiums from rising each year.
There are many options to providing health care for all Americans outside of requiring businesses to foot the bills for insurance coverage. Having each worker pay a percentage of his income toward health care would be a fair way of covering all workers and their families. Using Cafeteria plans would also lessen the burden of health care costs. Those without insurance are charged outrageous prices for doctor visits, hospital stays, tests, and more because they have no one to barter a better price. No individual can afford health care if required to pay top dollar. A better plan must be found to cover every person, even those who are without work due to lay offs, plants closing, being self-employed, or other reasons beyond a person’s control.
We must first fix the broken system of health insurers without incentive to charge more reasonable prices and more regulation on prices charged by doctors, hospitals, dentists, labs, and other providers. When a simple office visit cost between $117 to $225, there is room for negotiation. Hospitals charge upwards of ten thousand dollars a day per hospital stay. Very few people will go through life without ever needing hospital care at some point. Placing this burden on businesses is unfair and unrepresented by businesses.