Posted by
Mike on Monday, April 07, 2008 1:17:42 PM
The only problem now with health care is that it is a big expense for most people and it causes many people decide to roll the dice and not buy health insurance. It is a good deal for those working for employers would subsidize most of it, but it becomes a problem when they lose their jobs or retire. The solution is not to provide a government-controlled, taxpayer-funded system (a.k.a. single payer, universal, etc.), but to drive price reductions in health insurance through pooled risk and competition. At such time when nearly everyone has become a member of a union (see #1 Union Makeover), these unions will be the risk pools that negotiate affordable health insurance contracts for their members.
Most of the unions will contain a mix of individuals who span from low-cost, healthy to the high-cost, unhealthy. Overall, the risk is balanced out and the unions should be able to negotiate reasonable rates with insurance companies, based on their numbers and risk assessment. Also, smaller unions may choose to partner with others to increase their numbers and bargaining power. Another option is for unions to underwrite their own health insurance plan, where the union itself would provide insurance to its members (receiving the premiums and paying out the claims).
Members would still have the incentive to use medical services wisely, due to co-pay requirements, etc. and the possibility that rates would increase if the pool moves into a higher risk category. Doctors could leverage their unions to negotiate better malpractice insurance and, in turn, set their rates more competitively.
The main benefit is that having affordable health insurance is no longer dependant on having a job where an employer provides it. Workers can belong to unions for their entire adult life and continue to have reasonably priced benefits, like health insurance, during their working years and throughout retirement. Medicare would no longer be needed once all workers were unionized and would eventually be phased out.