Corporate types, Small business Owners, HR people -- QUESTION:

[elehhhhna]

How owuld the adoption of a National Health Care program affect YOUR business? Pro's and cons (if any cons..) , please!

[liberalhistorian]

1. Well, right now I'm a sole proprietor,

but I would think that such a program would actually be a real blessing to most businesses. Health care expenses are now eating up a huge share of their budgets and it's only getting worse. They wouldn't have that horrendous expense anymore. One of the main problems we're having now in competing with other industrialized countries is that their cost of doing business is much lower than ours because they don't have the tremendous burden of health insurance expenses.

I really just do not see why most businesses and corporations don't get on board with this. It would also ensure a healthier population, which means healthier workers with higher morale, workers who wouldn't have to worry about being in dire financial straits if they or a family member became seriously ill.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Let me see

as a samll bdiness owner, not that I have the money to hire anybody right now, it would remove a great burdern from me. You see I believe in hiring people with benefits, (yes including medical) have you checked insurance rates lately?

That said the kind of business I am involved in does not offer benefits for the most part, as we work with freelancers for the most part. I have done freelancing for years now, and the fight was to get a group rate thorugh the association, whihc the powers that be fought, they also fought contracts and minimum standards...

I see the big boys in the gaming industry these days as... purely... mini enrons in their ethical dealings... and I see this as a national crisis of ethics.

[Cassandra]

4. Even the rates I've been offered through...

an association in my industry are no better than the rates I pay as an individual. I am fortunate to be able to work with independent contractors (who really are independent) and other small businesses, so there's just my insurance to worry about.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. Semi Retired, Small Professional Service Business

(2 owners, 3 employees). Health care expenses could not get worse.

1. Woolhandler and Himmelstein, The high costs of for-profit care.
CMAJ. 2004 Jun 8;170(12):1814-5, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15184338

2. Himmelstein, Woolhandler, Sidney Wolfe (Nader's Health Care Policy Adviser), Administrative waste in the U.S. health care system in 2003: the cost to the nation, the states, and the District of Columbia, with state-specific estimates of potential savings. Int J Health Serv. 2004;34(1) 79-86. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15088674

etc. Just go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
and search on Steffi Woolhandler or David Himmelstein or Sidney Wolfe

Could only get better.

[Chicago1]

5. National Health Care would be OUTSTANDING!!!! :)

This would be the blessing of all blessings. As Howard Dean says "Why is it that every other industrialized nations in the world has National Health Care but WE DON'T????????????????????". This would cut the cost and make administering this program ALOT easier.
I have more than 7yrs of HR experience.

Waiting for the IMPEACHMENT WHILE THE SCANDALS KEEP UNFOLDING
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