That's a relic of World War II. As skilled labor became scarcer because a.) manufacturing had ramped up, and b.) most young men were in uniform, companies tried to compete for workers by offering higher salaries. The feral government wage and price controls precluded higher salaries. In time, a "compromise" was arrived at: companies could sweeten fringe benefits, and so began to offer life and health insurance.
It's a classic example of a government-caused problem made more complex with a government-proposed solution that gradually leads to more—and more and more and more—problems in due time.
You can bet your last nickel the obvious solution, removing government altogether from both insurance and medical care, is the one that won't even be considered in Washington, D.C. Letting open markets go to work on the problem would soon result in lower medical care costs, improved medical care quality, lower insurance costs, more freedom and profitability for medical care providers, and greatly reduced demand for government intervention. Do you doubt me? Look at the hardware and software computer industry, which operates in a largely open market. Every year, prices stay the same or are pushed down, quality rises, speed rises, and consumers are happier. If not for government, the same would be true of medical care and insurance.
I’m aware of how employer provided healthcare started. I just don’t understand why anyone ever thought it was a good idea. Your analysis seems very reasonable.
I fear you are right that no one will ever just turn insurance back over to the free market...including removing it from our employers.
Everything from bread to hammers to football tickets to health insurance should be set by the market place. Unfortunately, the average dude neither trusts the market place nor fears the power of an omnipresent government.
I wish I could say I was optimistic about our future but, I’m not. Even 1 Supreme Court Justice concluding that the government has the power to force the purchase of a product suggests how far we’ve fallen into the abyss. And, we’ve probably got 4 judges willing to turn complete control of our lives over to the feds...and these are supposedly ‘experts’ on our constitutional rights.
“”companies could sweeten fringe benefits, and so began to offer life and health insurance.””
EXCEPT at that time the employers offered Major Medical only and it kept people from going to the doctors for hangnails and colds. It should have stayed that way.
Exactly. The government actually CAUSED health care to sky-rocket, then wants to “fix” it by making it worse.
I’m still in the anger stage- Angry that the Republicans had control of the House, Senate and presidency during some of the Bush years and did nothing about health care reform, instead they spent like drunken sailors.
Also, you could use Lasik surgery as a prime example of a health care procedure becoming better and CHEAPER because it’s considered elective so government (and insurance) isn’t involved.
The free-market prevails every time.