The company my husband works for (non-union), provides excellent health insurance (we pay no deductables,co-pays,or premiums on all covered services) as part of his employment benefits, in leu of possibly higher wages. He is also guarenteed health care after retirement equal to the amount of years he worked for his company. So if he works for the company for 40 years and retires at age 60, he will recieve full coverage for 40 more years (me also) until he reaches 100 years of age.
In addition he will recieve a pension, and we have been investing in 401k's and IRA's. As I said this is part of his wage package, so I feel for these folks. I am 100% against nationalized health care (I work in medical billing and know how badly the government screws up on Medicare and Medicaid).
If my husbands company paid him the amount that they pay in premiums for his health insurance and we had to go out and purchase our own I would be ok with that. I would probably set up a medical savings account. But since this is part of his wage package I fail to see how you claim this is a free ride.
BTW... he works in an extremely hot and dirty foundry. He works his a$$ off each and every day. If you would like an application (so you don't have to pay $400.00 a month) I would gladly foward one to you, and you too can get a free ride.
This is where you are mistaken, as were the Bethlehem Steel employees who were left in the lurch. Your husband only receives full medical coverage for 40 more years after retirement if the company remains solvent for that period of time.
This is a very important distinction that needs to be made.