Andrea Batista Schlesinger

Corporations Gone Wild

Spiraling gas prices, skyrocketing CEO salaries: we live in an age of Corporations Gone Wild! So why is it that when I first learned about the Fair Share Health Care legislation passing around the country I thought -- is this really the right strategy?

Of course it's wrong that big companies get away with choosing not to offer their workers health insurance, leaving those very same workers to turn to public hospitals and Medicaid for health care, and leaving regular working people like me to pay the bill while the companies' profits go through the roof.

In this changing economy, is it really wise to pursue employer-based solutions? I mean, as progressives, aren't we supposed to be advocating for a single payer system in which every individual has access to care no matter where they work?

Looks like I wasn't the only one with questions. Readers of the DMIblog debated the merits of Fair Share among themselves. For example:

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I worry that employer-based health care is a dead end. While the WFP effort (and its MD model) is very good, it seems limited. Look at, for example, the General Motors health plans which, it seems, play a signficant part in the non-profitability of the Corp.

Especially since, as a practical matter, people change jobs a lot -- portable comprehensive insurance which has no "pre-existing condition" exceptions
may be more viable.

As I see it, single payer non-employer coverage has the best chance of providing, universal, affordable, comprehensive coverage.

Posted by: Daniel Millstone | April 28, 2006 02:28 PM
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Here's my take though Daniel. If we want anything to happen we need to force corporations to feel the pain. The only force that would make the federal government actually do national universal health care is if the corporations tell them to.

The only way the corporations will tell them to do that is if the corporations suffer under the yoke of high health care costs for their employees. Right now the corps only pass the pain on to their workers and onto taxpayers.

If we make the corporations accountable for paying for their own workers the corporations will finally get off their fatted-asses and scream to the government for a universal plan.

Posted by: ann on | April 28, 2006 04:21 PM
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Ann, I think you're generally right about this, but it'll be a combination of pressure from fat-ass corporations AND demand from still-uninsured working people that will tip the balance toward universal insurance. Ultimately, a single payer system like Daniel suggests (along with Paul Krugman, who keeps pushing the Medicare expansion idea) is most likely to come to pass, especially as the idiocy of the Part D drug free-for-all continues to fester.

Posted by: Freedean | May 1, 2006 09:49 AM
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But it is precisely these questions that will make our discussion on Monday so rich.

We're fortunate enough to hear from Gloria Gary Lawlah, state senator from Maryland, who not only introduced Fair Share Health Care in her state, but then got it passed, overriding a veto by Governor Ehrlich whose prime concern was pandering to the private sector with comments like, "The chilling anti-business message sent by this bill has been heard by Maryland employers of all sizes and by potential employers of Marylanders around the world." (Apparently, he wasn't much concerned with the veto's message to Marylanders themselves who go without health insurance each day.)

And we have a great panel lined up:

Dan Cantor, the founder of the Working Families Party which has changed politics as we know it in New York State, and whose shop is making Fair Share the legislative priority of the year. They did it with minimum wage last, can they do it again?

State Senator Diane Savino, who represents parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn and has introduced her own Fair Share legislation aimed at gigantic "big box" stores. As a legislator with a labor background who represents an area where big box stores may become a significant presence, we can't wait to hear what she has to say.

And Adrianne Shropshire, a DMI Fellow and Executive Director of New York Jobs with Justice, and who led the New York City campaign for Fair Share legislation that passed last year.

The timing couldn't be better for our talk, as the nation is engaged in a conversation about how we hold powerful interests accountable for doing their fair share. Whether it's about skyrocketing oil prices, or skyrocketing insurance rates, or skyrocketing CEO salaries while wages stagnate, our country is expressing a lack of patience with a corporate sector gone wild.

So come to our event on Monday and share your thoughts about what employers should be held accountable for.

See you on Monday, May 8 in the Marketplace of Ideas.

Posted by Andrea Batista Schlesinger at May 5, 2006 11:51 AM