We continue to track the national crisis in health care coverage. we’ve blogged it before and we’ll blog it again. As of 2003 about 45 million Americans lacked health insurance. Of these, there are about 20 million American workers without health coverage, which comprises a seismic undercurrent in workers compensation. Health care coverage tends to follow income: the lower your income, the more likely you cannot afford health insurance. The Kaiser study, which we cited back on April 6, notes that 40% of the workers without health insurance have less than a high school diploma. Twenty two percent of the uninsured report their health as “fair or poor.” In addition, about one third of uninsured workers rely on physical labor for their living. These three overlapping groups are at especially high risk for prolonged disability under workers comp. It’s probably no coincidence that Texas, the state with the highest incidence (27%) of non-covered workers is also the state where workers with a low education are most likely to receive permanent disability payments.
A recent article in the Boston Globe (registration required) by Theo Emery of the AP notes that Massachusetts has joined the ranks of the states singling out large employers who fail to offer coverage to all their employees. The state pays more than $52 million a year to cover workers in a broad range of jobs, from universities and hospitals to the U.S. Postal service. Four employers — Dunkin Donuts, Stop & Shop, Walmart and McDonald’s – have more than 1,000 employees each who received public health benefits. Now there is talk of surcharging these and similarly situated employers. Any such surcharge would provide political fireworks indeed!
Coalition of the Stymied
So I was pleased to read Robert Pear’s article in in the New York Times (registration required) that a group of 24 leaders representing health care, business and workers has been meeting quietly to hash out a concensus for providing coverage to the uninsured. The participants range from the liberal Families USA to the conservative Heritage Foundation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The group also includes the AARP, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the American Medical Association. I am encouraged that, first, they agreed that there is a major problem; second, that they can meet in a room together and just talk and listen to each other; and third, that despite their ideological differences, they might be able to agree on some solutions.
So far they are focusing on proposals to expand coverage to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. They recognize that there are many reasons for people being uninsured, so rather than trying to come up with a “one size fits all” solution, they are exploring more flexible models.
Neil Trautwein, assistant VP for NAM, compares the talks to medieval alchemy, bringing together disparate and volatile ingredients: “It could produce some wondrous proposal, or could blow sky-high.”
Thus far, here are some of the options they are exploring:
Tax credits to help parents provide insurance for children.
Deduction programs for employees whose employers do not offer health insurance; the employee contributions would be matched by other sources to provide coverage.
Tax credits to small businesses to help pay for insurance.
Expansion of Medicaid.
Federal grants to states to help them establish insurance purchasing pools.
Aggressive Timetable
The working group hopes to have a specific proposal by the end of the year. They have no illusions about the scale of this effort. As Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation says, “it’s a coalition built of frustration. True believers on the left and the right have been stymied on this issue.” Here’s wishing them the best of luck in this essential endeavor. We’ll keep you posted.
