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Health Care Providers
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CEOs on HEALTH CARE CORPORATE BOARDS
A survey of small and mid/sized businesses by the National Small Business Association found that 60 percent favor a "federally/funded, government administered health care system financed through higher taxes" (National Small Business Association 4/07).
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CEOs on HEALTH CARE CORPORATE BOARDS
One reason US corporations have not "overwhelmingly" embraced single payer national health insurance is because they have health industry executives on their boards. The AFL-CIO filed a report with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that Board members of 21 of the largest non-health related US companies have "violated their fiduciary duties to shareholders by barring the purchase of generic drugs instead of name brands, and blocking companies whose boards they sit on from supporting federal legislation that could have saved shareholders billions of dollars."
The 21 firms have Board members who also serve on the boards of pharmaceutical and other health-related companies, for example United Health Group, Aetna, Tenet, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, PhRMA, Abbott, Eli Lilly and Merck (AFL-CIO release, 10/05/07).
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TARRANT'S HEALTHY IDEA
IDX co-founder Richard Tarrant may be running for the Republican US Senate nomination in 2006, but when it comes to health care, he has some ideas that are quite different from the same old things we hear from the Republican Party.
Tarrant's company, which was recently purchased by General Electric for $1.2 BIL, specializes in creating computer software for the health care industry. "I've spent 35 years in the health care industry," Tarrant told the Reformer . "I've seen a lot of different health care plans." Unlike many Republicans, Tarrant thinks single-payer health care isn't a terrible thing. One reason why is that, at least for the elderly and the poor, the USA already has a form of it.
"Medicare is a bureaucracy, but it is one of the most efficient bureaucracies out there," said Tarrant. Because Medicare works in this regard, Tarrant would like to see it expanded so that the uninsured, small businesses and farmers could participate. It would be means-tested, with premiums based upon the ability to pay. Those who want to participate can do so, or stick with the current private insurance plan they might have.
Tarrant's vision of a limited single-payer health insurance system functioning side-by-side with the current free market system is an intriguing idea.
Brattleboro Reformer October 26, 2005
http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8854~3106021,00.html
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STARBUCKS LOSING OUT ON HEALTH CARE
Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz said the firm expects to spend over $200 million on health care for its U.S. employees in 2005, more than the company spends on coffee. He made no statement about the effect on his business.
AP 9/15/05
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STUDY BY CONSERVATIVE COALITION UNDERSCORES NHI ADVANTAGE
A study, commissioned by the National Coalition on Health Care, (former president HW Bush is chairman) found that single-payer national health insurance would save the USA $1.14 TRIL over the next decade - more than any other proposal. This was according to a fiscal study of four major reform options by economist Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University which NCHC commissioned. The study also estimated the potential savings from a "pay or play" or employer mandate plan ($320 BIL over 10 years), the expansion of existing government programs to the uninsured ($320 BIL), and the creation of a program similar to the Federal Employees’ Health Benefits Program ($370 BIL).
Thorpe, K. "Impacts of Health Care Reform," National Coalition on Health Care," May 23, 2005,
The study may still be available CLICK HERE www.nchc.org
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E. Nolte and C. M. McKee, "US Has Most Preventable Deaths Among 19 Nations," Heath Affairs,January/February 2008
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Anderson et al, Health Affairs, Sept/October 2007
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*5 see article in the nation |
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*6 see articles in the nation and at Chrysler website |
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Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, have a healthcare crisis on their hands. In 1999, Giant and Safeway paid $112 million in medical costs for employees in the Washington, DC region; by 2003, they were spending $180 million on healthcare subsidies. These rising costs, and the chains' efforts to slash workers' subsidies, recently prompted 70,000 California grocery workers to go on strike. Desperately looking for ways to stay competitive, the supermarket chains could find their salvation in a single-payer system. (From the same article in the nation) |
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The CEO of Kadant Inc recently told the Washington Post that healthcare costs make operating in the US nearly unsustainable. Kadant says it will spend $6,500 on health care in 2004 for each of its American employees. But, the single-payer system in Canada is so inexpensive that Kadant is considering moving all its operations north of the border.nd |
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*7 The New York Times, November 27, 2004, "This Year, Ontario May Pass Michigan in Making Vehicles" By Danny Hakim
Michigan has been the heart of the auto industry since Henry Ford started mass-producing the Model T a century ago, but the Midwestern state is poised to be surpassed by Ontario. The Canadian province is on course to pass Michigan this year and become the biggest auto-producing state or province in North America, according to Ward's Automotive, which tracks auto production data.
Canada is attractive, in part, because of its nationalized health care system, which negates perhaps the largest competitive burden faced by domestic manufacturers. G.M. spends roughly $1,400 a vehicle produced in the United States on health care, more than it spends on steel.
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*1 see Globe and Mail (Toronto) of
September 13, 2002 article by Greg Keenan
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*2 see Globe and Mail of September 21, 2001
article by Carol Goar
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*3 see M.J. Mandel's "Economic
Trends: Health Care's Economic Payoff" in Business Week (April 29, 2002).
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REFERENCES
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*1 Data from JAMA. 2003;290:1617-1623.
*2 Medscape Interview with Susan Yox, RN, EdD Oct 2003 was available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/462039
(Request from Medscape or Reuters Health News)
*3 "More Primary Care Physicians Leads to Lower Mortality Rates" from Health Affairs. Published online March 15, 2005.
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