QUESTION:  How about large employers why aren't they pushing for UHC if it can save so much money?  Aren't they already paying excessively for health care of their employees between the benefits and taxes?

Yes, they are paying excessively - maybe they do not often realize this.  Or maybe some are so conservative that they just fight automatically against any additional right of working people or additional government program (even if it is financially favorable to their business).  INCREASINGLY THOUGH CEO's of large corporations have begun to speak favorably about UHC.

In the fall of 2001 it was 52+% more expensive for GM to pay for an hour of labor in the US vs. in a Canadian plant.^*1  More than 25% of this difference was due to the efficiency of health care spending in Canada.  The difference amounts to several hundred dollars on every vehicle ($900 of health care was estimated going into GMs average vehicle in 2000 in the US).^*2 Also see more recent article NYT of Nov 27, 2004. Similarly, Starbucks spends more on health care than on coffee beans. It's actually surprising that any of these CEO's are not in favor of a national health program, simply out of interest for their own competitiveness.

QUESTION:  Who are these CEO's you are talking about as supporting UHC?

Back in 1994, Jack Smith, former CEO of General Motors ^*5 went on record as "personally favoring the Canadian system." While Smith was unusual ten years ago by 2004 he just looked like someone who saw a bit further down the road. Executives from all three Big US automakers, upset over insanely high healthcare costs, recently sent the Canadian government a letter urging Canada to keep its single-payer system so that they could hold operating expenses down in their Canadian operations. ^*6

And why not? After all, in 2003, GM spent $4.5 billion on health care for its US- based employees and retirees, at a cost of $1,200 per car, according to a GM spokesman. "If we cannot get our arms around this [healthcare] issue as a nation, our manufacturing base and many of our other businesses are in danger," warned Ford's Vice Chairman Allan Gilmour.

Other CEO's include those of Kadant corporation and the CEO's of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's supermarket chains. Maybe a main reason that other CEO's have not embraced single payer, national health insurance is that either they or their buddies also serve on the boards of health care corporations which are raking in millions or billions in profit squeezed out of the health care dollars we throw at them every month out of our hard earned salaries and withheld taxes. Maybe then it's remarkable that there is so much business support, like 60% of small to mid-sized US businesses.

QUESTION:  Which Republicans have supported universal health care?

Well for one, Richard Tarrant, who may be running for the Republican US Senate nomination in 2006 and whose company was recently purchased by General Electric for $1.2 BIL. He specialized in creating computer software for the health care industry. "I've spent 35 years in the health care industry" Tarrant said "I've seen a lot of different health care plans." And he does not think single-payer health care is a terrible thing. "Medicare is a bureaucracy, but it is one of the most efficient bureaucracies out there" said Tarrant. Read More

How about President Bush Sr? The National Coalition on Health Care which he presides over found that national health insurance would save the USA $1.14 TRIL over 10 years (besides including all Americans in a system of health coverage).

QUESTION:  Why haven't polls borne out that Republicans or Conservatives support universal health care? Isn't it purely a left-wing Democrat sort of thing?

The Pew Research Center found that 65% of Americans said they support "government health insurance even if taxes increase." Even among those identified as "social conservatives," 59% support a tax-financed government system. For "populist conservatives" support was 63%, "conservative Democrats" 73%. Only one group, "libertarian conservatives" did not provide majority support.

I

QUESTION:  Just face it, the idea of universal health care and certainly of the Right to Health Care flies in the face of the basic orientation and ideology of American business people?polls borne out that Republicans or Conservatives support universal health care?

I would have thought that if anything were to be agreed upon by all American business people the concept of not wasting their money and on strengthening the profitability of their businesses and corporations might be at the top. If it were maybe it would bother them that they are paying twice what everyone else on the block is for one of their biggest ticket items and getting just half the product everyone else gets, in return for their inflated cost.

Despite spending about twice per capita on health care what other OECD nations spend ($6,102 vs. $2,552 in 2004), the USA ranks last in preventable death rates among 19 industrialized countries, resulting in about 101,000 excess American deaths per year. The study compared "amenable mortality" rates, deaths before the age of 75 from causes that are potentially preventable with timely and effective healthcare, and found that if the United States had matched the rate achieved by the three top/performing countries (France, Japan, and Australia) it would have had 101,000 fewer deaths per year by the end of the study period.

The USA also has fewer health care resources per capita than the international average for 30 industrialized nations in the OECD. The U.S. has fewer doctors (2.4 vs. 3.2 per thousand population), fewer doctor visits (3.9 vs. 6.1 per capita), fewer RNs (7.9 vs. 8.1 per thousand), fewer acute care beds (2.8 vs. 3.8 per thousand) and shorter hospital stays (6.5 vs. 8.2 days) than the OECD average.