Friday, December 11, 2009

Health Insurance - A burden on business


I don't understand why we burden businesses with the task of providing health insurance.

My company, TriLibrium, is in the process of adding this employee benefit and we've probably spent a collective 20-40 hours of our staff time discussing our needs, creating an employee census, shopping for an agent/broker, supplying information, evaluating options, etc. etc. None of which relates directly to our business as accountants and business advisors.

I have no problem paying the money but wouldn't it be nice if this was simplified? A business tax on all employers in order to provide universal health insurance would level the playing field and eliminate their administrative burden. This administrative burden is a hidden cost of our insane, for-profit private health insurance system.

Like everyone, we all want comprehensive insurance. All of us need access to health care and worry about catastrophic problems that might not be covered due to coverage gaps or maximum coverage provisions.

From an economic standpoint, it makes so much sense to create a single, large insurance pool with everyone in so we can equally spread the risk, lower administrative costs and reduce the fear and anxiety we all have around health insurance.

We need universal health care. I believe the best system is Single Payer. We could solve all these problems by adopting Medicare for All!

2 comments:

Great West Life assurance said...

Hi. As we have a single payer system in Canada I definitely agree that it is a very well working system. It is much cheaper than the American one today and it doesn't leave anyone without insurance coverage as it is affordable for all Canadian citizens.
Wishing all the best,
Lorne

Brian C. Setzler, CPA said...

Dear Lorne,

Thank you for the comment. It sounds as if you appreciate your health care system in Canada.

I really am jealous. Except for the wealthiest, everyone of us down here have to worry about health insurance and access to care.