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I see a lot of different origins for health insurance proffered in this thread. Unfortunately, I have seen no documentation for any of them and they do not coincide with my own "edumacation" on such topics ( which of course is also without documentation or proof).
I was informed in my early years that Health Insurance was available to individuals at a very high cost through private insurance companies. It was so expensive most people chose to do without.
Along come some large employers and community cooperatives that used their large buying power to purchase these policies and pass the savings along to their employees and members. These group policies were much more affordable and more people could be persuaded to take advantage of them.
At some point, these group insurance programs became a tool for attracting employees and association membership. The rates of the policies were subsidized and sometimes even fully funded on the person's behalf. The competitive forces caused the scope of the policies to increase and the cost to the employee or member to decrease until such time as the business economy could no longer afford the costs they were assuming and policy costs to the individual started to rise and the coverage started to recede.
To answer the Original question; Why is health insurance in this country provided mostly through employers? Because employers could provide this at an affordable level through group purchasing power and it was an excellent tool for human resources.
According to this article, the number of people getting their health insurance from their employers has dropped to 56%. At unemployment rates anywhere between 9% and 20% depending on who you ask and who is counted, there is still a large number of people working who don't have health insurance.
That begs the question, why is our health insurance system in any way tied to employers? These are two seemingly unrelated aspects of peoples' lives.
I realize that employers that offer health plans (not all do) contribute 50% and it's pre-tax. But this is not an answer for the above question because this can be done regardless of with whom the group is associated.
Because it's a benefit...just like a company car or a retirement account. The libs want to change that because instead of being dependent on your employer, they'd prefer you be dependent on the government.
To answer the Original question; Why is health insurance in this country provided mostly through employers? Because employers could provide this at an affordable level through group purchasing power and it was an excellent tool for human resources.
You bring up a good point about purchasing power in large numbers. But why must these large groups be employers? Why can't they simply be a large group of people forming an association for the sole purpose of obtaining group health coverage?
I see a lot of different origins for health insurance proffered in this thread. Unfortunately, I have seen no documentation for any of them and they do not coincide with my own "edumacation" on such topics ( which of course is also without documentation or proof).
I was informed in my early years that Health Insurance was available to individuals at a very high cost through private insurance companies. It was so expensive most people chose to do without.
Along come some large employers and community cooperatives that used their large buying power to purchase these policies and pass the savings along to their employees and members. These group policies were much more affordable and more people could be persuaded to take advantage of them.
At some point, these group insurance programs became a tool for attracting employees and association membership. The rates of the policies were subsidized and sometimes even fully funded on the person's behalf. The competitive forces caused the scope of the policies to increase and the cost to the employee or member to decrease until such time as the business economy could no longer afford the costs they were assuming and policy costs to the individual started to rise and the coverage started to recede.
To answer the Original question; Why is health insurance in this country provided mostly through employers? Because employers could provide this at an affordable level through group purchasing power and it was an excellent tool for human resources.
I think I made the same points, except that I couldn't go back farther than the mid-90s on grounds of personal experience. But you said it better and additionally the message within the line (highlighted above).
Even if a small business could offer similar pay, they struggled to match the big guns on benefits and weren't as attractive an option for talent to go to. It really was a big gun tool to skim talent in a relatively competitive market.
darn unions giving people living wages and benefits, healthy work conditions etc.......we really should look to places like china and our immigrant farm workers for better examples
You bring up a good point about purchasing power in large numbers. But why must these large groups be employers? Why can't they simply be a large group of people forming an association for the sole purpose of obtaining group health coverage?
You bring up a good point about purchasing power in large numbers. But why must these large groups be employers? Why can't they simply be a large group of people forming an association for the sole purpose of obtaining group health coverage?
Because corporations can be people (for political purposes) but people can't be corporations (for political purposes). And corporations drive the rules.
Because corporations can be people (for political purposes) but people can't be corporations (for political purposes). And corporations drive the rules.
So what you're saying is basically there is no good reason why this is so.
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