Health Care Reform
|
Everyone can agree that health care should be made available to every American. Now that
President Obama has signed the bill into law we have yet to view the entire package. Already
burdened tax payers will pay dearly for this one as in the end we still pay the cost.
Businesses will be required to provide health coverage for employees. This action will have a
negative impact on the work force as small business will have to scramble for extra funds to pay for
health insurance. A small business owner will have 4 choices.
1) Raise the price of goods or services to compensate for the increase in costs. The end result
consumers pay the price. Raising prices in a recession will slow sales which could lean toward
layoffs adding more employees to the unemployment lines
2) Force employees to pay a greater percentage of the cost and opt for a cheaper policy with less
coverage. Employees will see less take home pay stretching already tight belts. With less to spend
in their pockets we slide further into a depression.
3) Lay off a few employees or freeze hiring as employees retire to compensate costs. This action will
add workers to the unemployment lines sending us farther into a depression.
4) Start using temp agencies. With a huge pool of overqualified work force in unemployment temps
will be the wave of the future. An employer does not have to provide health coverage for temporary
employees. Every few months the employer will tell the agency to send out different workers so they
do not have to hire anyone. Productivity and customer service will decline as a result of temporary
workers. Although they can be good workers, a temporary work force will have to be retrained every
few months as they are bounced around from workplace to workplace. After a period of time this can
have physiological effects on the best of workers.
Introducing a costly health care reform bill during a deep recession is bad politics. In the long run it
might just push us into a depression. More job cuts and a further strain on the economy. The
government always reports new unemployment filings for the month but they do not report the
numbers whose unemployment benefits ran out and still are out of work. The government will not
admit it because they always paint a rosy picture. Introducing the health care bill during a deep
recession took the focus off the economy to the new subject of health care reform.
|
|
