Our
View: Small business insurance beneficial
If
universal health insurance is such a lofty
goal, it may be because businesses are unwilling
to take on any responsibility for their
workers. Employers use their employees everyday,
to make products, to make money and to make
the wheels of the economy turn. But when
it comes to taking care of the people who
make all their money, businessmen seem to
bow out of the limelight, saying they don't
have enough money to take care of anybody
except themselves.
According
to the Health Care Workers Union, more than
6 million residents of California are without
health insurance over the course of a year.
Out of 36 million residents that may not
sound like a lot, but how many of those
are children that with their parents are
then automatically covered by Medi-Cal.
How much cheaper would it be on the state
if businesses would take responsibility
for these people rather than the states
health system?
Also
an issue is the fact that the uninsured
populace often do not get preventative care
that could shorten the amount of time at
the end of their lives. This end-of-life
time is often spent on the state's tab if
the person does not have insurance, and
this full-time care costs a great deal more
than a few prescriptions and office visits.
The
outcry from business people and politicians
may also be exaggerated. According to the
Kaiser Family Foundation more than 80 percent
of employers who have more than 10 employees
already provide insurance. So then all this
noise and complaining is over the last 20
percent of cheapskates who claim they cannot
afford to give their employees the opportunity?
More
than 98 percent of the employers in the
state would not even be affected by this
bill. All the propaganda against the bill
is just another attempt by our corporate
controlled GOP party to keep the United
States in the dark ages with public healthcare.
What
the anti-SB2 faction want you to believe
is that this measly percentage of employers
that will be affected and who will be forced
to do what is right in the first place is
going to break the bank of the California
economy.
The
economy is already messed up, and the state
is already taking care of all the people
who are unemployed. Why do these businesses
believe that they should not have to be
held accountable for their employees? Shouldn't
they care whether or not their workers are
well enough to make them a profit? Maybe
when all their workers are sick they will
realize that without the workers, they are
not only worthless, but they are going to
be worried about a lot more than how to
pay for health insurance. They might actually
have to work themselves.
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