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The Killer Fear of Guaranteed Healthcare
The most astounding thing about the health care reform is the amount of frightened people out there. What’s even more amazing is the number of uninsured people who are afraid of government intervention. That’s like the poor worrying about the higher taxes rich people pay.
I’ve been on both sides of the system. As a relatively young man, not being insured doesn’t appear to be much of a problem. Medically, young males have very few things to worry about. On the other hand, as a husband, I can’t imagine putting my family through a financial disaster that is possible under the current arrangement. I’ve seen my mother survive cancer and enjoyed the benefits of company-paid healthcare. And then watched her become worried and desperate for coverage after she was laid off and became uninsured.
As a CEO, I’ve come to realize that lack of healthcare is a barrier for employees from leaving jobs and starting new businesses. That’s a problem for a small business / startup like ours. Its not unusual to run in to very talented employees working at large companies who feel that they cannot leave a job they dislike because our company’s health plan is not as good. I’ve met many people who would love to start a new business but can’t, because they would be unable to get coverage for pre-existing conditions until they reach a certain company size.
Effectively, unequal healthcare serves as a barrier to innovation. It’s entirely possible that our own employees may quit and start their own companies because guaranteed heathcare coverage may allow them to do so, but I have no desire to be the man that keeps an employee down. Increasing costs in healthcare also means that annually we face the choice of paying more in premiums or cutting benefits.
This will probably be the last time in a long time that we’ll be able to have an intelligent public debate about how we can safeguard our family from healthcare costs. So please, don’t be afraid of the complexity and start asking questions.
About the author
Ben Huh is the CEO and Founder of the Cheezburger Network, responsible for such Internet culture icons like I Can Has Cheezburger? and FAIL Blog. He lives in Seattle with his wife and dog. English is not Ben's first language. Neither is lolspeak.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Ben Huh on August 1, 2009 at 1:01 pm, and is filed under Business, Personal. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 1 year ago
Try this again…
Great points!
As a Canadian, who has never known a day without “free” healthcare (Not everything is free but the basics are covered) this is a very weird debate.
I think the fear of being a “socialist state” is a major disruption to the U.S.A. The Republican Party has amassed a large army of unintelligent poor people to fight for their corrupt policies, under the guise of individual freedom. e.g. No tax is good tax (taxes create roads and a million other things, do you oppose those?)
The gap between the rich and poor is the largest its ever been, and the Republicans still want to maintain the status quo???
One of the major reason why GM and Chrysler fell apart was because the massive fees that they had to pay to keep citizens covered for health.
Imagine, instead of companies paying for all the administrative costs of the health care coverage/programs, they paid a larger percentage of tax and had some organization that is supposed to take care of the population do it?
That wouldn’t be good because the insurance companies wouldn’t be able to charge astronomical fees!
It is great to see the view of a CEO that cares about employees. The “unequal healthcare vs innovation” situation is right on point.
The U.S. is the only 1st world country without universal health care. That should say something.
about 1 year ago
Unequal health care may very well be a barrier to many things, including innovation. The problem is that the current government “solutions” are trying to solve the wrong thing. We could take huges steps forward if we changed laws to better allow (1) high deductibel policies; (2) remove converage requirements, (3) allowed people in one state to buy a policy from an insurance company in another state; and (4) equalize the tax benefits that currently only benefit company-based plans. In short, we need to undo all the government regulations that have made health care so expensive in the first place! Unfortunately, these types of solutions are being dismissed out-of-hand by the current administration and Congress.
about 11 months ago
Ben,
(was at wordcamp.la last weekend)
I recently started up a new health care plan where my employer covers a generous portion of our plans. Being from Canada where I had free healthcare, i can’t believe that suddenly i have what could amount to another car payment, minus the car – just to be sure that if my current car gets me injured in a wreck, that they will admit me for treatment ‘cuz I PAID!
Scary stuff.
How could you be frightened of universal health care?
Public Transit (sometimes privitazed but generally publicly run), MAIL, Schools, Roads, all publicly run and funded by gov’t. this is NOT socialism. i think hospitals should also be under that….why not?
okay enough canadian opions in america. i’m just sayin’ there’s nothing to fear but care quality itself!
about 7 months ago
I’m uninsured by choice. My employer offers that option. I choose not to because I am rarely sick. When I do have the “sniffles” or something, I just drink herbal tea with lemons, et cetera. I’m one of those healthy eaters who hardly ever gets sick.
I don’t go to the doctor.
And I don’t see why others (like the government) need to raid my pocketbook to pay for others to be insured. I am earning money for myself, and I pay my taxes. I am taxed enough already.
This angers me! Isn’t anyone listening? Don’t you understand? Do you think I’m being selfish? I do donate to charity etc.
Limited government is better; government needs to stay out of our wallets as much as possible. We are taxed enough already. Limited government means a better economy and a better society.
about 7 months ago
@chris G…You’re never sick until you are. While there’s plenty wrong with the health insurance companies, I don’t recommend being without it. When you get hit with a $30,000 bill for foot surgery because you broke your heel in a car accident, the $200 per month doesn’s seem so bad anymore.
about 6 months ago
I live in the UK and am doing a project at school about the health care in America and I can honestly say that everyday I carry on this project I become more socialist. I think that what I have learnt, not just from the media but from many sources is disgusting. Putting prices to people’s health feels unethical to me.
My main aim is to understand why American’s don’t even want Obama reform nevermind the likes of the NHS.
The NHS is government run yes, just like your school system or mail. But you aren’t scared of the state run schools.
I am happy to debate any issues about this, I would like a better understanding for my dissertation. My personal feelings aside, why do American’s think the reform or “socialised medicine” is bad?
about 3 months ago
Try this again…
Great points!
As a Canadian, who has never known a day without “free” healthcare (Not everything is free but the basics are covered) this is a very weird debate.
I think the fear of being a “socialist state” is a major disruption to the U.S.A. The Republican Party has amassed a large army of unintelligent poor people to fight for their corrupt policies, under the guise of individual freedom. e.g. No tax is good tax (taxes create roads and a million other things, do you oppose those?)
The gap between the rich and poor is the largest its ever been, and the Republicans still want to maintain the status quo???
One of the major reason why GM and Chrysler fell apart was because the massive fees that they had to pay to keep citizens covered for health.
Imagine, instead of companies paying for all the administrative costs of the health care coverage/programs, they paid a larger percentage of tax and had some organization that is supposed to take care of the population do it?
That wouldn’t be good because the insurance companies wouldn’t be able to charge astronomical fees!
It is great to see the view of a CEO that cares about employees. The “unequal healthcare vs innovation” situation is right on point.
The U.S. is the only 1st world country without universal health care. That should say something.