There was recently a very lively debate about the different healthcare plans of the two candidates in the Obama and McCain "change" poll threads. And after thinking so much about healthcare policy, I had a question I would like to pose to the canncom community:

Why aren't corporate interests the ones pushing hardest for nationalized healthcare?

In the US, about 60% of Americans get healthcare insurance through their employers, with the company picking up a large part of the cost. A healthcare benefit is just something Americans expect from a "good job." It seems to me like both of the plans proposed by the two candidates build on the idea that healthcare should be provided by employers, with government programs to pick up some of the slack. For better or worse, neither one is proposing a truely "nationalized" healthcare system provided through the government and subsidized by taxpayers.

A lot of Americans are actually opposed to such a "nationalized" healthcare system, but why would corporate America be opposed to it or even just neutral about it? Why not in favor? Right now American corporations pick up a huge proportion of healthcare cost in this country as a benefit to their employees. That is a huge cost. Those coprporations compete with corporations in other countries that have nationalized healthcare and do not have this added cost. American corporations operate at a disadvantage because they pay this healthcare expense that other companies around the world do not have to pay. That added cost either gets taken off the bottom line or added to the price of goods.

Doesn't it seem like they would want to dump this cost off on the government and the taxpayers? Corporations are not shy about dumping off costs, so why not this one? I know for certain that every company I have worked for in the last 15 years has complained about the high cost of healthcare benefits and has worked to publicise the fact that the cost goes up 10% to 15% a year.

So why is it always "left-wing liberals" who want nationalized healthcare? Why isn't it corporate shareholders and CEOs pushing for nationalized healthcare so they can shed the cost and be more competitive and profitable?

After thinking about it all day, I honestly have no clue, so I wanted to throw it out for discussion.
dragonrider Reviewed by dragonrider on . Question about Nationalized Universal Healthcare There was recently a very lively debate about the different healthcare plans of the two candidates in the Obama and McCain "change" poll threads. And after thinking so much about healthcare policy, I had a question I would like to pose to the canncom community: Why aren't corporate interests the ones pushing hardest for nationalized healthcare? In the US, about 60% of Americans get healthcare insurance through their employers, with the company picking up a large part of the cost. A Rating: 5