General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What is the "hard left"? [View all]karynnj
(59,533 posts)My dad's union job in the 1950s/1960s provided the healthcare insurance that allowed our family, with 9 kids, to get medical, dental and vision insurance. I can not imagine how much tougher life would have been without that - even though none of us had any serious medical problems. Years ago, the two things that labor unions took the most credit for were getting these benefits AND getting a standard 40 hour week with overtime beyond that.
In hindsight, I guess the unions should have instead lobbied the government to provide healthcare as all other industrial countries now do rather than tying healthcare and employment. However, that is not what happened. The government agreed to count insurance costs of companies as costs and companies and unions found that they could get a higher valued compensation package for the same cost to the company if it included insurance than if it was purely wages. The cost to the government was the business tax money lost because the insurance was a business expense. I am sure at the time it seemed to be a win/win. In the glossy brochures of the late 1950s/early 1960s, companies were good for the community caring about the quality of life of their employees.
However, if you wanted to leave a corporate job to start a small business or consult or retire early, loss of that insurance was a very big hurdle - especially if you had any pre-existing conditions.
One thing that many help to push the country to single payer is that the corporations were greedy enough to restrict benefits. This means that a much smaller percent of people over time have employer benefits and what many have is far less generous. In addition, companies in recent decades have given insurance to an ever decreasing percent of the population. Some companies hired people as "independent contractors", which meant that they not only did not provide benefits - they avoided the FICA taxes. Others purposely set a criterion that only full time employees got benefits -- and then hired almost all their employees as part time.
There should be a tipping point where not just a majority of people are for single payer, but an overwhelming majority.