Tuesday, July 18, 2006
SEIU president declares end to employer-based health coverage
[Andy Stern, "Horse and Buggy Health Coverage," The Wall Street Journal, 17 July 2006.]
It's not every day that the head of a major union writes a column in The Wall Street Journal, and definitely not sounding like Greg Scandlen:
"The employer-based system of health coverage is over" in the U.S., Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. According to Stern, U.S. residents "have to accept that we're living through the most profound transformative economic revolution in the history of the world" and are "rapidly moving from employer-managed work lives to self-managed work lives, in which workers must figure out on their own how to maintain things like health insurance and retirement."
This is similar to what Scandlen argued in "Choice is revolutionizing health care," an op-ed for The Flint Hills Center:
"There is a new world dawning. Employers, insurers and providers all will rethink the way they do business. As a result, the next 10 years likely will change our health care system forever, and for the better."
Scandlen further argues in his presentation "Consumer Driven Health Care: New Tools for a New Paradigm," that the employer-based model is a relic of the industrial era.
Of course, Scandlen does not take the leap that Stern does in saying that this means universal health coverage is the next obvious step. Sensing the upcoming shift away from employer-provided coverage, though, is a significant step for a union that has fought hard to gain health care coverage concessions from employers. Clearly, the health care coverage debate is shifting.
It's not every day that the head of a major union writes a column in The Wall Street Journal, and definitely not sounding like Greg Scandlen:
"The employer-based system of health coverage is over" in the U.S., Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. According to Stern, U.S. residents "have to accept that we're living through the most profound transformative economic revolution in the history of the world" and are "rapidly moving from employer-managed work lives to self-managed work lives, in which workers must figure out on their own how to maintain things like health insurance and retirement."
This is similar to what Scandlen argued in "Choice is revolutionizing health care," an op-ed for The Flint Hills Center:
"There is a new world dawning. Employers, insurers and providers all will rethink the way they do business. As a result, the next 10 years likely will change our health care system forever, and for the better."
Scandlen further argues in his presentation "Consumer Driven Health Care: New Tools for a New Paradigm," that the employer-based model is a relic of the industrial era.
Of course, Scandlen does not take the leap that Stern does in saying that this means universal health coverage is the next obvious step. Sensing the upcoming shift away from employer-provided coverage, though, is a significant step for a union that has fought hard to gain health care coverage concessions from employers. Clearly, the health care coverage debate is shifting.
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