Health Care: Here Come the Unintended Consequences
by ilene - January 9th, 2010 12:02 pm
Health Care: Here Come the Unintended Consequences
As a general rule, DollarCollapse.com doesn’t get involved in public policy debates. Not because they aren’t important, but because the damage has already been done. The U.S., along with Japan and most of Europe, has passed the point where policy fixes are possible. There’s no magic marginal tax rate or Fed Funds rate or immigration law that will avert disaster. All that’s left is for the current system to implode, one way or another. Then policy will matter again, as we try to fashion a workable new system from the rubble of the old.
But every once in a while a policy-related story comes along that’s too good to pass up, like this from CFO Magazine:
Farewell, Company Health Plans?
Now that health-care reform bills have passed both the House and the Senate, some CFOs are seriously considering whether or not to drop employee coverage.
Alix Stuart, CFO.com | US
December 31, 2009For the past 19 years, Frank Santos, CFO of the privately held, seven-property Rosen Hotels and Resorts in Orlando, Florida, has prided himself on delivering high-quality health care to his employees in a unique and low-cost way.In 1991 the company set up a primary-care clinic in one of its hotels, allowing employees to get basic health-care services during their working hours. By cutting out other primary-care options and contracting directly with hospitals and specialists for additional services, Santos says, the company has been able to offer a full health-care package to its 5,000 or so employees and their families and save at least $10 million a year compared with national averages.Beyond the basics, the company goes to great lengths to keep its employees healthy, including offering them many wellness services, such as exercise classes and serving only healthy foods (no French fries) in its cafeterias.
The current Senate health-care reform bill that passed on Christmas Eve, however, may change all that. “There’s no incentive for someone who has a plan such as ours to keep it,” says Santos. “We currently spend about $2,700 per associate, but the government is going to allow us to forgo that plan and pay $750 per associate,” he says, referring to the $750 per-employee penalty that would be levied on employers whose employees need government subsidies to



Twitter
LinkedIn
del.icio.us


Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...









Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
(