Individuals Cover Full Cost Of Health Care Through Lower Wages, Taxes, Opinion Piece States

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 28 Mar 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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"Business, government and individuals do not share the financial responsibility for health coverage" because individuals "bear the full cost of health care through lower wages and taxes," Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the bioethics department at the NIH Clinical Center, and Victor Fuchs, a professor of economics at Stanford University, write in a Chicago Tribune opinion piece.

According to the authors, employers "like to say -- and often believe -- that they pay for health care," but wages and "fringe benefits, such as health insurance, are simply components of overall worker compensation." They add, "What is labeled as employers' contribution to the health insurance premium is really paid for by employees through lower wages and take-home pay." In addition, when the government "pays for increases in health care costs, it taxes current citizens, borrows -- asking future taxpayers to foot the bill -- or reduces other state services that benefit citizens," according to the authors.

They conclude, "Controlling health care costs is not easy, but for average Americans, it is the only way to sustainably increase wages," and, "if we do it right, it will actually improve the quality of health care" (Emanuel/Fuchs, Chicago Tribune, 3/27).

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