Options To Replace Current U.S. Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance System Limited, Opinion Piece States

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 17 Apr 2006 - 20:00 PDT

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"If employers pull out of the health and pension business, who takes their place?" Wall Street Journal columnist David Wessel writes in a Journal opinion piece, adding, "Ultimately, there are three options, all with problems." One option, which business "resists," is to "make it cheaper for employers to offer benefits" through high-deductible health plans and other proposals or "force them to do so" through legislation, Wessel writes. A second option is to "make workers fend for themselves" or, "in a new Massachusetts wrinkle, require everyone to buy health insurance," Wessel writes. However, he adds that many employees might "find making wise decisions harder than advocates suggest" and that "moving toward individually purchased health insurance can undermine the benefits of pooling risk." According to Wessel, a third option is to "have government pick up more of the tab," but the federal government "hasn't any visible means of paying for the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits it already has promised" (Wessel, Wall Street Journal, 4/13).

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