A Car Mechanic's Plea For A Health Care Fix

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:



A Car Mechanic's Plea For A Health Care Fix
By Isaiah J. Poole

July 8th, 2008 - 3:53pm ET


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For David White, a small business owner in Bar Harbor, Maine, the health care crisis is doubly personal.

For one thing, he was proud of being able to cover the full cost of health insurance premiums for his employees at MDI Imported car repair service. But in 2002—a year in which his company experienced a record profit and in which he considered giving his employees a generous raise—he instead had to lay off one of his employees for six months, reduce the amount of coverage he offered and increase costs. That was because the company’s health insurance premiums that year doubled, more than eating up the increased profits of his business.

“I was literally in tears laying this out to my men, and I am not fond of crying in front of my men” he said in a news conference Tuesday, where he was telling his story at the announcement of the Health Care for America Now! Coalition.

After that news conference, he revealed that his parents, both over 70, until recently held jobs — his father driving a school bus until a stroke left him unable to do so — just so they could have health coverage. His mother finally retired earlier this year, now that she is eligible for coverage as a retiree under the school system’s health plan. “I know many people in that same situation,” he added.

White’s personal experience galvanized him to action, which is why he was in Washington to appear at the Health Care for America Now! event at the National Press Club alongside representatives from labor and citizen activist groups.

Richard Kirsch, the director of the coalition, said that so far about 116 organizations have signed up in solidarity with the coalition’s principles, which include coverage for the nation’s 47 million uninsured, the ability to choose between well-regulated private plans and a public plan, equity in access and effective cost controls. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/health-care-press-conference-blog

[Bozita]

1. Great find, marmar!

from the piece:

Conservatives have courted business owners like White with promises of low taxation and deregulation, but health care is an area where progressives and the small business community can forge common ground. Leaving the insurance industry to its own devices certainly hasn't worked for small business; deregulation has actually saddled small business owners who want to provide good benefits for their employees with costs that they cannot reasonably bear.

When entrepreneurs and their workers look at the policies now being presented to them during the election season, they are seeing that the choice is between a practical plan for affordable, universal health care and a plan that conservatives call “choice” but is really individuals sweating it out on their own in a hostile private insurance market, with nothing but a meager tax credit that will cover only a fraction of their premiums.

One thing that the movement will need is more people like White to tell their stories—from business owners to seniors who work well past retirement age just so they can have adequate health insurance coverage. “There’s a role for government in this that only we—the backbone of America— can hold it to,” White said. “I’m here to say that we can’t afford not to.”

[Mnemosyne]

2. Needs another KnR. For hope for the future. n/t

[Fumesucker]

3. Done n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

4. I posted a poll question a few days ago...

...asking people why they believe the U.S. doesn't have heatlhcare.

Of all the choices, only one had no votes. As of today, right now, there are 141 votes, but not one person thought it was too complicated to do.

Yet, instead of universal healthcare being touted as the next "Apollo mission" for which the government would spend millions of dollars to guarantee its success, a GOP oil man is paying to have commercials run on the TV saying that reducing America's dependency on foreign oil is possible, McCain is offering a prize for some ridiculous project (I don't care to remember what it is) in what can only be described as an attempt to co-opt the idea of alternative fuels, and members of the Oil administration have stated support for hydrogen, the worst of the options.

I'm not saying that getting off oil is bad or impossible, I just don't understand how it is the party of oil profits can say there is a way to get off oil, but cannot see a way to make universal healthcare a reality.

[AwakeAtLast]

5. 2002 is the year the s**t hit the fan in healthcare

I had just had our daughter and my health insurance covered everything. The next year we had to give up some coverage and reduce our raise so that our school corp. could continue to write our checks!

[ThatsMyBarack]

6. 2002 is also when the film John Q came out.

I think I was one of the first people to see it (in the theater). I have the DVD now. It makes me mad every time I see it!

[LeftHander]

7. Republicans have ignored the healthcare crisis for too long...

They stonewalled and blocked all attempts at reform until the Bill Frist wannabe's racked in all the cash possible.

[Romulox]

8. Why should I pay for the healthcare of a guy who owns " MDI Imported car repair service"???

I'm from Detroit; he doesn't support my community, I don't see why I should support his.

BTW, can you name one country that has both:

a) universal healthcare; and
b) "free trade" with China?


I'll take my answer off-air.

[supernova]

9. Because we are all Americans

regardless of where we work.

Your attitude, "I'm not my brother's keeper," is one of the chief reasons we don't have UHC in this country. And the GOP just loves to exploit it.

[Romulox]

10. LOL. We're all Americans *WHEN WE WANT SOMETHING*!!!

When it's time to buy a car (or a computer, etc.) we are laissez faire "free traders", but when when we get our healthcare bills, we are all committed socialists. :hi:

[supernova]

11. Some truth to that

:hi: Romulox

I don't blame Detroit workers. I do blame short-sighted mgt and their poor planning. What's up with their not wanting to put out cars people really want to buy? (Safe, fuel efficient and somewhat decent-looking.) The Japanese and Koreans don't have a lock on common sense.

Disclaimer: I drive a Honda CRV. It is pretty good on gas and most of all, it fits me. I'm a small adult. I don't have to lie down to reach the steering wheel. The dashboard is within easy reach, the seat is the right size. The whole interior dimensions feel right for a smaller person. I can't say that about most American cars I've driven. They are made for big people. :P

Anyway, Detroit is screaming about HC costing them too much to be competitive, and I believe them. It's not that we don't need healthcare. We obviously do. But I think making employers pay for it all is rediculous. We need to have gov't sponsored healthcare like France or Canada would be the two models I favor.

[BigDaddy44]

12. You mean those "imported" Toyotas and Nissans

That are made in Tennessee and Kentucky?

[supernova]

13. Ha. Touche

Or Canada, our 51st state. ;-)

[Romulox]

14. *Most* Americans have healthcare, so I guess we're even!

Search GD for auto topics. While some Japanese makes are assembled in the US, they are made primarily with imported content. On a recent thread, it was demonstrated that only a handful of Japanese branded vehicles (8 or so) have 75% or greater US content--the vast majority have less than that by far.