The Big Three automakers, GM,Chrysler and Ford along with the Canadian Autoworkers pushed the Canadian government to strengthen their single payer system.
"The public health care system significantly reduces total labour costs for automobile manufacturing firms, compared to the cost of equivalent private insurance services purchased by U.S.-based automakers; these health insurance savings can amount to several dollars per hour of labour worked.
Publicly funded health care thus accounts for a significant portion of Canada's overall labour cost advantage in auto assembly, versus the U.S., which in turn has been a significant factor in maintaining and attracting new auto investment to Canada."
This is a complete slap in the face to the Republicans and some conservative Democrats who say it will hurt business. The automakers urged the Canadian government to fix the problems in the system that was caused by underfunding the program.
"Canada's publicly funded health care system is now facing demographic, technological, and fiscal pressures. The erosion of publicly funded health care – through measures such as the delisting of currently-covered services, the imposition of user fees, the failure of the public system to keep up with the changing nature of health care, and new costs such as prescription drugs and home-care, – will impose significant costs on automotive employers and undermine the attractiveness of Canada as a site for new automotive investment."
In fact these corporations will even endure higher taxes if necessary saying,
"To this end, General Motors and CAW-Canada jointly urge the federal and provincial governments to take appropriate actions to preserve the public health care system, secure its funding base, and modernize the range of services which it covers."
So with this joint letter to Canada, the Big Three automakers have given progressives that ammunition to fight back against the tall tale that universal healthcare is bad for business. If it was, why would they be pushing for it to be stronger.
Read the entire letter here.
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Reynardine
Jun. 7th, 2012 at 6:10 pm
And now, let them say so to officeholders and pundits HERE!
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Nebroxah
Jun. 7th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Yes please! Either switch to a public option or adopt Germany's policy: doctors are non-profit!
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Churchlady320
Jun. 8th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Doctors HERE are non-profit in most hospitals. The stronger argument is that Germany like others such as France have heavily regulated and price controlled insurance. That is why the ACA actually lays he base for a German -style health insurance plan.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Jun. 7th, 2012 at 7:02 pm
I think the big three will be excommunicated or whatever it is from the free market. Tony Perkins will come out and say they are driven by demons. The cars as we know them will have jesus statues on the hood
The republicans are blatantly attemtping to beat our rights into the ground. They will not fall for the cheaperr healthcare becuase they dont want you to have it to start with
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Churchlady320
Jun. 8th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Yup! I think you're right about that!
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IndeCan
Jun. 7th, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Great articles. Nebroxah, you are true about doctors being non-profit in Germany, and in the US before Reagan, that's how our hospitals were. They were typically community owned, and had a "non-profit" status. Not everything should be profitized, and health care is one of those. And what's remarkable, is the you would see an even bigger boom in the health care industry if we returned it to "not-for-profit" status. Doctors would still be making generous salaries, as would other health care professionals, but those very few at the very top (mostly administrators) would not be making millions. They might have to settle for 6 figures instead. I know, it's rough. But that's what democracy looks like.
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Churchlady320
Jun. 8th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
The majoriy of hospitals in the US are still non-profit. Humana-style for-profits are in the minority.
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A Walkaway
Jun. 8th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
That's interesting to learn. In this area, the non-profits are being driven out, and replaced by for-profit. In fact, the closest one I know of isn't even in this county… it's in Tampa. (There may be one or two that I'm not aware of in the county.)
The non-profit that USED to be within an hour's drive, well, they had beds and equipment that dated to the 50s and 60s, and the place was in bad shape, even in the 80s.
(I don't know how prevalent this has become, but in this county YOU pay for an ambulance ride to the hospital. It used to be that it was part of what the county provided to citizens, just like putting out fires. $600 for a five minute ride!)
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A Walkaway
Jun. 8th, 2012 at 11:00 am
The way I see it, the Republican elites WANT people to die. That way, other workers are more frightened of layoffs and job loss, and become more subservient.
That's why they don't want people to know how effective socialized medicine really is. Plus, there is another benefit I learned about… in countries where it is in place, they don't have the turn-around problem with the health workers such as nurses, and understaffing (a constant problem in the US) isn't an issue.
We need to get the rich out of the picture… they can start EARNING their money instead of leeching off of the rest of us.
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Ed Bradford (@egbegb)
Jun. 8th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Any who offloads their burdens to the Federal Government is greedy.
Need I say more?
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