At the time health insurance was originally tied to employers, it made a lot more sense than it does today. Curing diseases at the turn of the century was pretty hit or miss, but if you were injured on an assembly line, it seemed only fair that your employer should pay for the emergency care. It was also much more common to work for one company your whole life, so the idea of being "tied to a job for the health insurance" was like, well, the railroad's the only employer in town anyway, so...
As I understand it, it was also a response to a labor shortage where employers were trying to stand out from others by adding "perks" like health care. By the time the rest of the [Western] world was looking at public healthcare, the employer based system was pretty entrenched.
After WWII when the soldiers came back, business was booming and there were caps on wages to keep competition for workers fair. However, benefits were not capped so many employers started adding health insurance as incentives to attract workers. That is part of how health insurances got tied to employment.
Socialist! Commie! HIPPIE!
And here I thought that in order work, generally speaking, you need to be healthy. So that work can be done. Strange.
DH asked me yesterday where the word "hippie" originated. Anyone know?
I heard it's an abbreviation for a social class, such as Yuppie. Can't remember of what, though.
And here I thought that in order work, generally speaking, you need to be healthy. So that work can be done. Strange.
You need to work hard enough to deserve to be healthy!
t /Protestant
And then feel guilty about doing anything that isn't work or church!
t /Catholic
You need to work hard enough to deserve to be healthy!
Oh, rats! We should totally return to the 16 hour work day in health-endangered factories with 40 years of life expectancy of chronic pain, then!
And dammit, the whole part of the entitlement of who deserves what basic rights. Don't even get me started on this one. All that I can tell you is that I watch parts of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition", and can't, for the life of me, to say what makes one deserved and what's not. I believe it's called "luck", and from what I observed, it's usually distributed unequally. And with that, the God(s) of luck you pray to aren't divine, at all. They're humans who emphasis inequality of rights. < / Žižek>
Sometimes, I look at the human kind, and go all "c'mon. We've been dealing with this issue since at least the 9th century (at least, as documented in writing). That's the best we can come up with? Really?".
I'd like to think that getting health services is a basic right for everyone.
So would I, but there is definitely a part of our society who believes health insurance and health care is something you work for and don't just get. That segment tends to get really angry about having to fund other people's "free stuff." These are also, generally, privileged people who have been very lucky and have had jobs, money, and health insurance.
reason #67 I love working at home and having a work area connected to the kitchen: rice and beans are cooking on the stove and I can manage to figure out the settings on the old electric stovetop while still getting work done. simmer = "warm" not "lo", who knew?
So would I, but there is definitely a part of our society who believes health insurance and health care is something you work for and don't just get. That segment tends to get really angry about having to fund other people's "free stuff." These are also, generally, privileged people who have been very lucky and have had jobs, money, and health insurance.
Maybe I should elaborate. I think that among the basic rights are the right to get health services, the right to work for your living, the right to get some sort of basic education for all and the right to own property (in capitalist societies). Mixing both of work and health rights is kind of like mixing the education and property rights: if you don't own property, you can't go to school. Or if you don't go to school, you can't get property. Sure there's some kind of link - but it shouldn't be a compulsory one, in my eyes.
