The cover of Time Magazine this week shows that the editors still have a sense of humor. Smiling, arms akimbo in a Ford manufacturing plant stands William C. Ford Jr. next to the words “Would You Buy a New Car from This Man.” The funny thing is, just Monday Ford announced it would shut down 14 plants and layoff 30,000 workers as part of its massive revitalization plan begun in 2002. Sure new cars will still be manufactured, but Ford was once a company that raised wages so that employees could afford the cars they assembled. I can think of several thousand people who won’t be interested in buying a Ford this year.
According to The Washington Post, Ford “has complained that American technological innovation in the auto sector is falling behind that of other nations. Ford has asked the federal government to subsidize new technologies, including the production of hybrid vehicle components.” But the question on my mind is why the company is complaining about the barriers to innovation when, at a cost of $3.1 billion per year the health care costs may turn out to be the biggest hole in thier financial bucket.
The Ford-UAW health care pact passed earlier this month allowed the company to lower health care costs by about $650 million. I get two things from this. 1)They clearly recognize that health care costs are part of the problem and, 2) as the recent complaint shows, are interested in government intervention. Ford appears to unwilling to face the elephant in the room. Why not push for Single Payer Health Care?
I am hardly an expert on Health Care, but it seems to me that universal coverage would reduce the amount of money that Ford and other US companies face by having an American workforce. With this change, we could expect the tax burden to shift from corporate health insurance plans directly to tax payers. The cost of American labor would go down and production might not take as many hits requiring 30,000 layoffs! This benefit would spread to nearly all, if not all American industries.
So if William C. Ford Jr. is the tree hugging fan of sustainability that this Slate article suggests, then it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to imagine he might like the idea of universal health care. I just wonder, why American companies aren't leading the charge.
Comments
Isn't there an old saying that GM is a health care provider that happens to make cars? Lee Iaccoca has been a big proponent of universal health care for years. Employers don't want to pay for health care. That's why they defeated SB 2 at the ballots. Single payer is definitely the way to go. It takes the responsibility of providing health coverage off the backs of employers. We wouldn't need to argue about reimporting prescription drugs from Canada because we would have bulk purchasing power under a single payer system. Go SB 840!
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