That was pretty much the rally cry this summer, heard 'round the country. Surveys indicate that
those who have insurance are in general satisfied with their coverage, and are worried that a new health care initiative would take away what they currently enjoy. That's perfectly understandable. Unfortunately, most employers failed to heed the message.
My own employer has sent notice to all employees that health coverage will be dramatically changed for next year. The current policy is just not sustainable for the business, and changes had to be made in order to maintain viability (and prevent any further justification to ship jobs to other countries with less onerous health care costs). The new plan will provide less coverage. Employees will be financially liable for more than they used to be, either via higher deductibles or more out-of-pocket costs from a payroll-based health savings account. The result has been vague grumblings around the office, but one thing is sure -- we are not going back.
Of course, the other concern was a government takeover of health care, and at least we aren't facing that here. This is more or less a function of the free market, albeit a highly inefficient and dysfunctional free market. Still, it is illustrating what a number of candid politicians and health care pundits have pointed out: Much of the reason for the high cost of health care is the expensive series of tests that patients insist on and currently are shielded from the cost of. That is possibly part of the reason why
McAllen, Texas has been identified as having unusually expensive health care. In essence, the insurance policies that we have been satisfied with are the problem, or a big part of the problem. So the changes from the corporate level are addressing this deficiency. The problem is that many people will find the results to be financially painful.
I do not expect to see a lot of people protesting outside of company HQs this coming year, interrupting press conferences with angry chanting. Unless they don't care about getting sacked.