My political thought of the week
Jan. 11th, 2009 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
debetesseI've been thinking thinky job thoughts lately, and there was a thought that I thought that I thought I should share and see what other people thought.
I do not wish to be without health insurance. As an unmarried person, this, practically speaking, pretty significantly limits my career choices at this juncture. If I wanted to pursue a field of work where my employer did not provide health insurance, I would either need to make enough to pay for my own (not likely) or get a second job where I would get health benefits.
And then I had this thought: how many other people have the same thoughts? How many people are sitting in jobs they don't like, but feel stuck, not because of pay, but because of health insurance. How many small businesses are not being started for the same reason? (Completely unrelatedly, but also one of my thoughts: How many people are deciding to get married or not get divorced at least in part because of health insurance?)
I'm sure there aren't numbers on these things, and, at the present moment, I'm sure there are a lot of people not leaving their jobs for fear of being unable to get another, but, as a general principle, I think it's a valid question.
Which then lead me to wonder why this argument hasn't been made? I understand objections to "socialized medicine", but I know that many people who make those arguments are also strong supporters of "small business", which seems contradictory to me. While there should be risk involved in starting up a company, easing the way by removing an obstacle that it is in society's best interest (and humanitarian ethics) to be sure of seems like a win all around.
What I don't know about, though I'm sure people have pondered, is what larger companies would do without that expense. I'm sure the finding structure would help determine how much extra money they'd actually have.
At it's heart, though, my core objection, I think, is that I hate feeling trapped. And I don't wish it on anyone else, either. I think too many people make themselves feel that they're stuck in a situation, without worries about their health compounding the issue.
I do not wish to be without health insurance. As an unmarried person, this, practically speaking, pretty significantly limits my career choices at this juncture. If I wanted to pursue a field of work where my employer did not provide health insurance, I would either need to make enough to pay for my own (not likely) or get a second job where I would get health benefits.
And then I had this thought: how many other people have the same thoughts? How many people are sitting in jobs they don't like, but feel stuck, not because of pay, but because of health insurance. How many small businesses are not being started for the same reason? (Completely unrelatedly, but also one of my thoughts: How many people are deciding to get married or not get divorced at least in part because of health insurance?)
I'm sure there aren't numbers on these things, and, at the present moment, I'm sure there are a lot of people not leaving their jobs for fear of being unable to get another, but, as a general principle, I think it's a valid question.
Which then lead me to wonder why this argument hasn't been made? I understand objections to "socialized medicine", but I know that many people who make those arguments are also strong supporters of "small business", which seems contradictory to me. While there should be risk involved in starting up a company, easing the way by removing an obstacle that it is in society's best interest (and humanitarian ethics) to be sure of seems like a win all around.
What I don't know about, though I'm sure people have pondered, is what larger companies would do without that expense. I'm sure the finding structure would help determine how much extra money they'd actually have.
At it's heart, though, my core objection, I think, is that I hate feeling trapped. And I don't wish it on anyone else, either. I think too many people make themselves feel that they're stuck in a situation, without worries about their health compounding the issue.
