Wide Open to Pandemic?

[Wind Dancer]

Foolish Employment and Health Policies


By DAVE LINDORFF

The outbreak of a new swine flu in Mexico, and the potential threat of a new global pandemic, shines a bright light on a major weakness in the United States—an employment system where most workers are not paid or even face getting let go if they get sick and have to stay home from work, combined with a broken healthcare system where roughly one in six people have no ready access to a doctor.

-snip-

It doesn’t have to be like this. An enlightened country would mandate that all employers offer their employees a minimum of one week’s paid sick leave per year, so that people could stay home if they came down with something. This benefit could be made cumulative, so that a worker would be incentivized not to abuse the benefit, and could use it in the event of a longer illness or injury.

An enlightened country would also see the self-interest for all in having a health system that provided care for all. It’s not just a matter of human decency, though one would hope that would be enough. It’s also in our own interest that the person who sits next to us in the office or on the bus have health insurance and ready access to a doctor when needed.

At a bare minimum, the federal government should set up free neighborhood clinics able to provide primary health care in every community where it is determined that there is a lack off access to physicians.

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[Gman2]

1. Bingo, and Obama is going to sail this thru

to universal health care. There are just too many things that make sense. Even leveling the playing field, with smaller employers then being able to go toe to toe with the bigs. For the good of all. Then, we can do away with workmans comp. The employer can then carry gross negligence insurance, at greatly reduced cost, as long as they are careful. Everyone wins. Including the employers.

[elocs]

2. It is so casually advised, even here, that people who are sick simply stay home from work.

There are undoubtedly millions of workers who have no sick time, cannot afford to miss work, and cannot afford to miss work if it may cause them to lose their jobs.

I also hear it casually advised that people who are ill simply go and see their primary care physician. Is the assumption that everyone has health insurance or can afford to simply go see their physician just because they don't feel well? There needs to be a reality check here and if this flu outbreak is serious there needs to be a system in place where anyone who believes they are sick with this flu should be able to see a physician in order to protect society from the spread of the flu.