The Long Way Home 10.25.24

As an aged capitalist and proud entrepreneur, I like to follow stories about people who run small businesses and those who try to make business ownership a little bit easier. 

I recently stumbled on an article on StartupNation, a multimedia company offering “in-the-trenches, how-to content authored by subject matter experts, thought leaders, and business professionals.” Titled “Solve the Real Problem…Not The Symptom,” it caught my eye because that statement is the essence of organizational leadership.

Much of the energy within organizations, by which I mean the time and talents of people trying to fulfill a mission, is wasted on dealing with symptoms, not real problems. One example is how we pay for and manage healthcare delivery.

Back in the day, when I sported cufflinks and braces (the 80s), my partners and I thought providing health insurance for our people, including ourselves, was a responsibility. We started off paying monthly premiums for employees and their families. Coverage included dental care. Cost to the insured? Just a tiny deductible and co-pay. It was an employee benefit matched only by the big employers we competed with.

We ensured the companies we purchased insurance plans from were solid and efficient because our money and commitment to our people mattered. But each year, we were forced to shop for new coverage, either because the insurance company we’d used exited the market or raised premiums significantly. 

Eventually, we had to pass more of the cost onto employees, making them pay for family coverage and removing things like dental insurance. 

I began to see the real problem. The hassle of shopping for coverage each year took more and more time and money. Converting employees and their families to different insurance took more time and money. When I added up the costs plus the premiums we paid, I realized that if every business and state had one insurer offering a typical health insurance plan, the financial and otherwise benefits to companies like ours would be huge. 

Think of that as Medicare for All—a possible solution to a real problem for American workers and employers. Everyone would be free from being tied to a job or location because of health insurance.

Allow me to debunk a popular misconception. Medicare for All isn’t free. We, the old folks, have contributed to Medicare since we started working. Between my employers and me over the past 50 years (much of the time, I was also my employer), almost $63,000 went into my account for Medicare. 

Five years ago, I dropped my anemic Obamacare plan for Medicare. The premium I pay is $175 per month. I have an annual deductible of $240 for doctor and covered drugs and a $1600 deductible for hospital care. Beyond that is a 20% copay—better coverage than the Blue Cross Marketplace plan. The relief and satisfaction of being on Medicare is unparalleled, and I won’t go back. 

People opting into Medicare for All will still pay for health care insurance. It ain’t free now and won’t be free when it's universal. In reality, healthcare is a service we all need and will have to pay for. 

The REAL problem is we have allowed the “free marketers” to hijack health care, a service that doesn’t work in a free market. A few weeks back, I was reminded of this when my fever spiked to 105, my body was shaking uncontrollably, and I answered 1977 when the nurse asked me what year it was. I could not select the most cost-effective and best health care. 

When the local ER decided to transfer me to a Duluth hospital, I had no choice. My doctor asked if I wanted to go to Essentia or St. Luke’s. I looked at him and said, “I don’t care.” 

It became Essentia because St. Luke’s was full. As for ambulance service, there is only one choice.

Some things like health care are too costly to deliver and crucial to our collective well-being to leave in the invisible hand of Adam Smith’s free market. 

America is ready, at long last, for a universal, single-payer health insurance system.