If our country had universal health care would our businesses be more profitable?

Mansions? Greedy Capitalists? Hello? OK ... I'm awake!

Wuh?

Obama has been saying that the nation should be on the health insurance that is used by the govt, by Congress.

This would save business about $1,000/year depending on how many employees they have.

Outsourcing is GREAT for business profits but they neglect to figure in the fact that if fewer people are employed this means fewer people can afford to purchase goods and services. Business declines nationally ... less biz = less profits = shoulda kept the jobs here.

The govt is still covering my health care through MediCare ... but they are threatening to cut it severely. California is now begging the Federal govt to give it a bailout but the govt claims they have no more money available, and yet it would only take a "quick print" of $26 billion for California to go back to normal and keep my medical coverage in tact. The govt pays about $20,000 year for my coverage. I could pay that myself IF I could get a job. But it seems that the Mexicans get hired first if they are willing to work for minimum wage or less ... next it's the kids who will work for school wages ... then the rest of the 18-30 work force who will work for minimum wage ... and right now that's about all the jobs they have. No jobs for older people who require higher wages. Business no longer wants to deliver a quality product. So they hire newbies who need to be trained and the whole nation suffers b/c our businesses cannot afford to hire descent labor. What they forget is that with my experience I could do the work of two people, or more, thus saving them quite a bit of money but they don't look at that anymore.

You want to know the solution? GE needs to make more wind generators in THIS country. Companies like Exxon who are fat with cash need to buy one or two of GM's closed plants and turn the lights back on and change the molds to produce the new bodies for the new electric vehicles. Do you know that Aptera makes a car that gets 300 mpg? And an electric model that uses no gas at all?They're only $25,000 and up. Cheap! But think of it ... you could go from California to New York (4,000 miles?) and back (8,000 miles total) for $80. How much do YOU spend on gas to go to work? What if you got TEN TIMES better gas mileage? YOU would spend less ... the manufacturers would save on shipping ... UPS could lower their prices if gas were cheaper for them ... EVERYONE would pay less if we could get fuel prices DOWN!

So, Exxon could supplement their income by producing electric and fuel efficient vehicles. Why hasn't anyone mentioned a nuclear car? I would think by now they would have a little pellet they could put in an engine and have it run for 5 years or more. Is there such a thing as recycling the nuclear waste? Can it be reused in commercial vehicles?

GE could also go in partners with Exxon to make solar cells for ALL the homes in America. Since the govt likes giving money away they could cover the roof tops of America with solar panels that are made by the energy companies and charge people the SAME monthly power fees but instead of losing that forever, the families would be paying off their solar panels. Make them payable over 20 years. Monthly power bills should remain about the same and after 20 years, when they are paid off, the panels will still have 5-10 years of life left and then there would be another business boom when people replace the old units.

GE would cover all the areas with wind, but few residents. Who wants to live on a windy mtn? Why not put windmills everywhere there is wind. Put solar panels everywhere else. Sell off the excess power to Canada and Mexico.

AND THEN, the govt needs to legalize marijuana and produce as much hemp as possible. The BEST oil for cars is HEMP OIL! Do you know your car will run with NO major maintenance for 500,000 miles if you used Hemp Oil instead of petro oil. If they can make oil out of it, couldn't they make fuel out of it. Instead of using corn for fuel, FEED corn to the people and grow WEEDS to produce fuel. This country could be covered in weed plants, like back in 1920, and the govt could make rope and fuel and oil products for the country by hiring some defunct company to come back to life and produce this stuff that is so vital to the country and at the same time they could employ more people. Win Win Situation!

If businesses had solar cells on their rooftops and could save $3-5,000 per month on utility costs wouldn't this offset a LOT of their costs? Next to labor I would venture to say that utility costs come in a close second to rent/lease fees. IF business wanted to have the solar cells installed immediately by the govt and then pay a monthly fee to repay the govt it would still save them a lot. OR they could use the tax credits to buy solar and install it themselves.

Nuclear fuel cells are now available that will power entire neighborhoods. You put the

I don't think it matters exactly where the money comes from it will cost a lot more money than what it does right now. If those costs are passed on to the consumer then we all will pay for it that way if legislation is passed to accelerate taxes to cover it then (those without clever accountants will likely have to pay) the public pays.

IF the cost spiral CAN BE CONTROLLED as is hoped by Obama then the well-being as well as the profitability of American business will increase.

The MAJOR BENEFIT of universal health care is the humanity afforded by getting help to those in need. Reluctance and scoffing at its proposed benefit is a result of the MASSIVE ABUSE perpetrated by unscrupulous operators who have been defrauding the Medicare & other systems.

The EU system of value added tax is a validation of the premise of all participants paying a share for the common good---it sounds really great but my friend in Germany who has corollary financial difficulties has no medical insurance and is tax broke anyway!! Germany is still paying for the absorption of Deutsche Demokratische Republic so may not be a fair parallel even though our system is overburdened with welfare for poor people and for Wall Street.

Since our government is now in the business of bailing out failed enterprises once they reach a certain size what is the definition of profit any way ??

Americans wouldn't pay more taxes for healthcare. That's a scare tactic from the Republican party. Do the math and be street smart. Say right now your paying 50 bucks for Medicare and another 50 bucks for a privately owned health insurance comapany. That's a hundred bucks. Say we got rid of privately owned health insurance companies and Medicare, that 100 dollars would go towards a "universal health care" system. Where would you paying more in taxes? Hell, you might pay less then your paying for Medicare and a privately owned health insurance company through work! This way, the governemt would make sure your money is going towards the health care, not a percentage going into the private health care companies wallets like they do now. The health care system is no different then a company that sells computers or cars. They are a business that goes by supply and demand.

Ayn Rand said it best: "These are all great ideas, but at whose expense?". Where do you think the government will get the money to pay for "free" health care? Same place it gets all money it ever has, by sucking it out of the "private sector" somehow, usually be taxing individuals or business. Everyone who has health care now will have less health care in the ObamaNation because there will be more people using the same resources, many of whom will not contribute to its costs.

There are a couple of ways poor people can get excellent health care now, at your expense: County Hospitals and Medicaid.

Goods and services will be more expensive because the cost of health care must be borne by the economy, either by taxing it or by hiding the tax in prices, as with cap and trade.

Meanwhile, back in Europe, those Socialist Paradise Countries are trying desperately to figure out how to get rid of their National Socialist health care because it is bankrupting them. And the wait times for patients are much longer than here. Same with Canada.

I suspect that those who want universal health care in US are those who have not a hope in hell of providing it for themselves through an insurance company either because of underlying health problems or the sheer cost when trying to earn a living.

Those who do not wish for it either have a financial stake in private only health care or can afford it possibly through a company scheme. Being a cynic I suspect also that those who lose their jobs with the company health scheme and also fall ill will change their opinion.

Being a Brit I would not like to live without our health service which over the years seems to have become over administrated and a political football.

The way I see it, companies and individuals will still have to pay for healthcare. It will just be done through higher taxes.

I'm skeptical of any plan to increase access to healthcare which doesn't address supply and demand in the medical field. I think building more medical schools and providing financial assistance to medical students would do a lot more for the goal of expanding access to care.

Politicians are expert at buying votes by giving out benefits, and concealing the costs. The costs are still there. Having a third party pay my bills won't make me any more responsible about costs, will it?

Working on reducing costs makes more sense than passing a load of money thru politicians hands.

I guess I just don't understand where the money is going to come from to pay for all this universal health care. It isn't taking a burden off the private sector if they are taxed heavily to pay for it.

The health system you have in the USA is a right old racket. The cause and cures for ALL diseases was discovered decades ago. The treatment for most diseases is elemental and very cheep.

But your doctors totally ignore nobel prize winning research in favor of conning you all into buying expensive drugs and surgeries that in all probability will kill you. The medical profession in the USA is the single biggest killer of the lot. Mostly from bad reactions from their expensive drugs.

http://www.ash-info.com/ASH%20RESEARCH%20GUIDE%20-...

Practicing Shaman... quantum physics rocks.

I ONCE was a proponent of Universal Health Care...no longer. Although I reserve some points to ponder because I haven't heard ALL the ideas on the table, this is another idea BY THIS ADMINISTRATION that will go haywire and cause more harm than good...and most especially with small business. I must point out that small businesses are the major contributors to our economy now that manufacturing has made us the most UN-industrialized nation among those who ARE industrialized nations. The backs of small business are breaking right now...and if cap and trade and this health care bill passes and LOOKS anything like it does right now, IT MAY WELL BE ALL OVER for business as we know it. YOUR BASIC IDEA is a good one. But we must take in the WHOLE picture! That picture MUST include what is happening to small business from MANY DIRECTIONS right now and the implications of what they will be asked to deal with if the REST of Pres. Obama's bills manage to take hold and PASS. MANY, MANY businesses that are MAJORLY contributing to our nations "tax base" cannot afford ANY employee based health care. They WILL be required to pay for it if this bill passes as it is. This added burden is one our small businesses will not be able to handle. The expence will be too great...even if it is cheaper than from current insurance companies. My son runs a small business and today he had to walk off a job before completion due to the rules and regulations imposed within his area of construction by Federal, State, County and City laws passed which would require him to PAY a little over a thousand dollars in fees, JUST TO DO a job he bid for $1800...to help the home owner who is struggling like we all are! At this rate, he will have to fold his company and go to work for a LARGER company, that CAN afford all the taxes and fees. So how long will it be until LARGE companies are the only practical choices left? And with all the small businesses OUT of the picture, what pricing and cost will be charged to the homeowners or clients that THEN will have little if any competition? How EFFICIENT are larger companies compared to smaller ones in general...the answer is NOT at all! With a half million Americans losing their jobs EVERY MONTH....WHO will be left who is able to sustain our American Economy by HIRING these large companies....so then DO THEY GO BROKE??? Yes, they will. The government cannot sustain our country. Only our people, small businesses and independence of choice will save us. And has anyone THOUGHT of the repercussions of "basically putting all the insurance companies out of the health care business?" HOW MANY JOBS WILL THAT COST US? Do we really believe they will NOT TRY to sustain their incomes by RAISING the cost of OTHER INSURANCE COSTS? And among those other costs are MANDATORY vehicle insurance. IF it is still MANDATORY to have it and they LOSE their ability to obtain clients willing to buy health insurance THESE COSTS WILL RISE. So in the end, I will make a "kinda dumb little joke to provoke thought" by saying that the MOSTLY POOR people left in our country MIGHT GET FREE OR CHEAP health insurance and NOT BE ABLE TO DRIVE TO GET TO A DOCTOR OR HOSPITAL.

There was a good time to re-vamp this issue and "sensible" ways to at least insure MOST people. But now is definately NOT the time.

I am one that most definately believes that our government has lost ALL CONTACT with the people who they are suppose to serve AND I will go one step further by saying they are ACTING as though they have come from some other planet! What has happened to common sense and concern for the "little people" of whom make up the majority of Americans?

WAKE UP!!! WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH BUSINESSES LEFT TO BE COMPETITIVE AT ALL IN THE GLOBAL MARKET!!! ALL our major and rock solid 'foundations' of business were SHIPPED AWAY with the passage of NAFTA! I was a governmental worker whose job it was to place displaced workers who lost their jobs almost immediately when NAFTA was passed into law. In Missouri, we lost 30 major factories within the first month after!!! I, personally, did the "paperwork" for over 800 workers the first month after NAFTA. I left the "sickening" business very quickly when I began to feel "tarnished" by the GREED and EVIL FEEL of the job.

The answer is really simple here...people BUY things...even if it is things they need, they MUST buy them...and WILL buy them. We and the WORLD are made up of necessary THINGS.

Now all the THINGS are being made somewhere else. What are we left with WITHOUT small business. NOT EVERYONE can go to college and expect to find a proffessional job! Our world STILL needs service workers and all the businesses and people who provide low-level THINGS. In my governmental job, we use to come upon people we called "career students." They went to school and got degrees and then went back to school for MORE degrees...feeding off of the grants and loans available. THAT is what Obama and the Dems are doing, now...

Depends on whether savings made on health insurance outweigh profit loss from taxes.

On a whole, most businesses do appreciate Obama's Healthcare plan, even the unrepentant capitalist Walmart.