Guest opinion

It wasn't their intention, but those SBC workers who recently ended a four-day strike provided an educational lesson on health care for all Americans.

SBC, one of the four "Baby-Bell" local phone service companies, fully covers the monthly costs of health insurance for its 100,000 union employees. Many other companies in highly competitive industries do not cover those health-insurance costs.

The co-pays for SBC employees ranged from 4 percent to 7 percent. The company had proposed increasing that to 10 percent, hardly a stretch given their total coverage of medical insurance and the reality that the average American pays 38 percent of his or her total health-care bill.

The Communication Workers of American (CWA) agreed to some increases in co-payments for prescription drugs and medical services, but the company will continue to cover fully the cost of its employees' medical insurance. For SBC employees, this is a sweet deal. As long as they stay with the company they are the beneficiaries of a policy that treats American workers unequally and unfairly.

'Basic injustice'
SBC employees, like all who receive coverage through their employers, have their health-care benefits paid for in pre-tax dollars. Those who buy health insurance on their own, on the other hand, do so out of pocket, with after-tax dollars. This is a war-time legacy, something unknown to most observers.

Under the wage controls of World War II, companies enticed employees with the prospect of tax-free health benefits. They were paid in kind rather than cash, like those who worked in remote "company towns." The IRS complained, but employer-provided health care became the status quo.

In addition to its basic injustice, such health care is seldom portable. Between jobs, many Americans join the rolls of the uninsured. That could be prevented by de-coupling health care from employment.

After all, food and housing are more vital needs than health care, yet employers are not required to provide them. It follows that they should not be required to provide health care either, and policy should reflect that reality.

Individuals, not companies, should be given the tax break for buying health care. This would restore equity, foster independence, promote individual choice, tailor health care to individual circumstances, and increase the ranks of the insured.

Making a better deal
Regrettably, many legislators go the other way by pushing for a massive government system like those currently failing in Canada and other countries. Those who push for a government system would, in effect, turn the whole country into one giant company town, a huge post office, or DMV.

The SBC workers got a good deal. All Americans, however, are not SBC workers. A better deal for all would be an individual tax credit for the purchase of health-care insurance and services. That is what Americans should demand, and what legislators should be working to ratify.