The Obama transition team has asked for comments about health policy, and I think we should give them what they asked for. If nothing else, there’s one basic point about which even politicians I admire seem asleep at the switch:Long-term, steady, conventional jobs are increasingly the exception, not the norm.
I kept the health insurance plan from my last failed start-up. Except for that, since 1988 I was and again would be for dependent on my state’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan, just as may be the case for many of you.
There are three reasons why independent working situations are of particular importance in information technology:
- Entrepreneurial start-ups are the great dream of IT. Government should be supportive of this.
- Offshore outsourcing is the great competitive threat to IT workers. Government should at least try to help citizens compete against foreigners.
- Domestic outsourcing – or else not-planned-to-be-long-term employee relationships — makes a lot of sense even when IT is basically going well, due to the changes in skill sets needed as projects begin, progress, and finish. Government exploits this trend itself in its own IT purchase strategies.
I think it’s imperative that there be good health insurance individuals can buy, and that it operate nationally rather than being tied to any particular state. “Good” of course includes no barriers to coverage for pre-existing conditions. But if that rule is in place, it seems that for reasons of affordability and moral hazard one of two other policies is also needed:
- Making health insurance mandatory.
- Inserting a clause to the effect “Oh, now that you’re sick you want to finally buy insurance? Then pay up for the years you skated by without!”
Personally, I’ll always have health insurance, so I have no stake in that game. But do any of you have a strong preference for #2 over #1?
Related links
- Washington doesn’t understand the magnitude of the Federal IT crisis
- Does HP offer a lesson for US Federal IT?
- Seven IT priorities for the Obama Administration
Are there any other policy points we should call out? Please comment, whether below, or else directly to http://www.change.gov, or in some other venue of your choice! More ideas about how to participate in the discussion are outlined in my overall healthcare discussion introduction post.
