Times have changed, and how we address such things as health care must change too

EDITOR:

I am certainly no expert on health care nor health care insurance but I would like to respond to the lead article in the June 14 local section titled “Proposal would tax health benefits,” which some union officials opposed.

Few people in history have been as fortunate as we Americans. Not even kings and pharaohs enjoyed the blessings we have. And it always pains me to hear Americans who benefit from such prosperity complain as though we suffer like few in the world have ever suffered.

Born in the middle of the Depression, I’m in my eighth decade and the incessant complaining seems to have gotten worse the longer I’ve lived and the more prosperous we’ve become. My grandparents never owned their own home and owned a single car for just a few years of their lives. My parents never owned their own home till they were in their 30s and owned just one car at a time. I bought my first home at 26 with the help of the GI Bill and have owned two cars most of my adult life. Each generation had it better. I was a proud member of the AFL-CIO from the early 1960s to the early ’90s and remain a strong union supporter. Unions have made us all better off, though many citizens fail miserably to understand this. But union members (as should all Americans) must review some stark economic history and harsh contemporary reality. And union leaders should make things clear to their members. Change will not happen without sacrifice.

At the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of the WWII era, unions began bargaining health benefits into their contracts. At that time the cost to employers was next to negligible. Also at that time the U.S. economy accounted for half of world manufacturing capacity and one-third of all world exports (and U.S. exports were twice as much as U.S. imports). The dollar had become the global reserve currency and we possessed nearly two-thirds of the world’s gold reserve. The United States ranked first in the production of steel, airplanes, autos, electronics and oil. And we were a net creditor. Additional facts regarding our economic superiority could be listed. Regrettably, however, all this has changed ... except that some workers continue to receive contracted health benefits, which have become extremely expensive.

Even though we remain a wealthy nation by any reasonable standard, it’s sad to admit we’ve slipped so far. Among all the economic problems we face, we must solve our health care problem. (Or, more appropriately, our health-care-who-pays? problem.) I cannot list nor am I certain of all the negative “facts,” but because many of the 46 million uninsured Americans receive their health care through unpaid visits to hospital emergency rooms, the insured among us pay an additional $1,000 annually. And there are “horror stories” exposed daily such as pre-existing health problems contributing to an inability to acquire adequate health insurance as well as bankruptcies primarily attributed to health care issues.

Thankfully, leaders in Washington have begun to address the health care problem (again). Responsible citizens must give them room to search for all possible solutions, including taxing health care benefits paid by employers, as well as considering requiring health care insurance coverage (for much the same reason auto insurance is required) just as they recently began doing in Massachusetts.

I wish Rep. Ryan and Wilson and Sens. Brown and Voinovich success in their deliberations and work on this problem. They must get it done; along with education it’s the worst domestic problem we face. If they fail, the American economy will continue to decline at an increasing pace.

The post-World War II era (which lasted till around 1973) is long over and responsible citizens must come to recognize things will never be the same as they once were. If we’re to have change for the better, the facts may warrant some painful remedies. Jingoism, bluff and bluster won’t do. We must give our representatives in Washington a little breathing room.

JOHN WENDLE

Youngstown