Change US-China trade policies as prelude to health-care reforms

The Vindicator editorial of Sept. 20 is right that Washington ought to worry about Main Street, and Congressman Tim Ryan’s bill to remedy trade imbalances with China is well worth looking at.

Yet, a revalued Chinese currency surely ought to cause quiet concern among political leaders about America’s health- care system. That’s because a devalued American dollar will increase the prices of Chinese-made products, force consumers to cut back on buying household goods and may underscore how much of the cost of American labor is diverted from wages to the consumption of health insurance and health care. Already, up to one-third (that’s no misprint) of the cost of labor of some medically insured low-wage American workers goes to health care. As more workers are compelled to adopt reduced or subsistence lifestyles for the sole purpose of maintaining group health-insurance benefits they believe necessary, there’s likely to be an increase in political unrest that may be unhealthy.

If comparisons with high-wage European countries are any guide, the United States spends up to $1 trillion more than it needs to on the current health-care system, money that’s taken from wages, consumption of goods and services, and investment other than health care.

The recent Obamacare debate showed that leaders of popular and elite opinion are as yet unwilling to grapple decisively with health care.

They may do so under enormous economic pressure, such as a Chinese currency revaluation, and prodding from America’s other creditor nations.

What Congressman Ryan ought to do is pursue his trade bill. At the same time he ought to quietly lobby his Capitol Hill colleagues of both parties, away from media scrutiny, to recognize that a change in trade relations with China may also present a challenge and opportunity to examine American health care more seriously.

Jack Labusch, Niles