From Autos to Health Care

Interesting article, but it had a misleading subtitle. It said workers were moving from the auto industry to its nemesis, health care. Actually the nemesis of Detroit is the UAW--the subtitle would be correct if workers were becoming union organizers not health care workers.

I hadn't seen this in the WSJ, but it isn't surprising. According to OECD numbers, the U.S. spends just over 15% of GDP on healthcare, most of which is funded under a system of guaranteed payment for services, either through government subsidy or private insurance. Odds are that the U.S. will soon nationalize health care (mandated national health insurance) further, and more robustly guaranteeing payment for services. Many people would love to be selling into an industry that guarantees payment for services or goods.

The facts cited in this article tend to support the notion that these workers recognize the guaranteed payment system artifact - similar to the payment guarantee system promised by union affiliation - and tend to gravitate to it.

I wonder how these folks would fare in a true open market system where their revenue was solely dependent on their productivity rather than a guarantee of payment.