The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Alex]

If it became a legal requirement for every working citizen to have such health insurance, employers would no more be the "gatekeeper" for that than they are now for social security.

Yes, if that were true then that would follow. But what is discussed is not "every working citizen must have insurance" (for then you couldn't offer proof of insurance to gain employment since your employment will be providing the insurance) but rather that every citizen must have insurance and without it they can't get a job.

The very sentence "you might provide proof that you're insured as part of a job interview" says this is not employee provided or funded insurance. That's why that sentence in combination with her NPR interview yesterday makes little sense since that does have employers being the dominant provider and you can proof you have what you'll be given after getting the job.

And I still stand by saying that if it is universal governmentally mandated health insurance then making the employers the gatekeepers makes absolutely no sense. Because then you are doing nothing to monitor compliance by the unemployed. Unlike governmentally mandated health insurance (presumably) possession of a social security number is really only relevant if you're working.

Yes, I can think of proposals where employer involvement in health care is necessary. Just not any that should come up in the job interview. Heck, even your social security information doesn't come up at that point in the process.