Business Ethics Healthcare
The ethics vs. The economics of healthcare and coverage today
In the United States today, employers are usually not legally responsible for providing employees with health benefits. Only a few states require employers to provide workers with health care insurance. In other words, an employee has the choice of accepting or rejecting a job that does not provide him or her with health benefits, depending on whether he or she determines such a course of action to be prudent for him or herself. The employer may chose to provide health benefits to an employee or not, extending the option as part of an initial contract of employment, or later on during the employee's tenure at the company.
Findlaw for Business, 2003, "Employee's Rights) The employer's decision to do so will usually depend on the type of employee his or her business needs to attract to remain financially stable. Extending health benefits are one way of attracting a desirable employee. Usually, the company will do so if this is financially in the company's interest. However, there is another concern, if the business owner is ethically responsible to provide employees with health benefits?
Certainly, this is not true in all cases. What of a business that primarily employs part-time workers such as middle-class college students or high school students, for example, whom are likely to be covered under either their university or parent's health care plans? What of this possible scenario, one might ask, of a small business owner who is barely staying afloat in the economy? Having to provide healthcare benefits to all of the employees in question could bankrupt such a small, intimate or developing company, causing no benefit...
A place of work that employs freelance workers whom are paid 'by the piece,' whether this be a piece of writing for a newspaper or a work of graphic art, does not make the same commitment to that employee's potential future in the company as a company that does employ full-time workers. Thus, it would seem sensible to suggest that the ethics of a business always providing health benefits to its workers is not universally true. Although "American businesses remain committed to providing employer-sponsored health insurance, 92% say they are likely to increase the amount that their employees pay for health insurance premiums next year." (Smartpros editorial staff, 2003) "The national survey of 600 large and small businesses shows that companies of all sizes expect health insurance costs to jump an additional 18% over the next year. This comes on the heels of an increase of approximately 14% in 2002." (Smartpros editorial staff, 2003) Faced with rising costs, predicted up to 18% by the Robert Woods Johnson foundation, over the course of the next five years, "businesses are increasingly likely to drop coverage, especially if it is a small business that has fewer than 50 employees." (Smartpros editorial staff, 2003)
However, what of a large corporation, for whom it is feasible to extend healthcare benefits to its employees? Fred Frost, president of the South Florida AFL-CIO. "Already, eight out of 10 uninsured people in the U.S. are in working families, but are either not offered health insurance through their employer or cannot afford it when it is offered." (Smartpros editorial staff, 2003) What also of a business where the individuals laboring for the business incurs a…
