How does a union for janitors help Houston businesses with health costs?
A. With taxpayers footing the bill for skyrocketing health costs, responsible employers who can afford to provide health care for their employees need to pay their fair share. Responsible employers who do provide health insurance — regardless of what business they’re in — subsidize those employers who rely on public hospitals and clinics to pick up the burden. This contributes to the rising cost of health insurance premiums that companies must pay. In fact, responsible employers pay three times: • First, they pay the cost of providing health insurance to their employees. • Second, they pay higher taxes to support public hospitals and clinics whose patient rolls swell beyond capacity because so few private employers provide adequate health care. • Third, they pay higher premiums to make up for the uncompensated care and charity care that private health systems provide. In 2003, over $900 million in uncompensated care was provided by private hospitals. To make up those costs, hospitals
