UAW Horrified To Learn GM Wanted Workers To Pay 15% Of Healthcare Costs

Result: GM will continue to move jobs out of the USA... the disadvantage continues and they’re in a place they were in in the late 90’s-early 00’s. Which is Kia and GM build exactly the same vehicle but Kia makes more on it OR GM makes vehicles that aren’t as good, content filled or just not competitive (90-‘s-00’s) but can earn decent money. Since they’re not competitive they lose mkt share and the dominos continue to fall. The only way to get this monkey off their back is to start over... since Barry “the Stain” ruined that opportunity the only other way is move all production out of the clutches of the UAW Thugs.

GM employees will not accept more responsibility for their own lives so GM, unfortunately, is going to permanently change them. If the average American pays 28% and Union rats pay 3%, I mean seriously, its simply not sustainable. GM exists to make cars not employ people, labor is an expense and the UAW makes that expense to expensive in a global economy

Liberals live in a fantasy land where they think everything should be "free."

So incredibly true.

It boggles the mind of everyone living in a developed Western country that the USA does not have universal healthcare for its citizens. Surely paying $5k-7k a year in taxes is much better than paying $15k a year in health insurance for your family. Show your card at the hospital, the walk in clinic or your doctor. No worries ever. And you go to the drug store and show your card and get a flu shot too. :)

If you put State taxes on SIN items like gas, booze, wine, cigarettes, pot etc you will have all the money you need for healthcare and drugs. And it will make people healthier and less dependent on the healthcare system. Nobody should live in fear of getting sick.

Well your are assuming that the government will run it effectively. I can't name one federal entity that is run well, especially those dealing with healthcare.

New study. A big % of the difference in the USA cost versus other countries is pharmaceuticals. They are a key part of our economy and the USA leads in new discoveries in that field. What we need to do is require the drug industry to sell drugs here for that same price as their lowest price to any other nation. They'll soon raise other nation's costs to preserve their profits and remove this unfair trade practice.

@Agent009 - What I am assuming is that American Exceptionalism still exists (somewhere). Put your best people on it, cherry pick the best practices from the nations around the world with Universal Healthcare, bring the drug companies to their knees, cut out the insurance companies completely and create the best single payer universal Health Care system in the world. If you put a man on the moon and invented Cheese Whiz, America can do this.

Canadian Commie neglected to talk about the long waits for treatment and the rationing of treatment for people who have a higher propensity of long term survival.

And the Canadians who come to the U.S. for treatment out of pocket because the wait in Canada is too long (or the skills are not there), or the vast amount of medical break throughs developed in the U.S. and then taken advantage of in Canada (and the rest of the world)

@jeffgal- Besides being insulting you are also incorrect. The GOP/Drug Czars donors don't want the half of America that is not covered by a single payer system already to be covered by a future one. Keep the people fearful and the dollars will still role in.

@jeffgall CanadianCommie can insult people right and left as he does, but give him the treatment back and he's suddenly Mother Teresa.

I find it hysterical how many times mdarringer switches names to post and uprate what he perceives to be all the anti Democratic posts which are really his own persona. You think he's a tad bit "touched"? What kind of disturbed child does that? Secondly, what he posted under one of his numerous sock puppet names just shows what a mental midget he is. The federal government does not run health care in this country. Private insurance companies run health care in the United States, so if he doesnt like the way they provide coverage, he should immediately contact them, so they can cancel his policy. Thirdly, does he really think this strike will cause more automation and movement away from America, or is he just so f'ing stupid that he doesnt see that this is happening anyway?

"half the country that is already on a single payer system?" Clearly CC doesn't understand our system.

The 60M+ seniors on Medicare prepaid premiums for it all during their working life. They still pay further premiums and pay taxes for it based on income, and still have to buy supplemental insurance from private companies. Actually the most efficient and comprehensive Medicare coverage (Medicare Advantage) is provided by private companies, not Uncle Sam. Competition drives this phenomena, which is missing from single payer government run healthcare.

The VA provides good basic coverage; just don't get real sick. It is run by bureaucrats who in an effort to preserve costs ration care and cause long waiting lines. Kinda like Canada, the UK, and many other government systems.

The Indian Reservation healthcare? See VA, only worse.

Medicaid for the financially needy only pays 50 cents on the dollar for services. Hence many healthcare providers won't service them lest they go bankrupt. Those that do offset the loss by charging private payers more. The USA has fewer healthcare practitioners per citizen than Canada, but we pay them a more. They are more productive. These practitioners aren't going to support taking a paycut for a government system like Canada.

The majority (more than half) have private insurance and want to keep it. When you have cancer being able to go to a state of the art center to get the latest treatment, even one in clinical trials, matters. Government systems don't do that.

Go after the drug companies? That's a core USA competence that employs millions of our best and brightest high earning taxpayers. Again the rest of the world isn't paying its fair share for that R&D. Kind of like the Chinese stealing our intellectual property. Could Canada function if it only could buy off patent generics?

Will just lead to more automation and jobs being shipped else where.

You can agree to disagree with the principle of Universal Health Care if you like, but out of 33 developed nations, 32 have a version of this single payer type system. All are a bit unique. The only nation that doesn't is the USA. This is backward no matter how you slice it. If you don't want to fix it for yourself, do it for your kids and grandkids.

Canada Health doesn't have enough doctors in their system. There is a long arduous wait to see specialists. Need an MRI? Hopefully your cancer hasn't spread much in the 3-6 months you've waited to get your MRI. Gas taxes are abysmal. HST, GST, all kind of taxes you pay for everything. Income tax rate is very high. So yeah, health care is "free" but you're paying for it in many many other ways.