MS>
MSGID: 1:3644/6 31b3ae05
KU> MS>    You're comparing apples and T-bone.  This isn't even compari
KU> appl
KU> MS>and oranges.
KU> MS>    HMOs aren't monopolies.  Policyholders that don't like the 
KU> rationin
KU> MS>are free to spend their own money (at their own cost) getting ca
KU> from
KU> MS>doctor they want, without waiting lines like Canada, without car
KU> limit
KU> MS>like England not paying for dialysis for those over a certain ag
KU>  HMO
KU> MS>cannot even force you to stay a customer...you are free to seek 
KU> another
KU> MS>where you will not be in a HMO as part of workplace health care 
KU> coverag
KU> MS>and you then will not be paying for the HMO.
KU> 
KU> And employers are REQUIRED by law to offer a number of different
KU> types of programs. (BTW: this law was originally passed to make sur
KU> HMOs 
KU> were offered. I would have to look it up again, but I think this wa
KU> passed
KU> during Nixon's time in office.
MS>    Many employers, including most small businesses, don't offer _any_ 
MS>health coverage.
MS>    Fortune 500 companies with unionized workplaces are finding who pay
MS>how much for what kind of health care to be a bigger bone of contention
MS>than wage issues.
MS>    Many workplace health plans didn't even offer HMO-type coverage unt
MS>years ago.  Generally, it's the employer who wants to force it on the 
MS>workers as a way of cutting costs.
	Since 1973 federal law has required dual provision of HMO services 
along with other isnurance plans for most employers who offered health plans. 
I don't have the law handy to see what the cutoff number of employees might 
be. 
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 * PW * Why can't women remember to put the toilet seat up?
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