Kennedy Calls For Employer-Paid Health Coverage
Responding to the rising health-care crisis (see WIT's for Jan. 14, 2003, Sep. 6 and March 28, 2002, and Sep. 7, 2001), Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy on Sunday revealed a new plan to provide health insurance for the millions of American workers without employer-provided medical coverage---a number expected to reach 50 million by 2009. Under Senator Kennedy's plan, all companies employing more than ten workers would be required to pay seventy-five percent of the cost of health insurance for their employees, with the federal government subsidizing half that amount for companies with fewer employees, and workers paying the remaining twenty-five percent and receiving subsidies if needed. A long-time supporter of universal health coverage, Senator Kennedy has said that the monumental obstacles to achieving such a system with a Republican administration and Republican dominated Congress do not change the fact that such a system is needed to prevent irresponsible employers from seeking a competitive advantage by denying workers health insurance.
See "Kennedy Calls For Employer-Paid Health Coverage", WAYNE WASHINGTON, The Boston Globe, January 19, 2003