One of the most controversial issues of today is universal healthcare. America remains the only industrialized nation that does not provide some form of comprehensive health care to its citizenry (Oron, 2002). Because of this, healthcare costs, both from the individual and company perspectives, are becoming a major influence on economic decisions. It is estimated that 79 million Americans are either paying off medical debt or have medical bill problems with almost 41 percent of working –age individuals having some form of medical debt (NCHC, 2008). The business sector is also starting to suffer tremendous drains on resources do to escalating worker healthcare costs which limit a business’ ability to increase wages or add to the work force.
Facing such cost increases, businesses are forced to not only reduce worker compensation but also reduce investment in areas such as product development and marketing. This continual increase in healthcare costs has not seen any increase in the quality or quantity of services provided to the customer, however. As a matter of fact, out-of-pocket expenses for individuals and their families have increased while access to routine and preventive healthcare services has decreased significantly.