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Uber CEO Urges 'Portable Benefits' for Gig Economy Workers (thehill.com)
An anonymous reader quotes The Hill:
Uber's chief executive is calling for Washington state to develop a "portable benefits system" to give contract workers in the so-called gig economy access to health care and retirement planning accounts. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi signed onto a letter with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 775 President David Rolf and Seattle investor and workers rights advocate Nick Hanauer urging the state to take action.
Uber does not hire drivers as actual employees meaning the company does not offer them benefits beyond compensation. Khosrowshahi said having the state change laws so that contract workers can carry benefits between jobs would be preferable to Uber hiring them as full employees.
Uber does not hire drivers as actual employees meaning the company does not offer them benefits beyond compensation. Khosrowshahi said having the state change laws so that contract workers can carry benefits between jobs would be preferable to Uber hiring them as full employees.
This is more about Uber fighting yet another losing fight in trying to call their employees "contractors".
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
This is an indication of Obamacare's shortcomings. We should have Medicare for all, and end this nonsense now.
You do know that Uber is actually losing these case, because, as shocking as it may be, most taxation authorities have a set of tests to determine whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
This is about the worst thing to come out of Uber yet. Rather than support a single payer system (that they're afraid they might have to chip in for) they want 'portable' benefits. e.g. completely paid for by the (underpaid) drivers. The best part is this makes it sound like he's doing it for the little guy when all he's really doing is trying to divert attention away from the fact that his company broke one of the fundamental social contracts in America (to wit: "Work for us and we'll take care of your healthcare).
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The rest of the world used that system for 100 years or so, it seems to work.
But the ACA was a cobbled together mess that didn't solve that problem regardless of what it was intended to do.
Near as I can tell it was just a gift to insurance companies because it allows them to have higher overall profits, because now everyone is (theoretically) forced to buy insurance policies (which in some cases that they can't even really afford to use, but that's a side issue) which means overall revenue for the companies goes up, so even though they still pay out the required ~80% percentage of that in health care claims, they still an overall increase in the remaining ~20%. There's also an incentive to keep increasing the cost of health care as that just means that the remaining ~20% is even larger. There's some other bad behavior that's incentivized since they can't really force you to buy it, so you can get away with not doing it, which may be the best financial decision for a lot of people, especially since they can always buy the insurance only when they need to use it since presence of a pre-existing condition doesn't disqualify them from purchasing insurance now.
I think that if that government wanted to do things sanely, they'd handle emergency room visit costs and the like since hospitals are required to treat people which creates some similarly bad incentives in terms of behavior, but that's another aside. That way if the government feels someone is abusing the ER, they can easily garnish wages or take other actions to remedy the issue. Beyond that, they should just get out of healthcare entirely. If they want to provide some kind of portable benefits, just create a basic income because sometimes people need to buy a car to get to a new job or to purchase food more than they need a guarantee of medical care. Making hospitals have a list price for treatments would probably go a long way as well, because that lets consumers make price decisions just like they do at grocery stores, retail outlets, etc.
Create a company that provides benefits with several standard packages. Companies could buy into a package for their employees.
It already exists. It's called insurance. Uber simply doesn't want to pay for it for its employees. It wants the taxpayers to pay for it.
Most nations have it except for the USA.
give contract workers in the so-called gig economy access to health care and retirement planning accounts
How about you just give them the money and let them select and pay for their own benefits? While we're on the subject, let's do that for all the salaried workers too.
There's no need (from first principles) for my employer to be involved with my personal health or finances in any way apart from paying me. Just give me the money you would have spent on my behalf and allow me to secure those services myself.
Yes, I realize there is presently a discount for group insurance (or rather a penalty for individual policies), but that's only because it's expected that people will obtain their insurance through their company. If everybody arranged their personal health insurance personally, no such penalty/discount would exist.
The idea of "benefits" being attached to your job is a holdover from the wage & price controls enacted during World War II. Unable to increase wages, factories offered non-cash benefits like health care to attract skilled workers, and later the courts ruled that these health benefits were not taxable income. In the most extreme example, a shipyard started a medical clinic to provide medical care for shipyard workers and their families. Now the shipyard is long gone, but the medical clinic has grown into its own hospital chain; Kaiser.
Abolish all that! Allow fraternal organizations to offer medical insurance. Let everybody pay for their own insurance, and pensions, and other "fringe benefits", and you eliminate the problem of "pre-existing conditions". A young adult would choose his/her own fraternal organization such as the Kiwanis or Knights of Columbus or Masons or Odd Fellows. You could go from employer to employer, and NEVER lose your health insurance.
Uber does not hire drivers as actual employees...
Although Uber hires drivers as actual employees, it refuses to recognise them as such. In many countries and some states this is illegal.
There, I fixed that for you.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
The US concept that health insurance is tied to your employer is simultaneously anti-capitalistic and anti-socialist. In this system, nobody wins. We don't do it with anything else in our society: Not your car insurance, homeowners insurance, flood insurance, liability insurance, internet, telephone, food, electricity, or anything else. "Portable" insurance isn't some crazy idea, it just means "treat insurance like every other thing in society."
befor ACA the ER was the only place for some both poor and others who where sick that they went to the only place that takes them and gives medical care with out checking if you can pay.
If you've ever wondered what a blatant attempt to privatise profits while socialising costs looks like, look no further.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
... the CEO of Uber wants to nationalize the overheads and expenses of having Gig workers [and get private tax-payers to pay for it], but wants to privatize the profits.
My, what a complete surprise...
That's because the Republicans theorized that the public option would result in government "Death Panels". I wonder what they think the insurance companies' actuaries, accountants, and claims reviewers actually are.
So choose an organization with values that ARE aligned with yours - or a true "fraternal" organization that exists only for this purpose.