Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

I conducted interview with 6 people. Here are my conclusions based on the answers I received.

There are certain businesses that fall outside of the boundary, even though they share a lot with others in the opportunity. For instance, security service firms, lawn maintenance, and doctor’s offices are some of the businesses that do not routinely offer insurance to their employees. Also, realtors and hairdressers often do not carry health coverage. The workers in these industries can make a substantial hourly wage or work long hours to make a sizeable income, but still do not have access to healthcare on the job.

One reason for this may be the amount of overhead that different industries experience. Another reason is that some workers don’t receive a regular paycheck that is predictable so budgeting becomes an issue.

The interviewees repeated stressed the need for affordable insurance. The need for affordability appears to be just as important as having the insurance itself. This is something that I am finding very interesting. It does seem to reflect the basic economic law of supply and demand. It seems that the issue of healthcare coverage is different than the issue of affordability.

The economics of healthcare points to the why the outsider’s need is different than the people who are inside the boundary. The businesses where people have insurance seem to have made the acquisition of coverage affordable for their employees.

Inside the boundary       Outside the boundary

Who is In:                                                           Who is Not:

Starbucks employees                                     Hairdressers

Full-time Walmart staffers                           Lawn Maintenance workers

Local government workers                          Real Estate agents

What the Need Is:                                          What the Need Is Not:

Effective healthcare                                       Expensive plans with rich benefits

Why the Need Exists:                                    Alternative Explanations:

As costs rise, the benefits are not as        Individuals are not able to negotiate bargain

rich for the employee                                   volume discounts

                                                                            Some are still not making enough to afford

                                                                               any type of no cost coverage