Stagnant Wages Caused by Rise in Health Insurance Premiums

Ezra Klein makes a great point in a story at the Washington Post.

...most workers think stagnant wages mean their employer is paying them less. They don't know that the main reason for stagnant wages is that their wage increases are going to pay for their health insurance premiums. If they did -- if they realized that compensation is pretty much a zero-sum endeavor and their employers don't so much buy them health insurance as garnish their wages to pay for their health insurance -- you'd probably see a lot more general anger at rising health care costs.

It's time to start getting angrier and demand real health care reform. Our ineffiecient health care system means businesses have to pay more and workers make less.

Real health care reform must take the costs off businesses and let business do what they do best. I don't really want Wal Mart or John Deere or a small business to be providing health care or John Deere. I want Wal Mart to sell things and John Deere to build tractors and small businesses to make local economies stronger.