MICHIGAN GOVERNOR HAS SOME GOOD IDEAS

I have just listened to the State of the State address by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm - my wife made me.

Although our governor has some definite socialistic tendencies as all Democrats do, she did have some ideas that may actually benefit the state.

One was to have the State of Michigan administer 401(k) plans for business' that do not have any pension plans - at all.

The old guaranteed pension plans that are killing old companies, should be thrown out. Honor the existing ones but do not allow any new hires into the plan - give them the 401(k). This is pre-tax money coming out of the employees pay and stored tax free for retirement purposes. Companies that chose or are able to afford contributions to said plans would only enhance the employees pension savings.

The 401(k) does not cost a company anything but administrative time, which is also cost. Many small companies do not bother to offer a 401(k) for those very reasons.

The State is proposing to take care of those administrative duties for companies that do not want to. This would supposedly entice more companies to offer the plan. This would benefit the employee because the employee would have some kind of pension plan instead of no plan at all.

This would not cost the state much since companies like Fidelity do most of the work for them. I consider the 401(k) plan by Granholm a "good" idea worth pursuing.

Another of her ideas was providing medical insurance for the "working poor" that do not now have any insurance because their employers do not offer any. She plans to do a State and Federal plan. I am not sure how something like this could be structured but I think the overall idea is sound.

I have long maintained that the problem with our health care in this country is the uninsured. By law they have to be treated, usually in ER and therefore super expensive. All people that have insurance are paying for these uninsured through higher and higher premiums.

My solution has been MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE just like auto insurance. Many plans would be offered from bare-bones to deluxe. Everyone would have some type of coverage.

Before you say impossible let me point out that the elderly are already covered MEDICARE. The really poor are also covered MEDICAID. Many workers are covered by their employer's plan. Who does it leave?

Well it leaves the working poor that cannot afford the expensive policies offered by Michigan companies because they are, by law, prohibited from offering cheap, bare-bones policies.
Governor Granholm's proposal would cover the working poor. So who in the hell is left?

Well, young people that feel they will never get sick. Cheap policies and the fact that they HAVE to have insurance would take care of that. Who else?

Well, you also have those that just don't want to spend their beer money to buy insurance - give them a ticket for violating the mandatory insurance law or throw them in jail - problem solved.

Janusz