ShimmaPuff - I think we are all going to become the new serfs, and the big corporations are going to be the new feudal lords..
That might not be the companies' first choice of vocabulary in terms of presenting it.
Maybe more along the lines of a return to a more traditional way of looking at economic systems, but there definitely needs to be something about empowering the consumer to face new changes and challenges, and "business-friendly" needs to be in there somewhere.
A neighbor showed me a pamphlet that was passed out to $10 an hour factory workers, encouraging them to opt out of their HMOs in favor of "health savings accounts," and it had a big headline "Imagine using YOUR OWN MONEY to pay medical bills!"
It used the words "empower" and "choice" in almost every paragraph, and was so effective that over half the workers were all ready to sign away their medical insurance until my neighbor whispered to the man beside him what it meant, who whispered to the man beside HIM, etc etc.
The company tried, but they were never able to finger exactly who the culprit was, but they were stuck with the same insurance premiums, plus an increase, that they'd had the year before, instead of the increased profit the execs had hoped to pocket.
Still, the next year, they handed out the same brochure, and there were rumors that they even offered bonuses to a handful of supervisors to keep an ear out to find out who was "talking down" the health savings accounts to the new hires, even going so far as to pay cleaning and building maintenance staff to hang out in parking lots and break rooms, but without success.
Such revolutionary tactics, however, are rare, and most companies will not have to worry about similar events occurring at their own facilities.
In fact, when my neighbor told the story to a group of people employed at various other places, most of them shook their heads and looked alarmed.
He should, they mumbled, have just kept his mouth shut. He might have lost his job, and then, unable, of course, to afford COBRA, he would have been stuck with no insurance even should he be fortunate to find another job at a company that still offered an HMO. His wife has some medical issues and would surely be hit with pre-existing condition rider.
And most who read this should not be alarmed. There are laws in place to protect those who have the cash to purchase COBRA from such practices.