Industry as Payer: Employee Health Benefits

Abstract

Of the three capacities in which industry can influence the medical marketplace, the role of payer or purchasing agent is perhaps the most complex. Yet industry as payer is a logical place to start, in part because it is here that industry feels the direct impact of rising health care costs, in part because some economists attribute to this role fundamental problems that are causing costs to rise. The history of industry’s role as payer for health care demonstrates without doubt that over the years management and labor have profoundly affected the organization and financing of the health care delivery system, often more by chance than by design.