Would You Pay $4 Per Hour for Healthcare?

We do.  I suspect just about every other company in the US that is actually trying to provide healthcare to their employees is paying over $3 per hour and many probably pay even more than the $4 that we pay.  A high wage individual may be willing to pay more for healthcare than a low wage individual, but the cost does not change as income levels change.  So this is a much bigger issue for low wage earners than the others.  Most employees don't think about this all that much because they don't participate very much in paying the bill.  Many economists argue that if healthcare costs go down, wages could go up.  If that did happen, the low wage earners would benefit the most because a $1 per hour increase for someone at minimum wage is a 13% pay increase.

It will never happen because there is no one in DC representing the interests of the employee.  Our government cannot control healthcare costs because they don't want to.  They are beholden to the very people (health insurance industry) that would be hurt by cost containment.  It is never going to happen.

The only shred of good news in the whole story is our government is also highly unlikely to pass any reform, so we may be able to avoid a whole bunch of pork piled on our broken system.