Full Benefits For All Employees

FULL BENEFITS FOR ALL EMPLOYEES

Why do certain sects of the workforce have decidedly less opportunity and offering when it comes to employee health benefits? For many corporations and companies, it is standard practice to offer highly discounted access to medical and dental insurance to its full-time employees. Typically, these companies pay a large portion of their employees' health insurance bills. The employees forfeit a certain fraction of their pay toward the rest of the benefits. The amount they pay is nominal in comparison to the average price of a full health insurance package to a typical citizen. There is also, however, a large population of workers who do not have the same access to low-cost health insurance. It is entirely unfair that these people, who typically include employees in the foodservices industry, do not receive the option of purchasing low-cost health insurance from their employers.

Workers Need and Deserve Health Benefits

It is unfair for companies not to offer health insurance to its employees because most cannot afford the cost of such benefits even though they often work just as hard and long as those who do receive benefits. One particular sect of the workforce that is usually not offered any financial aid in the way of health insurance is the foodservice industry. These companies are often very large corporations who could and should unquestionably offer at least some sort of health benefit relief to their food servers, as they do to their managers and other higher paid positions, who are just as worthy and needing of these benefits. Lynn Martins, owner of Seibel Family Restaurant, concurs, stating: "'Not all restaurants pay for these things. I'm a rarity. I want to pay a server's health insurance. They deserve it. If they are working for the federal government or IBM, they would have it'" (Berta, 2003: 32). As someone who worked as a waitress for a year and a half in my early twenties, I felt the effects of this type of discrimination first-hand. I was not attending school at the time and was too old to be covered under my parents' health insurance. The amount of money I was making while working full-time as a server for this restaurant just barely covered my bills. I was also making too much money to qualify for free health care. Due to the very high cost of purchasing it on my own, I was unable to afford health insurance at that time in my life. This was extremely difficult for me, as I needed not only typical routine health-care, but also had to endure a hospitalization for an injury during that period. I was left struggling to pay hospital bills while working full-time to barely pay my other costs. This situation led me to strongly believe that all full-time workers should receive at least some health benefits at their jobs.

Companies Profit From Offering Health Benefits

Not only do employees benefit from assistance with health insurance, but employers do as