Whither Employer-paid Health Insurance?

Where is corporate responsibility these days? I know it’s in the toilet, but I’m stunned by yet another example that is drastically affecting one state–North Dakota, where the prospects of hydrofracking and other oil exploration and production have dramatically increased the number of uninsured workers in the state.

Today’s New York Times includes an article about the impact of this oil boom in North Dakota on its health care system. Transient oil workers do dangerous work that too often results in an emergency room visit. Indeed, journalist John Eligon reports that ER visits increased by 400% last year alone at McKenzie County Hospital.

Emergency rooms cannot turn people away, so hospitals have to absorb the cost of uninsured care with the hope that it will be relieved by public funds designated for uncompensated care. Eligon cites McKenzie County Hospital’s debt load as an example of the impact of uninsured care on the state’s health care system. That hospital’s debt has increased 2000% over the past four years.