BUSINESS AND HEALTH

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has plunged into a growing national debate over health care reform. It has ordered several large corporations to include in this year’s proxy materials stockholder resolutions advocating universal health care.

The United States is the only wealthy industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system. Polls show that most Americans favor it, many politicians and organizations advocate it. Rep. Tom Allen, who is challenging Susan Collins for the Senate, unveiled his universal health care proposal last week. He’d cover more people through a mix of private insurance and an expansion of government program. He proposed to largely pay for it with funds currently allocated for the war in Iraq.

Despite the support and talk, the number of uninsured has now climbed to 47 million.

Enter the SEC. A coalition of religious and labor groups has been demanding that corporations in which they hold stock accept resolutions favoring universal health care at this year’s shareholder meetings. The corporations have mostly refused, but they can do so only if the SEC lets them. In recent months, the agency has told General Motors, Boeing, Exxon-Mobil, United Technologies, Wendy’s International and Xcel Energy that they must include the proposals in their proxy materials and permit their shareholders to vote on them.

Some of the corporations have complained that the resolutions are intended to drag them into political action and lobbying. In the case of a few, including Wyeth and CVS, the SEC has let them reject the proposals, since they are directly involved in providing health care. But for the others, the agency says the resolution has nothing to do with their “ordinary business” operations. Some have agreed to dialogs with their shareholders.

Despite their reluctance to get involved in politics, businesses large and small are suffering from the burden of mounting health care costs and would have much to gain from a universal health care system if it took them off the hook. After all, employer-furnished health benefits began as a way to get around World War II regulations that prohibited pay increases.

The big-three car manufacturers all cite their health care responsibilities among the reasons for their current economic troubles. The cost of health insurance is said to add $900 to $l,400 to each car made in the United States.

The various proposals all ask their fellow shareholders to join in directing their corporations to accept health care principles put forth by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of

Sciences as a matter of broad social policy. The principles say that health coverage should be universal, continuous, affordable to individuals and sustainable by society.

If business, in its own best interests, enters the debate, we may yet have a health care system that matches those of other leading nations.