Promoting Worker Health

<p>In this extended essay Nortin M. Hadler and Stephen P. Carter introduce a new approach to reforming the American health-care system — a plan they call the Universal Workers' Compensation Model (UWCM). Drawing on Hadler’s expertise as a physician and Carter’s as an attorney the two have conceived the UWCM as a state-level alternative that would supersede current solutions debated at the national level. They begin by summarizing the history and present complexity and irrationality of America’s health-insurance system. They then lay out the key concepts underlying the UWCM regime and the practical policy steps necessary to enact it. At the heart of the UWCM is a broader understanding of what constitutes worker’s health one grounded in scientific research and cognizant of the wide range of physical and mental illnesses that can afflict workers. The UWCM stipulates a single policy providing rational and reasoned recourse for universal risks: illness injury disability and death.<br/><br/>Presenting their ideas with precision in this 34-page pamphlet Hadler and Carter intend to spark discussion among health-care providers insurers legislators and everyday citizens about how we might move beyond the limits of the current debate toward new truly effective solutions.</p>