TROY, MI -- (MARKET WIRE) -- April 23, 2007 -- As Cover the Uninsured Week 2007 sharpens the
focus on the nearly 45 million Americans who do not have health insurance,
the head of leading staffing company Kelly Services (
NASDAQ:
KELYA)
(
NASDAQ:
KELYB) today urged changes in the traditional link between health
care coverage and employer sponsorship.
"Americans must accept the fact that the system we have all known for
generations is dead. As a nation, we need to demand a more flexible system
that reflects the realities of today's mobile work force and provides
access to group coverage outside the traditional employment relationship,"
insisted Carl Camden, president and chief executive officer of
Kelly
Services, Inc.
"Dependence on employer-provided health care is leaving millions of
non-traditional workers without quality, affordable health insurance
coverage and keeping untold numbers of individuals locked into
unsatisfactory jobs solely for health insurance purposes."
CoverTheUninsured.org, which is
promoting Cover the Uninsured Week from April 23 to 29, cites research
indicating that more than 80 percent of the non-elderly uninsured live in
families where the head of the family works.
Camden noted that the current system dates from an era when most American
workers were in traditional employer-employee relationships. Today, he
said, that system shortchanges the more than 22 million American workers
who are by choice "free agents" -- freelancers, contract and temporary
workers, independent consultants and entrepreneurs.
At its core, this is not only a health care issue; it is a competitive
disadvantage for U.S. companies and workers alike. Job-locked employees are
less productive because they are held captive by employment they do not
like or cannot perform well, simply because it is their only option for
health insurance.
"These men and women, whose numbers will continue to increase in the
future, suffer the tangible, real-world disadvantages imposed by our
current approach," Camden declared. "The tax system treats them unfairly
by forcing them to purchase health insurance with after-tax dollars. And
then the insurance system compounds the problem by relegating them to the
expensive individual market and by making it difficult for them to
otherwise qualify for group rates."
Kelly Services is a founding member of the
"Better Health Care Together"
campaign, which earlier this year issued four "common sense principles
for achieving a new American health care system by 2012." Those principles
are:
-- We believe every person in America must have quality, affordable
health insurance coverage;
-- We believe individuals have a responsibility to maintain and protect
their health;
-- We believe that America must dramatically improve the value it
receives for every health care dollar; and
-- We believe that businesses, governments and individuals all should
contribute to managing and financing a new American health care system.
"At Kelly Services, we are pleased to take a leadership role among
business, labor and civic organizations committed to making health care
reform a reality," said Camden. "Our challenge is to increase access to
the health care system and to ensure that outcomes here are as consistently
positive as in other countries. We look forward to helping shape the debate
and fixing a health care system that is hopelessly broken."
About Kelly Services
Kelly Services, Inc. (
NASDAQ:
KELYA) (
NASDAQ:
KELYB) is a Fortune 500
company headquartered in Troy, Mich., offering
staffing solutions that include
temporary staffing services, outsourcing, vendor on-site and
full-time placement. Kelly operates in 32 countries and territories.
Kelly provides employment to more than 750,000 employees annually, with
skills including office services, accounting, engineering, information
technology, law, science, marketing, creative services, light industrial,
education, and health care. Revenue in 2006 was $5.6 billion. Visit
www.kellyservices.com.
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Renée Walker
(248) 244-4305
Email Contact