GM covers 1.1 million employees, retirees, and dependents at a cost of $5.2 billion per year (2004), and spends $1.5 billion annually on prescription drugs. This means GM must add $1,525 to the cost of every vehicle it sells. Who wouldn’t want to save a minimum of $1,525 when buying a car? It is no wonder, then, GM’s most sought after public policy is national health care. Yes, GM has been advocating the federal government to help them reduce costs and make them more competitive with car makers from other countries. As it is now, GM pays 0.4% of the health care bill in our country.

Duluth, too, spends egregious amounts of money before they plow the streets, fix a pothole, or work to improve life for any of its citizens. Health care costs for retirees alone stand at $178.5 million. That means every Duluthian should get an additional tax bill for $2070.00 just to balance the books (inflation not included). I am not contending that Duluth dump its retiree health care, however, issues need to be addressed soon or we may find ourselves in the same situation as GM.

It is easy to call for an immediate change. For the most part, businesses have dealt with these kinds of issues for years and we have managed to adapt. What is needed now is a public policy debate that focuses upon facts and solutions rather than upon politics. If we refuse to do this, we will find ourselves facing bankruptcy. Yes, Duluth will be bankrupt. Some predict as soon as 2014.

There are, however, affordable things any company, municipality, or community can do readily to ensure lower health care costs in the future. These include discouraging obesity, smoking, and inactivity. At a recent conference, I listened to a former Canadian health ministry official who advocated life style change as the preferred method of salvaging our health care system. He indicated that we might save billions if our population got into its proper weight categories, stopped smoking, and got active. Moreover, he praised the drug companies for helping lower costs by keeping our inactive, overweight, and smoking population out of the hospital. There are people who need health care and have limited access – but we can do something about that if we only try.

Sure, GM and Duluth have some serious issues that each must confront, but we’ll never solve these issues unless we all try to do what we can.