Originally Posted by MaxQ

One of the best ways to improve pilot, and others, salaries is some sort of public option regarding health insurance. Currrently USA pays 15 to 18% of its GDP into health care yet has mediocre results. Insurance companies, and a spider web of support companies, take a significant portion of this money while(and this is crucial) they provide ZERO health care. They are not the providers, they are the arbiters of who receives the care and how much.(if you are in a group plan, you have some protections by Federal law that individuals don't have)
One of the biggest problems your employer faces is how to pay some sort of health benefits that continue to rise 8-15% per year. If the company has a large retiree contingent and a shrinking business, they will almost surely go bankrupt unless they dump health coverage completely. The largest impediment to an individual starting his own business is health insurance costs(take that, John Galt) The current system has no incentive to lower costs and has a huge incentive to deny care to those who need it. Your airline will be financialy more stable, and your job more secure, if the company can use a public option to bargain for lower insurance rates. It's not a silver bullet, but yours, and most of your fellow countrymans, life will be the betterfor it.