Shareholders to Weigh In On Universal Healthcare

The question of whether and how to reform the U.S. healthcare system has opened on a new front -- shareholder activism.

Over the past several months, the SEC has told several major corporations that they must allow shareholder votes on proposals that would commit the companies to "principles for comprehensive universal healthcare." That's a departure for the Bush administration's SEC, which had previously allowed companies to omit the proposals without much fuss.

From the NYT, which broke the story yesterday:

The S.E.C. has told Boeing, General Motors, United Technologies, Wendy's International and Xcel Energy over the last several months that they may not omit the health care proposal from their proxy materials....

Some, like General Electric and Medco Health Solutions, have explicitly adopted principles that include the goal of universal coverage. Some, like Boeing and Reynolds American, have opposed the shareholder initiatives. At least a dozen companies, like Wal-Mart and I.B.M., have negotiated with shareholders in the belief they can find common ground.

The shareholder proposal asks companies to adopt "principles for comprehensive health care reform" like those devised by the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

Of course, the practical impact of all this is basically nil. The shareholder measures don't even commit the companies to offer healthcare plans to their own workers, and the "principles" that are at stake are commendable, but gaseous in the extreme. (They amount to little more than the hope that access to healthcare should be universal, continuous, affordable and "sustainable for society," which makes me wonder why the IOM didn't throw in free beer and skittles while they had the chance.)

That said, this sort of activism may still signify an important turning point in the healthcare Zeitgeist, one that could demolish all manner of carefully laid plans in the healthcare industry should major reform emerge following the election. So take note, hospital and health-plan CEOs: The bell may be tolling for thee.