By NextBestFitPhase 1: Enactment & build · Step 1.13
Launch the displaced-worker program
Month 6 onward; benefits through Year 6 · Department of Labor; state workforce boardsDiscuss this step
How other countries handled this same piece of implementation, what happened, and what it means for this plan.
Side by side
| Country | Approach | Result | Lesson for this plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| This plan (U.S.) | About 975,261 workers in insurance, billing, brokerage, PBMs, and related jobs will lose them over four years. The program pays wage replacement, wage insurance, training, and bridge pensions, and gives hiring preference at UHA and in health care. | ||
| Taiwan | Merged existing public insurance bureaus into the NHI Administration in 1995, transferring staff. | Little job loss because predecessors were public agencies. | The U.S. differs: displaced workers are in private companies, so a transition program is needed. |
| Denmark | 'Flexicurity': generous unemployment benefits (up to 90% of wages) with active retraining. | Rapid reemployment after structural shocks. | High replacement rates plus retraining reduce lasting harm; the plan's program mirrors this. |
Taiwan
- What they did
- Merged existing public insurance bureaus into the NHI Administration in 1995, transferring staff.
- What happened
- Little job loss because predecessors were public agencies.
- Lesson for this plan
- The U.S. differs: displaced workers are in private companies, so a transition program is needed.
Denmark
- What they did
- 'Flexicurity': generous unemployment benefits (up to 90% of wages) with active retraining.
- What happened
- Rapid reemployment after structural shocks.
- Lesson for this plan
- High replacement rates plus retraining reduce lasting harm; the plan's program mirrors this.
More precedent
- Trade Adjustment Assistance; PERI (2018) proposed a similar program for Medicare for All.