Last month, there was an article in Taxicab Times regarding the fate of a cab driver named “Piano Red” who was paralyzed in a shooting incident. He currently is supported by Medicaid and resides in a low-class nursing home. The writer of this article blames the “hand-to-mouth attitude of cab drivers for his condition.
As an experienced cab driver and an owner, I have been either fortunate or cursed to see both sides of this situation. The fact is that a battery of State, Federal and local regulations have worked in tandem with rising fuel costs to attack the transportation industry in all its forms. Truck drivers are respected, to a point; however, even though cab drivers provide a vital service to their communities, they are very much maligned.
Most cab drivers are independent contractors. As such, there is no unemployment or worker’s comp insurance, benefits, 401K or retirement plan. There isn’t even a minimum wage requirement. Most cab drivers who are on a straight lease have had to dig into their pockets on occasion to pay their dues, fuel their cabs or both.
As an owner, I have looked into providing worker’s compensation or an option for health care benefits for my drivers or even dispatch staff. Unfortunately, since my company was small and the industry is “undefined”, providing worker’s compensation for a dispatcher was prohibitively expensive. Our dispatchers were nothing more than office clerks. If they worked in a doctor’s, lawyer’s or real estate office, their employer would have paid less than 1% of their salary for worker’s comp.; however since taxicab service is an “undefined” or “specialty” industry, worker’s compensation costs were 80% or more of their salary. Providing worker’s comp. for drivers—Forget it!! The insurance industry won’t insure a cab driver with worker’s comp. because the job is too dangerous.
An individual health insurance plan costs hundreds of dollars a month. The lower the cost, the less protection the plan offers. Some insurance plans only pay half the costs once the deductible is met. When a person pays over $500 per month for health insurance for their family, how is this protection?
Although I agree with the premise that everybody should have health insurance and a retirement plan to fall back on in the instance that they get injured, ill or can no longer work in their professions. How can a cab driver or small company afford this? When you get some ideas, please let me know.
