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The Future Of Benefits: A New York Program Might Provide A Model

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Americans with health or pension benefits commonly get them through their employers. So what to do now that so many people have no steady employer? We have reported on this program that about 20 percent of American workers are contractors. The people who pay them have no long-term obligations to them, and that is creating demand for some benefits system of some kind that is not tied to a single employer. NPR's Yuki Noguchi examined one possible model, a program targeted at drivers for hire in New York.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: Somehow, in the gridlock of Midtown Manhattan, I locate the driver I've arranged to meet.

Are you Howard?

HOUCHANG GOLZARI: Yes, ma'am.

NOGUCHI: Hi. I'm Yuki.

GOLZARI: Nice to see you.

NOGUCHI: His real name is Houchang Golzari, an Iranian immigrant in his 70s. As his Town Car crawls through traffic, Golzari explains he'd worked as a programmer in the medical industry three decades ago. That was the last time he received health care, unemployment insurance and other benefits through an employer.

GOLZARI: They paid me for everything, but then they don't need you. They say, bye, get out.

NOGUCHI: Now as a contractor, Golzari pays his own way. Then last February an uninsured driver hit him from behind, damaging his car, his neck and back.

Does your back and neck still hurt?

GOLZARI: Not now, thanks God to a very nice, beautiful physical therapy which I had.

NOGUCHI: And thanks also to The Black Car Fund, a state-mandated worker's compensation insurance program that covers medical care and lost wages for drivers injured on the job. Golzari doesn't fret over the medical bills that arrive in the mail.

GOLZARI: It's not my problem. I have been covered, which I am very happy. I look at is as my benefits.

NOGUCHI: The Black Car Fund is, for now, unique to New York state, whose legislature created it in 1999. It's funded by a 2.5 percent consumer surcharge on each ride, and it covers about 125,000 drivers statewide, whether they're contractors for Uber, Lyft or more traditional taxi or limousine services. Golzari says he thinks this system should exist everywhere for all kinds of contract workers.

GOLZARI: I think they should have it all over the country because this is a good thing.

NOGUCHI: He's not alone. Other states, notably Washington and New Jersey, are considering bills mandating the collection of fees for all kinds of freelance services which would then be used to pay for those workers' benefits. Setting up such a system means wrestling with the logistical challenges - who pays into it, and how? Who's covered, and for what? Many experts believe The Black Car Fund offers some answers.

ALASTAIR FITZPAYNE: It's really a first of its kind, innovative model.

NOGUCHI: Alastair Fitzpayne is director of the Aspen Institute's Future of Work Initiative. He says the fund's effectiveness stems from the fact that it is mandated by the state and that it enjoys the taxi and limousine industry support as a fair, equitable way to solve a problem for the workers. Ira Goldstein is chief executive of The Black Car Fund.

IRA GOLDSTEIN: I think it's absolutely the right model. I think because it's working on a surcharge, it works for the part-time driver. It can be used to expand to additional benefits, as well.

NOGUCHI: In addition to workers' compensation, the fund offers death benefits. It pays drivers to attend defensive driving and wellness seminars, and it plans to offer vision care and telemedicine to encourage drivers to get checkups. The size of New York's driver population has ballooned in recent years, Goldstein says, but the changes have not affected the fund's fiscal efficiency. The nonprofit fund raised its rates only once in 18 years. It is the rare government program that, because of changes in how people work, has become increasingly relevant, and now lawmakers and industry leaders often come to Goldstein seeking advice.

GOLDSTEIN: I think in that way it was so revolutionary and ahead of its time, really, when you think about it that this was 2000 and now we're talking about 2018, and it's now a national issue and it's a national problem that people are trying to find a resolution to.

NOGUCHI: Democratic Congresswoman Suzan DelBene of Washington State agrees.

SUZAN DELBENE: Our economy is changing, and in many cases our laws and policies have not caught up with the way the economy works today, let alone where it's headed towards the future.

NOGUCHI: DelBene, along with Virginia Democrat Mark Warner in the Senate, introduced a proposal to give grants to cities, states and nonprofits devising new ways of delivering benefits. DelBene says many workers are falling through the cracks and on to public assistance.

DELBENE: The reason that we've heard from mayors and cities and states is because they're already feeling some of those pressures and understand how important this issue is today and how much more important it's going to be going forward.

NOGUCHI: Eventually, she says, she hopes there will be many models like The Black Car Fund but that serve many more workers. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, New York.