THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

official national clearinghouse to make such transfers available for all
types of healthcare time credits everywhere in the country.
One particularly important finding has emerged. Because they have
experienced a higher quality of care in their relationships with caregivers,
the elderly tend to prefer the services provided by people paid
in Hureai Kippu over those paid in yen. To the student in our vignette,
Mr. Yamada is a sort of surrogate for his own elderly father, who
lives in another part of the country and to whom he sends part of his
time credits.
As of 1999, this is all happening as a complement to the National
Health Insurance Plan, which covets the necessary professional
health services payable in yen. For instance, if Mr. Yamada needed
regular kidney dialysis or a professional chiropractic session, this
would be covered by Health Insurance in yen. Mr. Hotta Foresees
that 'about one third to half of the conventional monetary functions
will be picked up by these new currencies. As a result, the severity of
any recession and unemployment will be significantly reduced.
In an independent development, a health insurance company in
New York state known as Elderplan, has been accepting since 1987
up to one quarter of its healthcare insurance premiums in Time
Dollars, the brainchild of Edgar Cahn, a well-known lawyer and
professor in Washington DC. Elderplan also operates a 'Care Bank'
where participants have already earned 97,623 hours of services up to
June 1999. It started as a home repair service that fixed potential
problems before they caused accidents. The Care Bank has as its
motto: A broken towel bar is a broken hip waiting to happen.'" Here
again, the users report that they enjoy the quality in human relations
made possible by this approach. During the year 2000, the Elderplan
system is spreading beyond Brooklyn to Queens, Staten Island and
Manhattan.