He told me in no uncertain terms "I'm paying claims on this guy every other day it seems. " he referred to the health policy. (Health and Pension fund - partially union gravy money...)

In your case, the union had skin in the insurance coverage. Sounds like the union was paying out of pocket, with someone like Blue Cross doing the paperwork? My grandfather's retirement supplemental medical coverage was through the Teamsters, not the truck line he had worked for, with Blue Cross doing the paperwork.

In a non-union shop, the company pays. The last place I worked paid the bills itself, while Blue Cross did the paperwork.

Radio Shack did not have a pre-employment physical. One of the guys in my store hit the company up for a fortune in dental work.

Would an employer care if an employee had medical issues, if the issues were paid for by a national health plan, instead of coming out of the "JC's" pocket? Well, OK, the "JC" might care if the guy was absent a lot, for treatment.

Steve