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Gig Economy Hurt By Flu Season

Lynn Bailey
Mike Switzer/SC Public Radio

During the latest flu season, our state hit a 5 year high in terms of flu hospitalizations and deaths.  January and February were so bad that hospitals had heated tents set up as triage areas outside their Emergency Room entrances.  Many simply ran out of rooms and beds.  Our next guest says that for employers and employees who are part of the Gig Economy (independent contract workers) this type of situation can be very expensive because these employers and employees usually live with no paid sick leave.

Mike Switzer interviews Lynn Bailey, a Columbia, SC-based health care economist and consultant to a variety of health care providers across South Carolina.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.