As this Canadian article on the auto industry's agreements with the United Auto Workers to shift health care costs from the company to the union makes clear, these deals open up a range of possibilities that may be useful in helping policymakers in the broader sphere figure out how to reform health care for the rest of us.

How successful will the unions be in using their bulk purchasing power to bring costs down? The success or failure of this effort could have an impact on efforts to use government's purchasing power to bring the cost of drugs and other items down.

With workers and retirees on the same "team" (the UAW) as their health care purchaser, will preventative care and healthier habits be easier to encourage? 

Lastly, can the unions invest the money wisely thus attaining returns in excess of health care inflation?

No matter what actually happens, the experiment will be interesting to watch.