One of the things I have done (so far) with my days off is kick on the TV. It seems I have not missed much when it comes to the great health care fiasco.
Now I have one of these full time jobs that the right likes to talk so much about. You know, the kind that comes with benefits and options and all that other happy horse shit. So therefore, I must be set!
Well not exactly. You see, my employer is somewhat cheap. The plan offered is really not a plan. It is a supplemental plan. The way it works is that I get paid directly if I need care, then I use that money to pay bills. So I can go anywhere and see any doctor. It does not matter.
Well here is the problem with the plan. Without real insurance to back it up it is WORTHLESS. Lets just take emergency care for example. If I were to end up in intensive care the "plan" offered would pay a whole whopping $750 per day. The problem is that intensive care costs somewhat more than $750 per day.
They will pay $25,000 if I need an organ transplant. Hey great - better than nothing but I would still be in the hole by a couple of hundred grand.
So I opted to not sign up for the plan. I did my cost benefit analysis and determined that the plan was not worth the cost.
So what about routine care? Well it turns out I can do things like see the dentist or eye doctor and they will also pay me directly. Problem is the amount they will pay me is less than what I would have to pay anyway. They will give me $80 for a routine eye exam for example - but for me a routine exam is closer to $125 - $150.
Now why the hell do I want to pay someone about $7 per pay period so that they can give me back $80 later? Keep in mind the premiums I would pay would total more than what I would get back in routine care reimbursement. Here is $100 - you can give me back $75 later! What a great deal that is.
The "plan" was also fragmented. There was the emergency plan that only covers emergency care, the routine plan, the dental plan, the eye plan, the cancer plan, and so on.
To get them all would equal the premiums for a real plan.
So what good is the plan offered? Well lets say that a real plan was also offered (which it is not). I could buy into the supplemental plan and it would more than cover the deductibles for the real plan.
But offering only the supplemental plan is just a joke. People who buy into it think they are covered - but guess what? If you need anything beyond routine care (which you will have to pay roughly 1/2 the cost for anyway - on top of the premiums paid to get back less than what you paid in - which in effect just makes your routine care MORE expensive) you will end up bankrupt.
Well to hell with that. If I am going to end up bankrupt, I am going to keep the $7 every 2 weeks premium payment. That will at least pay for a six pack. I will get more benefit out of the beer than the plan anyway.
So there you go. More reason why we NEED more options. There are those of us out there working 40 hour weeks, in what appears to be a real company with some 400 employees (with plans to hire another 600 upon planned expansion) - but we have no real insurance.
And I am not really being paid enough to buy my own private plan. As it is now a decent place to live (as in not an apartment in Crack City) will cost me more than 1/2 of my income. At the very best, with the move in specials because the economy sucks I might be able to find a decent place to live for 1/2 of my income. This leaves me another 1/2 for everything else.
In other words - nothing for health insurance.
I also do not see wages going up anytime soon. At least not till the economy recovers. Right now it is not like there are a lot of other jobs I can just take. And as long as there is a shortage of jobs, employers can offer lower wages and people will take them.
I know of people with many years of experience, and graduate degrees - working for $10 - $12 per hour. So that is the reality of today.
But as it stands now - we need more choices when it comes to health plans. I would like to be insured - but I can not afford to buy into a private non-group rate plan, and the garbage plan offered at work is not worth the premiums I would pay.
I suppose some radio clowns would just call me a cheap bastard who thinks everything should be free. Someone who probably supports labor unions, and who is just lazy and really hates capitalism. Why I might even be a communist! Or at least a socialist.
I just do not want to be horribly in debt should I get sick. I suppose that is too much to ask for.
