Rising Cyber Attacks Costing Health System $6 Billion Annually
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@Dashrender said:
You're company forced you to pay this?
No, the company got the government to force it. Remember that healthcare insurance is mandatory in the US now. So using a combination of that law, laws that allow employers to only offer a single plan, laws that allow employers to mark up a plan to an absurd degree, a state that only offers state health plans to people not offered other plans, etc. you end up with a combination of the company and the state and the federal government mandating only one single option and no option not to take it. So it was not as simple as "the company made me do it", but the company could have made it not happen.
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That's part of the problem with the US health insurance laws, each law on its own is only so bad. It is the lack of comprehensive protection that is the problem. Everyone is forced to get insurance, but no law forces insurance to be offered to you. Laws that protect people with no health care don't cover people with onerous health care. There is no law that makes sure that you can afford to do what is required.
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You could not buy it, and then buy your own plan from a ACA provider, could you not? Or are you saying that the state basically removed any insurance providers ability to provide a less expensive plan?
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@Dashrender said:
You could not buy it, and then buy your own plan from a ACA provider, could you not? Or are you saying that the state basically removed any insurance providers ability to provide a less expensive plan?
We tried, no provider would take us and none had to because the company offered one. All state plans were unavailable. We tried. We spoke to them at length. We went through brokers, the state... anyone we could find. They all laughed and said there were no options for us - at any price.
This is how health insurance works - there are trillions to be made in collusion. The law allows low cost insurance to be avoided.
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WOW - now this is the first time I've heard of this particular problem.
So what options do people who are making $10/hr to do? Is there literally NO options for them?
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@Dashrender said:
WOW - now this is the first time I've heard of this particular problem.
So what options do people who are making $10/hr to do? Is there literally NO options for them?
Who knows? I'm so glad I don't have that issue. I suspect that there is some law that bars insurance from being higher than your income, but who knows. But there is a reason why some people say that they can't afford to work in the US - we have ways of making the tax rate so high that you literally can't work.
Most people I know working those rates don't get insurance themselves. Back when I was making that there were options. Hopefully there still are.
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But the problem really comes down to potential. I went between jobs recently (about two years ago) where the one had this nearly $40K / year in health costs and the other had zero. Literally zero. We paid for nothing. Everything was covered. Whole family.
So it all depends on the company and what they are willing to do.
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There was a while when I was making that and didn't have coverage, but it was pretty short lived. I got married shortly there after and was put on my wife's coverage through her employer (local school district)
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@Dashrender said:
There was a while when I was making that and didn't have coverage, but it was pretty short lived. I got married shortly there after and was put on my wife's coverage through her employer (local school district)
Oh me too, there was a time that I wasn't covered. As is often the case in the US, even when you have major health issues it is more cost effective to not have insurance. That's why they had to make it a requirement (tax) rather than optional (insurance.) I knew lots of people that skipped it and saved a fortune. Unless you have cancer or a heart attack or something like that, it never pays for itself and often with those things it doesn't cover treatment anyway and it still doesn't pay for itself. So lots of people used to just do without.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
You're company forced you to pay this?
No, the company got the government to force it. Remember that healthcare insurance is mandatory in the US now. So using a combination of that law, laws that allow employers to only offer a single plan, laws that allow employers to mark up a plan to an absurd degree, a state that only offers state health plans to people not offered other plans, etc. you end up with a combination of the company and the state and the federal government mandating only one single option and no option not to take it. So it was not as simple as "the company made me do it", but the company could have made it not happen.
Or you can pay $600/yr fine not to have it. I had to do that for a short period (but, even during that period I paid $3,000 out of pocket for medical expenses) . I'm still on the counties insurance even though I don't work for them now. Because of how they illegally terminated for health reasons (Tip: don't state you are going to fire someone because they need to use FMLA).
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
You're company forced you to pay this?
No, the company got the government to force it. Remember that healthcare insurance is mandatory in the US now. So using a combination of that law, laws that allow employers to only offer a single plan, laws that allow employers to mark up a plan to an absurd degree, a state that only offers state health plans to people not offered other plans, etc. you end up with a combination of the company and the state and the federal government mandating only one single option and no option not to take it. So it was not as simple as "the company made me do it", but the company could have made it not happen.
Or you can pay $600/yr fine not to have it. I had to do that for a short period (but, even during that period I paid $3,000 out of pocket for medical expenses) . I'm still on the counties insurance even though I don't work for them now. Because of how they illegally terminated for health reasons (Tip: don't state you are going to fire someone because they need to use FMLA).
LOL HR fail!
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@thecreativeone91 has an idea there Scott...
For now you could have paid the fine, and then sought out your own non compliant insurance for probably less, unless there was a state law preventing even that option.
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@Dashrender said:
@thecreativeone91 has an idea there Scott...
For now you could have paid the fine, and then sought out your own non compliant insurance for probably less, unless there was a state law preventing even that option.
Scotts "fine" would be much more.
$695 for each adult and $347.50 for each child, but no more than $2,085 per family
Or 2.5% of your family yearly taxable income (which ever is more is what they use) -
@Dashrender said:
@thecreativeone91 has an idea there Scott...
For now you could have paid the fine, and then sought out your own non compliant insurance for probably less, unless there was a state law preventing even that option.
Nope, not an option. Yes, I could have paid the fine, but that would have meant a lapse in insurance and that would have blocked me from even my employer's insurance plan (for a time.) Since NO insurance, compliant or otherwise, was available, this would completely not have been an option.
My only option going your path would have been to be completely uninsured AND pay fines on top of it. Not a good way to go with small kids to take care of.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@Dashrender said:
@thecreativeone91 has an idea there Scott...
For now you could have paid the fine, and then sought out your own non compliant insurance for probably less, unless there was a state law preventing even that option.
Scotts "fine" would be much more.
$695 for each adult and $347.50 for each child, but no more than $2,085 per family
Or 2.5% of your family yearly taxable income (which ever is more is what they use)Which is pretty huge when you consider you are then without health insurance too!
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@thecreativeone91 has an idea there Scott...
For now you could have paid the fine, and then sought out your own non compliant insurance for probably less, unless there was a state law preventing even that option.
Nope, not an option. Yes, I could have paid the fine, but that would have meant a lapse in insurance and that would have blocked me from even my employer's insurance plan (for a time.) Since NO insurance, compliant or otherwise, was available, this would completely not have been an option.
My only option going your path would have been to be completely uninsured AND pay fines on top of it. Not a good way to go with small kids to take care of.
I'm really having a hard time with the NO OPTIONS are available situation. Did the state of TX actively go against insurance companies to make sure no options were available?
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@Dashrender said:
@thecreativeone91 has an idea there Scott...
For now you could have paid the fine, and then sought out your own non compliant insurance for probably less, unless there was a state law preventing even that option.
Scotts "fine" would be much more.
$695 for each adult and $347.50 for each child, but no more than $2,085 per family
Or 2.5% of your family yearly taxable income (which ever is more is what they use)Well the 2.5% for Scott for sure then!
