Thursday, October 11, 2007
Phony jobs
Living without health insurance is no fun; it's stressful and preys on my mind constantly.
Just as disgusting is this attitude:
I've worked at my 'phony job' for over seventeen years, rarely missing a day. I don't pretend that my church job is crucial to a vibrant economy, but I do like to think I help enhance the membership's spiritual life. There are no benefits associated with the job; no retirement plan, no health insurance.
Mr. Andante's phony job is managing two furniture component factories; when he accepted the job the company had a fairly decent package of benefits, including group health. Within months, the employer decided a benefits package was no longer affordable. His phony employer gave him no choice in the matter.
We were forced to drop health insurance altogether after a couple of years of COBRA, a pricey private policy, and outrageous premium hikes. We were this close to bankruptcy and are still clawing our way out.
Should either or both of us quit our phony jobs and get "real" jobs that offer health insurance? Maybe, maybe not. I know plenty of people stuck in jobs they hate who won't switch for fear of losing insurance.
Dragging yourself to a hateful job every day makes life pretty miserable. I guess the best you could say is that at least you have the insurance to help with anti-depressants, high blood pressure, and so on.
When Mr. Andante's benefits were dropped, my mother exclaimed "I thought people without health insurance were just too lazy to work!".
Even though her mind is slowly deteriorating with Alzheimer's she knows better now. What would be the mouthbreather's excuse?
Another otherwise intelligent person has told me I should "get a steady job" (knowing full well I've been a steady employee at the same place for a long time). This particular person has a government job and thinks her excellent benefits will never cease. We didn't think ours would, either.
The plain, uncomfortable fact is that more and more employers are dropping group health, more and more employees are being asked to shoulder the burden, and more and more health insurance companies are raking in more and more profit.
I hate to wish hardship on anyone, but until more people with 'real jobs' feel the pinch there's not likely to be a huge outpouring of outrage.
If the Democratic presidential candidates have any sense-of-the-issue whatsoever, they should all immediately pledge to do as John Edwards has suggested:
Living without health insurance is no fun; it's stressful and preys on my mind constantly.
Just as disgusting is this attitude:
"Maybe Dad should drop his woodworking hobby and get a real job that offers health insurance rather than making people like me (also with 4 kids in a 600sf smaller house and tuition $16,000 less per kid and no commercial property ownership) pay for it in my taxes."Let's leave aside the other falsehoods in that statement for a moment and look at that "real job" business.
I've worked at my 'phony job' for over seventeen years, rarely missing a day. I don't pretend that my church job is crucial to a vibrant economy, but I do like to think I help enhance the membership's spiritual life. There are no benefits associated with the job; no retirement plan, no health insurance.
Mr. Andante's phony job is managing two furniture component factories; when he accepted the job the company had a fairly decent package of benefits, including group health. Within months, the employer decided a benefits package was no longer affordable. His phony employer gave him no choice in the matter.
We were forced to drop health insurance altogether after a couple of years of COBRA, a pricey private policy, and outrageous premium hikes. We were this close to bankruptcy and are still clawing our way out.
Should either or both of us quit our phony jobs and get "real" jobs that offer health insurance? Maybe, maybe not. I know plenty of people stuck in jobs they hate who won't switch for fear of losing insurance.
Dragging yourself to a hateful job every day makes life pretty miserable. I guess the best you could say is that at least you have the insurance to help with anti-depressants, high blood pressure, and so on.
When Mr. Andante's benefits were dropped, my mother exclaimed "I thought people without health insurance were just too lazy to work!".
Even though her mind is slowly deteriorating with Alzheimer's she knows better now. What would be the mouthbreather's excuse?
Another otherwise intelligent person has told me I should "get a steady job" (knowing full well I've been a steady employee at the same place for a long time). This particular person has a government job and thinks her excellent benefits will never cease. We didn't think ours would, either.
The plain, uncomfortable fact is that more and more employers are dropping group health, more and more employees are being asked to shoulder the burden, and more and more health insurance companies are raking in more and more profit.
I hate to wish hardship on anyone, but until more people with 'real jobs' feel the pinch there's not likely to be a huge outpouring of outrage.
If the Democratic presidential candidates have any sense-of-the-issue whatsoever, they should all immediately pledge to do as John Edwards has suggested:
"To show Congress just how serious I am, on the first day of my administration, I will submit legislation that ends health care coverage for the president, all members of Congress, and all senior political appointees in both branches of government on July 20th, 2009 - unless we have passed universal health care reform," Edwards said in a speech to the Laborers Leadership Convention.Edwards gets it. Cut off benefits to congress and universal coverage would flow like milk and honey.
Labels: insurance crap
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Thursday, March 29, 2007
Bait and switch
The day is still young, but as far as I recall life insurance policies are generally honored.
But is there any other segment of the insurance industry that actually makes a practice of delivering value for the money?
I don't want my child having to care for me the way I'm having to care for my own mother now. We were thinking about scraping together some money for long term care insurance.
Not anymore.
Note to the next President of the United States (who better by-Gawd be a Democrat) - appoint a high-level, blue-ribbon commission with subpoena powers to investigate insurance company skullduggery.
If there's an industry that cries out for government regulation, the insurance sharks are IT.
The day is still young, but as far as I recall life insurance policies are generally honored.
But is there any other segment of the insurance industry that actually makes a practice of delivering value for the money?
I don't want my child having to care for me the way I'm having to care for my own mother now. We were thinking about scraping together some money for long term care insurance.
Not anymore.
Note to the next President of the United States (who better by-Gawd be a Democrat) - appoint a high-level, blue-ribbon commission with subpoena powers to investigate insurance company skullduggery.
If there's an industry that cries out for government regulation, the insurance sharks are IT.
Labels: insurance crap
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