Give me affordable Health-care!

[BensMom]

I work in a bank. A profitable bank. I have had to cut back my heath-care coverage the last two years to afford to continue to work and have some type of heath care. If not, the premiums would just eat up my take home pay. So I have way too expensive health care and just very nominal coverage. Welcome to America!

The latest trend for the jerks in management is the healthy feel-good movement.
The employer will pay 10% of your health club dues if you join the designated health club.
Just the Good Old Boy Club. Join the walk to support (fill in the blank) and you will get a free logo ball cap.

Today at the office we had blood pressure checks followed by a free heart shaped cookie. I tried to blow right pass them. They called out my name and I stopped in my tracks. I told them I would take notice if the company would put some of their profits into employee health care - give me a true plan that would make a difference and I would be the first on the band wagon!

The eyes got pretty big and nobody spoke for a second.

Then the day continued with management patting themselves for doing another wonderful thing for the underlings!

See ya at the voting booth!

[whathappened]

1. heath care sucks

wife works for walmarts and pays for what she gets and that amounts to about nothing anymore , asked my foot doctor if he would check my wife feet c, cause they are killing her working on the cement , he just shook his head and said she better call her insurance provider and check first , cause he has tired to deal with walmart insurance befor and they would,nt pay for any foot problems , so there you go , what in the world do we have when we have the insurance , how about nothing

[Betsy Ross]

2. $1000 per month for COBRA

Husband and I are both on disability and we have to come up with the insurance money to get over our disabilities. LOL!

[rodeodance]

6. I got caught with that also. NO insureance.

[Dr.Phool]

8. Support this Bill!!!!

H.R.676

www.healthcare-now.org

Raise hell with your congresscritters and Senators.

[BensMom]

20. Oh Ya!

I think Wellstone/Conyers started to get the noise
going about this in mid 90s.

I really hate the thieves we call the insurance companies...

[bluem]

3. Not having it can be a scary thing!

I am turning 18 this summer and going to start college at the University of Tampa. Problem being I am getting booted of my Fathers healthcare because of age! We've checked what it would cost for me to stay on (bluecross) and it was outrageous!

[aquart]

4. Your school should have coverage.

Mine at Columbia was so good I hated to leave just for that.

[bluem]

7. not really...

They are going to cover me for womens health, minor injuries and minor sickness. They "strongly suggest" that you have 3rd party coverage. People are paying almost $20,000 for tuition and they don't get real healthcare!

[Dr.Phool]

10. And the chimp is going to be in Tampa on Tuesday

Pushing his Medicare part D program.

He'll be at Sun City Center in southern Hillsborough County. I just got an e-mail this evening from these folks www.fcan.org and we're going to give him a nice welcome.

[Habibi]

5. Good grief.

A blood pressure check followed by a *cookie*?? A fat/sugar/fructose-laden *cookie*??

What a mexed missage. No wonder we're all overweight and out of shape.

:wtf:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Having healthcare is vastly overrated.... then again, only about

18,000 people die each year in this fine example of a democracy due to inadequate or no healthcare whatsoever. That's 9 911's each year and no one gives a sh*t.

[Mizmoon]

11. Do you take advantage of your flexible spending plan?

Many people ignore this benefit, but you can use it to pay for many uncovered healthcare expenses. It's very helpful.

The other thing is don't be afraid to mention the healthcare expense when your review comes around ... make it big part of your case for a larger raise.

If you can't get that from your employer, find a better one. Many companies have some pretty healthy (no pun intended) benefits packages these days. Every place I've ever worked has had nice benefits. My current employer pays the entire premium for family medical and dental.

The trouble for us has been getting the benefits we're entitled to from the insurance companies. They try every trick in the book to deny or delay claims. It's repulsive.

[Dr.Phool]

12. WTF?

I beg to differ, but most people don't get a "flexible spending plan" or any other form of health insurance.

And, I don't know of very many people who can just jump up and say "I'm going somewhere else."

I worked in an industry for 31 years, and was supposed to have healthcare for life. When they folded, that went right out the window. My wife works for a privatized former state agency in Florida, and they don't pay shit for healthcare. She can buy into a very costly group plan, which would eat up about 45% of her salary.

[Mizmoon]

13. She said she works in a bank.

Any decent bank has a flexible spending plan benefit. And as far as changing jobs is concerned, they can't be the only bank in town. Well, they probably can't be.

That's odd about your wife's benefits. Usually state affiliated positions have excellent benefits.

edit for spelling

[sandyd921]

16. Where have you been?

I work for a state university and they're trying to significantly increase our premiums (even though they paid out less on claims last year than anticipated). Oh, and our salaries have been frozen for the last several years. Our unions are fighting this, but without the right to strike, they're not getting far with the university system.

Generous benefit packages are a thing of the past just about everywhere except for the executive suite.

[Mizmoon]

17. Ugh, unions that give up the right to strike aren't unions

they're ... clubs. I can't believe any union would give it up, but I know they do.

You've got me there. I do know about state u. cuts. I was thinking of a few relatives that recently retired from a public transit company with pensions, 401ks, and enjoyed really excellent benefits while working in the public sector. Also, the cops here get killer benefits thanks to the PBA.

It's a shame about state universities I went to two of them. I'm about to send my oldest off to one too. The tuition still can't be beat, I'll tell you that.

(P.S. Dr.Phool check and see if your wife has a flexible spending plan. For some reason people find the suggestion trite, but I swear to the high heavens that you can save mucho bucks if you use it and many, many places have it. A state u. should.)

[InkAddict]

14. My physician employer flat out refused to deal w/patients' insurance

anymore , so when his so generously provided health care benefit became a pay-your-own little worker slaves and the cost got boosted but the salary didn't, I did likewise! His Hippocratic Oath be DAMNED!I certainly won't be the first to go without his hi-priced offering, and perhaps El Doctor get an added bonus soon -- training costs and a learning curve for a brand new-bee he can jack around. I'm scared out of my wits!

[Gopens]

15. Here's what I don't understand ...

Republicans are so great creating wedge issues that get people stirred up. Republicans squawk about gay marriage and BAM! Suddenly everybody thinks it's a big deal. Now, they're squawking about immigration and now people are putting that at the top of their list of concerns. What I don't get is, here we have a PERFECT WEDGE ISSUE, an issue that cuts across the ideological spectrum and hits everyone hard, regardless of ideology, so why don't Democrats start screaming about this like Republicans do about their pet issues?
Poll after polls show most Americans favor universal coverage and would pay more in taxes to get it, but every time a Democrat says something it's, "Oh, we really need universal health care, but it's just not politically viable right now."
THE HELL IT ISN'T!!!!!

Geez, Democrats, wake UP!

[upi402]

18. good for you! i have a little story

i found health care in a 3rd world country to be far better than ours.
in every way.
and i had to pay cash and higher prices, as a foreigner. it was $76 for everything and took 42 minutes.

i registered at the hospital and got a plasticized card. i saw a specialist who spoke english well, as all doctors and most nurses did. i had my vital stats taken professionally. was issued my prescriptions from refrigerated storage right at the specialist's counter. and was on my way.

this doctor cured what 5 US doctors and a specialist in the USA failed to do over the course of years.
he fixed it.

42 minutes and $76.

if i make an appointment in the US i still wait an hour and pay hundreds for nothing.

[BensMom]

19. And that Flex Plan is Crap

Flex Plan = BOGUS RHETORIC

That should make me feel good that my company has that benefit!!!
They would like me to believe that twist.

It would be my money in the first place - just pre-tax dollars.
I don't have $500 a month extra to toss into a bucket now. Or even half that.


So that is just new lingo in the smoke and mirrors from the insurance industry.

Oh - and the truly funny thing is our HR dept runs off for a 2 day training session so they can administer the crap. And they still never get it right...


"Let me get back to you on that.."


See you at the voting booth