Hmmm. This doesn’t bode well.<\/p>\n
From an employee and management perspective, the cost increases for our program cannot continue. Insurance programs are there to help us when we really need them for things such as catastrophic illnesses. Our program has had many benefit changes over the years which switched the focus; some were mandated and others were a choice to expand coverage. The time has come to go back to the original focus. Management has authorized a study to review our medical program to determine a new path forward. This study will begin in January and hopefully create a new program that provides for our basic needs at a more reasonable price. We cannot keep doing what we have done for the past few years.<\/p>\n
That’s an official employee memo from our corporate HR manager. If I read it correctly, it sounds like the already-narrow coverage we have through the company will be getting still more narrow (catastrophic coverage only, perhaps, with high deductables\/co-pays).<\/p>\n
The memo does note how costs have been increasing for company coverage of insurance (around 60% of the cost, with costs increasing 18%\/year, and the company plowing in an amount almost half of our annual margin to make up for higher-than-expected costs this year). <\/p>\n
We’ve personally managed to duck this bullet for a while, getting coverage through Margie’s very generous benefits (and, as I’ve said before, for all that my salary is more than hers, if one of us had to quit to stay at home, I’m not sure it would make most sense for it to be Margie). But it’s obviously a large and growing and ongoing problem.<\/p>\n
And, as much as I wish the government could wave its hands and make it all go away, I’m not sure I’ve seen a plan that doesn’t simply shift cost increases up the food chain, and turn “you have to pay higher premiums and do with lower service” from private insurance into “you have to pay higher taxes and do with lower service” from the government.<\/p>\n
Hrm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hmmm. This doesn’t bode well. From an employee and management perspective, the cost increases for our program cannot continue. Insurance programs are there to help us when we really need…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-job-jollies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133395,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/03\/the-ahca-affects-not-just-individual-buyers-but-employee-health-plans-too.html","url_meta":{"origin":4983,"position":0},"title":"The AHCA affects not just individual buyers, but employee health plans, too","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-May-17 2:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking at the currently proposed state \"opt out\" provisions in the Republican health insurance reform, the Brookings Institution finds that it not only impacts individual insurance purchasers, but could have a significant impact on employer-provided health insurance as well, as employers and\/or health insurance companies seize on the \"least common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132133,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/01\/to-provide-fewer-human-services-for-health.html","url_meta":{"origin":4983,"position":1},"title":"To provide fewer Human Services for Health","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 1-Dec-16 7:02am","format":false,"excerpt":"Getting rid of the Affordable Care Act has been the top priority for the GOP since it was passed (heck, probably before that). With control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, something along those lines is likely.Which is a bit of a challenge for the GOP, because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38775,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/16\/the-manufactured-insurance-coverage-gap.html","url_meta":{"origin":4983,"position":2},"title":"The (manufactured) insurance coverage gap","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 16-Sep-13 9:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"Greatest health care system on Earth!'Between 2010 and 2012, nearly one-third (32%) of U.S. adults ages 19 to 64, or an estimated 55 million people, were either continuously uninsured or spent a period of time uninsured. Data from the 2011 and 2012 Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Surveys of U.S.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133011,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/11\/tweetizen-trump-2017-03-11-the-pr-push.html","url_meta":{"origin":4983,"position":3},"title":"Tweetizen Trump – 2017-03-11 "The PR Push"","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 11-Mar-17 8:46am","format":false,"excerpt":"Nothing much yesterday, nothing much today. Just ... well, mostly Public Relations pieces about jobs and (of course) the Republican health insurance reduction reform plan..===Your Social Media Minions tweeted:\u25ba 'U.S. Consumer Comfort Just Reached Its Highest Level in a Decade' [1] (with link to article[2])And, yes, the graph of \"Bloomberg\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/27-donald-trump-healthcare-complicated.w710.h473.2x5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/27-donald-trump-healthcare-complicated.w710.h473.2x5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/27-donald-trump-healthcare-complicated.w710.h473.2x5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":132995,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/07\/morphing-the-aca-into-the-ahca.html","url_meta":{"origin":4983,"position":4},"title":"Morphing the ACA into the AHCA","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 7-Mar-17 11:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"Because that's not at all intentionally confusing ...So reading some analysis of the proposed GOP health insurance plan has been a bit confusing, but a few points stand out:1. Mandates change to \"personal responsibility\" -- Which sounds fine and upstanding and all-American, but ends up inevitably breaking the system (again),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133845,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/13\/same-song-second-verse-little-bit-more-complex-a-little-bit-worse.html","url_meta":{"origin":4983,"position":5},"title":"Same song, second verse, little bit more complex, a little bit worse","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 13-Jul-17 4:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Senate GOP's \"New and Improved\" Health Insurance reform plan is out, desperately trying to claw back a few more votes so that they can pass it with a bare majority.But the changes made seem to consist of:1. Throwing pots of money at a few pet causes (pots that can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}