Obamacare

[vantexan]

Was just watching John Stossel interview some people about upcoming changes under O-care. Was pointed out that all companies that have 50 or more employees will have to carry a health plan approved by the government that costs about twice what most employers pay per employee. Employers can opt out but they'll have to pay a penalty of about $2000 per employee per year. That's considerably less than what they'd have to pay with the government mandated plan. Also employees will be limited to a max 9% of their HOUSEHOLD income in premiums which means the employees must tell their employer what their spouses make also so that the employer doesn't take too much from their paycheck. For those who don't think FedEx won't drop employee healthcare I'd have to ask why would they keep it if 1.Keeping healthcare will make them considerably less profitable and 2.Getting rid of it will make them considerably more profitable? I wonder why they passed Obamacare in 2010 but waited until after the 2012 election to implement it? Why would they do that? Wonder wonder wonder...

I've opted for the high deductible zero premium plan at FedEx, although they'll start charging $5 a month in 2013. Sounds like when Obamacare kicks in I'll be paying a much larger % of my income, one way or the other. So gee, guess he'll only raise taxes on those with a high income. Oh wait, the Supreme Court ruled Obamacare is actually a tax, and looks like everyone with an income above a certain point will pay it. But it's not all bad...if FedEx keeps me to $40k a year the most I can be charged annually being single is just $3600. Didn't need that lying around when I could help spread the wealth around!

 

[Goldilocks]

Its only a matter of time. And I hope we dont hear some people complaining on this board about, because they voted him in...

 

[vantexan]

Its only a matter of time. And I hope we dont hear some people complaining on this board about, because they voted him in...

Almost certain that they'll blame FedEx for having to pay for Obamacare. If FedEx does dump healthcare then our choices are to pay for an expensive government plan, or do without while still paying the penalty. So if you make X amount you get screwed, but if you make below that you get free coverage. Yeah, that's showing us "rich" folk!

 

[bbsam]

Almost certain that they'll blame FedEx for having to pay for Obamacare. If FedEx does dump healthcare then our choices are to pay for an expensive government plan, or do without while still paying the penalty. So if you make X amount you get screwed, but if you make below that you get free coverage. Yeah, that's showing us "rich" folk!

I would blame Fedex. There's absolutely no reason for them to dump healthcare for their employees. Why would you give them a pass on that?

 

[vantexan]

I would blame Fedex. There's absolutely no reason for them to dump healthcare for their employees. Why would you give them a pass on that?

But our healthcare costs are going up whether FedEx dumps it or not. Actually FedEx wouldn't be dumping anything, just shifting it over to the government. If FedEx keeps healthcare, they'll put much if not most of the extra cost on employees. When everyone starts squawking they'll be in the position to drop it, saying sorry, they did everything possible.

 

[vantexan]

Almost certain that they'll blame FedEx for having to pay for Obamacare. If FedEx does dump healthcare then our choices are to pay for an expensive government plan, or do without while still paying the penalty. So if you make X amount you get screwed, but if you make below that you get free coverage. Yeah, that's showing us "rich" folk!

I should note that if you choose to just pay the penalty, if you should get ill under the new law you can then get coverage as insurance companies can't deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. The problem is this will raise rates for everyone to cover those with pre-existing conditions. So insurance will rise to the point that few can afford it and the insurance companies will go out of business. This will lead to the single payer system they want with the government completely controlling healthcare. At least when I leave FedEx my income will be under $21k and I won't be required to pay for it.

 

[SmithBarney]

FedEx won't dump our health plan, what they will do and what they
have been doing slowly(look at the costs) They will make the FedEx
option extremely expensive, thus forcing employees to "opt" for the
Govt plan. Effectively bypassing the $2000 penaltyfor not providing insurance.

 

[MAKAVELI]

Almost certain that they'll blame FedEx for having to pay for Obamacare. If FedEx does dump healthcare then our choices are to pay for an expensive government plan, or do without while still paying the penalty. So if you make X amount you get screwed, but if you make below that you get free coverage. Yeah, that's showing us "rich" folk!

I should note that if you choose to just pay the penalty, if you should get ill under the new law you can then get coverage as insurance companies can't deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. The problem is this will raise rates for everyone to cover those with pre-existing conditions. So insurance will rise to the point that few can afford it and the insurance companies will go out of business. This will lead to the single payer system they want with the government completely controlling healthcare. At least when I leave FedEx my income will be under $21k and I won't be required to pay for it.

It must be nice for UPS not have to worry about that since they are union and its in their contract. Definitely one good reason to be union.

 

[vantexan]

FedEx won't dump our health plan, what they will do and what they
have been doing slowly(look at the costs) They will make the FedEx
option extremely expensive, thus forcing employees to "opt" for the
Govt plan. Effectively bypassing the $2000 penaltyfor not providing insurance.

They'll still be required to pay the $2000 penalty per employee. The gov't is requiring that they either offer the expensive gov't plan to everyone or pay the penalty.

 

[vantexan]

It must be nice for UPS not have to worry about that since they are union and its in their contract. Definitely one good reason to be union.

But contracts are renegotiated every 5 years.

 

[Mr. 7]

I just opted for the $5 a month plan.
Heck, I never go to the doc. and any claims I make, it just seems like I end up paying out of my pocket anyway.
If I get seriously hurt, it's most likely gonna be on the clock then, we're going a different route.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

But contracts are renegotiated every 5 years.

Obamacare should not be an issue this contract---the one to follow will be greatly impacted by Obamacare.

 

[55+]

I looked at the Kaiser plan under obamacare..if I retire and my income is 21 or 22k a year..my premium would be about 161.00 a month..much less than the same coverage without O care

 

[vantexan]

I looked at the Kaiser plan under obamacare..if I retire and my income is 21 or 22k a year..my premium would be about 161.00 a month..much less than the same coverage without O care

It escalates over time, starts out low. Might work for low incomes, but working families are going to get hit big time.

 

[TUT]

Instead of freaking out before hand, because face it that is what we are good at, see October Surprise in Websters... Lets see it play out, I'm a firm firm believer that if it is "that bad" it will change. I'm not one to forget the past so easy either, health care in America has been messed up at least since the 80's (double digit increase in costs every year=not sustainable). 30 years later we are trying to finally do something, anything about it. Is it the right answer? Perhaps not, but you have to start somewhere, right? To get something done you have to start somewhere and face it no matter what was chosen and by whom, the other party would scream bloody murder. So if your tied to a party, well you basically have no choice in what you can believe.

 

[bigbird00]

Da,Think about it whats the most important thing to uncle Fred and the share holders? Ofcourse they are gonna dump us into Obama care it saves millions.

 

[purplesky]

Isnt NOBAMACARE the same as ROBMECARE. NOBAMACARE WAS CREATED BY CONSERVATIVES? Obama got the healthcare ball rolling and its better than nothing. If it fails and it might, just hit the reset button and try somethingelse. Obamacare will and can be tweaked and edited to hopefuly work.

Companies like FDX and Walmart will always screw their workforce with or without ROBMECARE.(I MEAN NOBAMACARE)

 

[vantexan]

Isnt NOBAMACARE the same as ROBMECARE. NOBAMACARE WAS CREATED BY CONSERVATIVES? Obama got the healthcare ball rolling and its better than nothing. If it fails and it might, just hit the reset button and try somethingelse. Obamacare will and can be tweaked and edited to hopefuly work.

Companies like FDX and Walmart will always screw their workforce with or without ROBMECARE.(I MEAN NOBAMACARE)

When everyone above a not so high income threshold are paying more than now, when there are less doctors because less go to med school and more retire due to all the hassle with less pay, resulting in rationed care, with government review boards deciding the necessity of your treatment, with long lines to be seen, hopefully it'll be tweaked. There is a reason those who can afford to do so travel to the U.S. for treatment from countries with government controlled healthcare. They get better treatment on demand.(Pre-Obamacare) Read a post recently by a lady who's son makes good money in England. He pays 60% of his gross in taxes for gov't healthcare and other gov't programs. But when he had health issues he flew home to the States because it took months to be seen by an overtaxed system in England. People can wave partisan flags and talk in bumper stickers all they want, but if you want an idea of what's to come look at other countries where this has been tried. Not a Republican/Democrat issue. We all face health issues at some point. I'll concede our system is too expensive. My solution would be to offer low cost clinics subsidized by taxes that would allow low income people to get treatment. Staff them with med school grads who agree to X years service there at modest pay in exchange for the gov't paying for med school. They get valuable experience, the poor get the treatment they need without swamping emergency rooms. And I'm sure other ideas that would work well are out there. Certainly better than giving the gov't control of a huge part of the economy as well as intrusion into our lives. And I'm sure that many of you will shout this down and yet if a Democrat President had come up with something similar you'd cheer him on. I recently pointed out that before Obama spent $6 trillion Dollars in 4 years Bush was by far the biggest spender, having spent $4 trillion in 8 years. And of course someone pointed out that Bush by far spent more but cooked the books, borrowing with supplementals, etc. Hate to tell you this but the $4 trillion number includes everything that Bush spent, period. Plenty of government agencies back that up, there are no hidden accounts, etc, the books have to jibe by law, everything is accounted for by law. The funny thing is that y'all cover for Obama spending so much, and yet I watched an Obama campaign speech from 2008 where he said that Bush recklessly added $4 trillion to the national debt and put a terrible burden on our children's future. Even Obama says $4 trillion and yet he has added $6 trillion in 4 years and it's projected to go to $20 trillion by 2016 from $10.6 trillion in 2008. Hammering this point home because these huge government programs keep happening with no way to pay for them except to borrow more, further exacerbating the problem. And Bush certainly added to that with his prescription program. And sadly as is the case with Americans so many times, nothing will be done until everything is crashing around us. Totally deny the problem is there and attack the messenger. But hey, that rich man over there has more than I do! There's the real problem!

 

[MAKAVELI]

Isnt NOBAMACARE the same as ROBMECARE. NOBAMACARE WAS CREATED BY CONSERVATIVES? Obama got the healthcare ball rolling and its better than nothing. If it fails and it might, just hit the reset button and try somethingelse. Obamacare will and can be tweaked and edited to hopefuly work.

Companies like FDX and Walmart will always screw their workforce with or without ROBMECARE.(I MEAN NOBAMACARE)

When everyone above a not so high income threshold are paying more than now, when there are less doctors because less go to med school and more retire due to all the hassle with less pay, resulting in rationed care, with government review boards deciding the necessity of your treatment, with long lines to be seen, hopefully it'll be tweaked. There is a reason those who can afford to do so travel to the U.S. for treatment from countries with government controlled healthcare. They get better treatment on demand.(Pre-Obamacare) Read a post recently by a lady who's son makes good money in England. He pays 60% of his gross in taxes for gov't healthcare and other gov't programs. But when he had health issues he flew home to the States because it took months to be seen by an overtaxed system in England. People can wave partisan flags and talk in bumper stickers all they want, but if you want an idea of what's to come look at other countries where this has been tried. Not a Republican/Democrat issue. We all face health issues at some point. I'll concede our system is too expensive. My solution would be to offer low cost clinics subsidized by taxes that would allow low income people to get treatment. Staff them with med school grads who agree to X years service there at modest pay in exchange for the gov't paying for med school. They get valuable experience, the poor get the treatment they need without swamping emergency rooms. And I'm sure other ideas that would work well are out there. Certainly better than giving the gov't control of a huge part of the economy as well as intrusion into our lives. And I'm sure that many of you will shout this down and yet if a Democrat President had come up with something similar you'd cheer him on. I recently pointed out that before Obama spent $6 trillion Dollars in 4 years Bush was by far the biggest spender, having spent $4 trillion in 8 years. And of course someone pointed out that Bush by far spent more but cooked the books, borrowing with supplementals, etc. Hate to tell you this but the $4 trillion number includes everything that Bush spent, period. Plenty of government agencies back that up, there are no hidden accounts, etc, the books have to jibe by law, everything is accounted for by law. The funny thing is that y'all cover for Obama spending so much, and yet I watched an Obama campaign speech from 2008 where he said that Bush recklessly added $4 trillion to the national debt and put a terrible burden on our children's future. Even Obama says $4 trillion and yet he has added $6 trillion in 4 years and it's projected to go to $20 trillion by 2016 from $10.6 trillion in 2008. Hammering this point home because these huge government programs keep happening with no way to pay for them except to borrow more, further exacerbating the problem. And Bush certainly added to that with his prescription program. And sadly as is the case with Americans so many times, nothing will be done until everything is crashing around us. Totally deny the problem is there and attack the messenger. But hey, that rich man over there has more than I do! There's the real problem!

More doom and gloom just like the management of this company. Let's just let everyone get sick and die that's the republican solution.

 

[vantexan]

More doom and gloom just like the management of this company. Let's just let everyone get sick and die that's the republican solution.

I offered an idea...what's your's?