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http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/…00.html?cnn=yes
Okay I know your thinking, ew TIME? ew Health Care!!?! Well it’s not that biased. Anyway, long story short, two Democrats (1 liberal and one conservative) proposing total change in current health care system. Basically, instead of the Employer providing the services, the money used for health care will go directly to the employee. From there it’s the employee’s responsibility to purchase their own health care. Two birds with one stone, employer’s wouldn’t have to worry about providing health care (directly anyway), and this plan is “revenue neutral,” meaning it won’t cost us anything. It’s getting a lot of support both from democrats and republicans. I don’t have a problem with it, except maybe for some of the idiots that are going to abuse it and not spend the money on health care. But, those morons are always going to be morons. Anyway, this is one of the rare ideas floating around Washington that has support on both sides, although it’s still far-fetched. Good idea?
Well being self employed I already pay for my own health care so it does not really matter to me much what happens on that. Health care in general is to expensive though and they really need to bring the cost down. I get slammed for close to 300 a month just for health care. Best advice I can give on this is make sure you always have it because you never know when your gonna need it and as for them giving you the money directly its a bad idea because as it stands now if a major company provides it for you they usually get a bulk discount. You will end up paying more because you wont have access to that bulk discount.
This has nothing to do with the current healthcare system or the people’s best interests. Can you really not see why the government wants to force employers to give that money to employees? This plan is so obvious a blind man could see it.
If your employer pays you more money, the government gets more ______. (fill in the blank)
Don’t kid yourself, that’s all this is about.
NoDice said:
Donkeys in congress?That’s almost right. There will be more until people realize they’re being taxed on a benefit that used to be free then the donkey count will decrease.
But really, why would anyone want to pay taxes on something they don’t have to now? Then again if Obama’s congress can’t push it though there’s always the executive order. We average Joe’s are just too ignorant to realize that he’s trying to help us help ourselves.
Lol well here is how I see it. See here in this great the best state in the world I call Texas we dont pay income taxes so no they would not be able to tax any money I would get should I ever work for someone else. Move to Texas and problem is solved. Really though its not something they can really tax and as I said earlier its a losing thing for everyone because half the people who get the money wont pay for health insurance anyways with it and as such the rates of everyone else will go up to off set the loses for those who dont have insurance. Much like car insurance we people who have it and obey the law end up being shafted because our rates go up to off set the people who dont have any.
This sounds like an HSA which already exists. Basically the employer purchases a very high deductible health care plan for the employee, think a $10,000 deductible, this makes the plan extremely cheap. Then they give the employee a certain sum every year to cover the expenses up to that $10,000. This money goes into a Health Savings Account or HSA. If the money is not all used in one year, it carries over to the next. The advantages are thus, the employer saves because the cheap plan + the extra money is still cheaper than the original plan that the employee had. The health care system wins as does the rest of us because it forces people to make their own decisions about their health care (ie, shopping for better prices, saying no to unnecessary procedures) and the employee wins or at least stays the same because they lose no benefits.
So what is the main opposition to these wonderful HSA’s? The employees themselves. As you can see, the employee has little incentive to use the HSA, since although they get the same coverage, they need to take a more active role in their health care through research and shopping. The obvious way to do this is to just pass a law and force them to do this, as was mentioned previously. I don’t really support doing this, as I feel the government should keep its nose out of most matters. However, the incentive to the employer is great due to decreased costs and certain tax benefits, so maybe the government could do more to encourage this behavior through better tax policies. Eventually I believe more companies will take advantages of these things and bring down health care costs and maybe make the American consumer a bit more health conscious and knowledgeable.
Also this was about the only good think that came out of Bush’s Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.
I’m on an HSA and it feels really good to be able to go to the doctor’s office and not have to worry about a co-pay or whether my plan covers the meds I’m getting. Pretty much everything is covered so long as you have the money in your HSA to pay the bill with later.
Btw, if Obama makes this a federal tax I do believe you have to pay, unless of course you guys don’t pay federal taxes in which case WTF how’d you manage that.
I dont think he can really make it a federal tax. What would happen is your employer would just give you extra on your normal pay check thus making it a taxable income so yes you right in the fact that the government probably just wants to be able to tax it. I dont see it working out any other way and I still say you all should move to texas. The only draw back though is that because we dont pay income tax our property tax is higher. I pay around 5 or 6% in property tax. On one property that I own that is worth about 270k I had to pay like 14k in property tax im far to lazy to do that math so yall can figure it out. Property tax in this particular city is higher then the rest of texas because houses are so cheap here compared to say houston or austin where to raise say 6k per house they can tax at a lower percentage because houses are worth more. That is off topic but anyways on my current health care I do have a co-pay of like 15 or 20 and the insurance takes care of the rest. Whenever I need to get meds for the most part I pay maybe 5 per prescription and allergy medicine they always fight with me over. I say the best plan in the world is to become very good friends with the doctor because then you never have to wait in line, you never have to pay for meds because the doctor will give you enough of the free trial packets and they always know other doctors in case you need to see someone else or a specialist.
Citan001 said:
Property tax in this particular city is higher then the rest of texas because houses are so cheap here compared to say houston or austin where to raise say 6k per house they can tax at a lower percentage because houses are worth more. .where do you live in Texas?
Citan001 said:
I dont think he can really make it a federal tax.You better believe if Obama changes the rules he’s going to make sure his is the only hand in the cookie jar.
I live in El Paso. You act if if obama can do whatever he feels like but the thing is he cant. They cant and wont be able to tax the extra money they give you for health care and think about it. If they could they would be doing it right now. You do get a tax break when it comes time to do your taxes you realize this right? They give you anything back that they taxed for your health care. Go read your tax form and you will find it.
Citan001 said:
I live in El Paso.UTEP FTW
me and my roommate made a deal that if va tech made it to the championship we would transfer to UTEP…. good thing they didnt
MasterP said:
You better believe if Obama changes the rules he’s going to make sure his is the only hand in the cookie jar.If that were the case, how would that be any different with a Republican president? I’m neutral in this I just found that statement funny.
MajorMajorMajor said:
UTEP FTWme and my roommate made a deal that if va tech made it to the championship we would transfer to UTEP…. good thing they didnt
Hate UTEP that is where I go right now while i finish up my basics. Love the basket ball though but I hate the coach he is a bad one if you ask me. To bad don haskins died over the summer.
Citan001 said:
Hate UTEP that is where I go right now while i finish up my basics. Love the basket ball though but I hate the coach he is a bad one if you ask me. To bad don haskins died over the summer.transfer to va tech
we have water
Bitey said:
If that were the case, how would that be any different with a Republican president? I’m neutral in this I just found that statement funny.It’s not. If a Republican president had proposed something like this it would have been killed by the party’s base long before becoming a public discussion topic.
Keep in mind folks, just because it’s change doesn’t mean it’s good.
MajorMajorMajor said:
transfer to va techwe have water
I have water too k thanks. The Rio Grande is a whole less then a mile from my back yard literally. Im here cuz of my business not cuz I love it here I actually hate it but I gotta stay here and run things and make moneys to buy things. How much longer do you have there at va tech?
MasterP said:
It’s not. If a Republican president had proposed something like this it would have been killed by the party’s base long before becoming a public discussion topic.Keep in mind folks, just because it’s change doesn’t mean it’s good.
I don’t understand most Republican ideas are about pocketing the money you earn and keeping it to better your own life?
MajorMajorMajor said:
transfer to va techwe have water
I have water too k thanks. The Rio Grande is a whole less then a mile from my back yard literally. Im here cuz of my business not cuz I love it here I actually hate it but I gotta stay here and run things and make moneys to buy things. How much longer do you have there at va tech?
Bitey said:
I don’t understand most Republican ideas are about pocketing the money you earn and keeping it to better your own life?Yeah but not at the expense of other benefits. In the long run, people make more by having company sponsored healthcare rather than getting paid more, taxed on the extra, then having to spend the same amount as your company for the same insurance coverage. It’s stupid and such a change would only benefit the government.
Now if you never had company healthcare that’s a completely different story and getting a bonus or tax credit to help cover it would be great but even that risks forcing already borderline companies into financial trouble. If you don’t earn your keep at work you can’t be upset when you get less for your labor.
MasterP said:
Yeah but not at the expense of other benefits. In the long run, people make more by having company sponsored healthcare rather than getting paid more, taxed on the extra, then having to spend the same amount as your company for the same insurance coverage. It’s stupid and such a change would only benefit the government.Now if you never had company healthcare that’s a completely different story and getting a bonus or tax credit to help cover it would be great but even that risks forcing already borderline companies into financial trouble. If you don’t earn your keep at work you can’t be upset when you get less for your labor.
I don’t mind company health care, as long as it’s not a weak sauce plan. My mom works for a local Texas grocery chain, called HEB (The B stands for Butt! lol). Anyway she’s a Bakery Manager, and she displaced her disks and has a lot of back problems now. Not only did they give her the best doctors, and all the time she needed to recover, but they also gave her a fat bonus at the end of the year. Then again she has been the top money maker for years, in terms of HEB bakeries in Texas, so they better treat her right. Come to think of it, my whole family is on a family plan HEB provided. I think I have a 500 or 1,000 dollar deductible on my health insurance. I’ll be graduating in August though, so I’ll need to find my own provider soon, can’t be suckling on mamma’s tit forever =/. All I want for reform is options. If a company wants to provide health care, in exchange for some tax benefit (or so they won’t get sued when *edited* hits the fan), fine let them do it. But if the plan isn’t good enough (and a lot of plans are poo) I don’t see anything wrong with the government stepping in to help. The difference in quality probably won’t be apparent, but I think the option is what counts.
I love HEB because I hate wal-mart but seeing as how there are no HEBs here in el paso it kinda sucks but anyways back to the point here. Company policies are usually great. I used to have healthcare through my mom when she was a teacher and so the whole family was covered through that and I only had 5 dollar deductables it was great and good times. In the end no matter how you cut it nothing will ever be as good as company policies because they are package deals and they save money so they pass that savings on to you in the form of lower deductables and more coverage…Its like shopping at SAMS nothing will ever beat them because they sell in bulk thats why they can sell so cheap…
Citan001 said:
I have water too k thanks. The Rio Grande is a whole less then a mile from my back yard literally. Im here cuz of my business not cuz I love it here I actually hate it but I gotta stay here and run things and make moneys to buy things. How much longer do you have there at va tech?double post ftl
I’m really hoping to only have a year and 1 semester left. I might have less if I take a full load this summer…. but the more work i do this semester the less i will want to do this summer.
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