Health Insurance Cost Dilemma

daisy-dog · #1 03-02-2010, 02:22 PM

My friend has a small company with 13 employees, mostly young, and all with families. He pays for health insurance for his employees.

Here is the new insurance bill:
Individual Coverage $1,138.61 per month
Employee and Spouse $3,135.29 per month

So this is $37,623.48 per year per married employee.
The average salary per employee is $65,000 per year.

For 13 employees this is $489,105.24 for insurance.

This is a 50% increase from last year. So what can he do ? He cannot afford this.
The new Obama healthcare bill does not address cost.
The insurance company is Emblem Health which once was GHI.

daisy-dog · #2 03-03-2010, 06:15 AM

Monthly insurance rates.
These costs are insane.

Queens County Premium Rates for Standard Individual Health Plans

Green Lantern · #3 03-03-2010, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daisy-dog

My friend has a small company with 13 employees, mostly young, and all with families. He pays for health insurance for his employees.

Here is the new insurance bill:
Individual Coverage $1,138.61 per month
Employee and Spouse $3,135.29 per month

So this is $37,623.48 per year per married employee.
The average salary per employee is $65,000 per year.

For 13 employees this is $489,105.24 for insurance.

This is a 50% increase from last year. So what can he do ? He cannot afford this.
The new Obama healthcare bill does not address cost.
The insurance company is Emblem Health which once was GHI.

how much are the employees paying out of pocket?

daisy-dog · #4 03-03-2010, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Green Lantern

how much are the employees paying out of pocket?

Nothing now.

Green Lantern · #5 03-03-2010, 08:40 AM

how extremely lucky for the employees

daisy-dog · #6 03-03-2010, 08:41 AM

Very lucky. But the company can't afford it anymore.

By the way it is an electrical contracting company and these are the non union office personnel. It uses only union electricians to do the actual wiring. The union electricians are supplied by the union as required and the union takes care of the electricians health insurance.

Green Lantern · #7 03-03-2010, 08:44 AM

so the company is going to have to ask the employees to start paying for some of their insurance to help offest the costs, or lay people off to be able cover a few at 100%or just suck it up, pay all of it and run the risk of going out of business.

Willardbushsr · #8 03-03-2010, 09:11 AM

This company is an oddity anymore. if the employer chooses to pay the insurance out of their pockets thats great. Better yet , I didn't hear you say the company was in any financial trouble? if they can pay $65,000.00 per year for office employees I'm sure their bottom line is still very profitable.
And isn't that what it's all about, Profit? how much profit is enough?

Buba · #9 03-03-2010, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willardbushsr

And isn't that what it's all about, Profit? how much profit is enough?

As much as one can make.

Willardbushsr · #10 03-04-2010, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buba

As much as one can make.

AHHH the American answer of GREED

daisy-dog · #11 03-05-2010, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willardbushsr

This company is an oddity anymore. if the employer chooses to pay the insurance out of their pockets thats great. Better yet , I didn't hear you say the company was in any financial trouble? if they can pay $65,000.00 per year for office employees I'm sure their bottom line is still very profitable.
And isn't that what it's all about, Profit? how much profit is enough?

How can you be sure that their bottom line is still very profitable Willard?
Do you think that $3,135.29 per month is a reasonable premium for health insurance for each employee?
Do you know whether this premium will go up or down with Obamacare?

Summerrain · #12 03-05-2010, 07:13 AM

The cost of health insurance is outrageous. I would think that instead of a healthcare plan, Obama would do something to make insurance more affordable. That would be the wise thing to do.

Buba · #13 03-05-2010, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willardbushsr

AHHH the American answer of GREED

If a corporation takes risks they should be rewarded. Not greed my friend.
BTW I am not a progressive.
I have my own business. My investment should and must be productive.
I put my money into It I should be rewarded for it. I took that risk no one else. Excuse me if I would like a nice profit.

daisy-dog · #14 03-05-2010, 08:37 AM

Maybe this will make him happy:

In Defence of Marxism

Buba · #15 03-05-2010, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daisy-dog

Maybe this will make him happy:

In Defence of Marxism

:1hiss yfit:

Dale Smith · #16 03-05-2010, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daisy-dog

My friend has a small company with 13 employees, mostly young, and all with families. He pays for health insurance for his employees.

Here is the new insurance bill:
Individual Coverage $1,138.61 per month
Employee and Spouse $3,135.29 per month

So this is $37,623.48 per year per married employee.
The average salary per employee is $65,000 per year.

For 13 employees this is $489,105.24 for insurance.

This is a 50% increase from last year. So what can he do ? He cannot afford this.
The new Obama healthcare bill does not address cost.
The insurance company is Emblem Health which once was GHI.

I am a union electrician and my wife and I are covered for three months for less then your saying it cost an employee and spouse for one month. We pay for our own coverage plus a little more to be covered when I'm not working. If that money runs out then I make cobra payments out of pocket. I like the coverage we receive and can't understand why those rates are so high.

Those numbers don't even make sense, why should it cost a thousand dollars a month just because your married. Hell our kids are included in our package as long as there under 18 or in college. If we get the rates we get because of the number of contributers then these office workers need to get together with other office workers and form their own little group or find a new provider.

I'm afraid of what Obama wants to do because the insurance companies will find a way to make their profits and it will probably mean my rates will go up. I'd rather see them make sure people weren't taking advantage of the system the way it is now. Too many people don't pay for shit and they still get medical help.

Please don't take this post as a union/nonunion issue, I don't think thats the problem. The problem is greed plain and simple. People are not treated fairly so they'll settle for less to stay employed and there will always be people to take advantage of this. You did fail to mention how much money this company makes a year.

daisy-dog · #17 03-06-2010, 09:04 AM

I can't understand why those rates are so high either. But they are. Check here:

Monthly insurance rates.
These costs are insane.

Queens County Premium Rates for Standard Individual Health Plans

daisy-dog · #18 03-06-2010, 09:11 AM

By the way I don't know how much they make. It is an electrical contracting company mainly doing installation for NYC government buildings.
Their only direct employees are the office personnel. They use union electricians supplied by the electricians union to do the installation. The union pays for the electricians health insurance.

Dale Smith · #19 03-06-2010, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daisy-dog

By the way I don't know how much they make. It is an electrical contracting company mainly doing installation for NYC government buildings.
Their only direct employees are the office personnel. They use union electricians supplied by the electricians union to do the installation. The union pays for the electricians health insurance.

The union handles the administrative work, we pay for everything we get. Where do you think the unions get their money? It comes out of our salary in the form of dues and assessments.
If this guy is doing work for the government it wouldn't matter if he used union or nonunion because he'd still have to pay prevailing wages anyway. If he's landing these government or municipal jobs he should be doing OK for himself. Actually I don't even think he is the problem, he has every right to make as much money as he wants, this is America. I think he just needs to shop for a better deal for the coverage his in house employees are getting. I also think the region he's operating in has a lot to do with the higher cost. I'm in southeast Pa. and I know everything cost more the further north you go, our pay rate is much higher up there also. In addition I'm sure the cost of living would be higher then what I'm accustom to down here.
I think the health care system as it is right now is a giant pile of money and too many people are finding ways to get some of this money. First you have the insurance companies and they have share holders who expect profit on their investment. Then you have the pharmaceutical companies that are doing the same thing by using proprietary laws that say no one else can make what they make as far as drugs, so they have us by the balls. You have the lawyers who want nothing but lawsuits where they clean up on the misfortune of others. Then there are more insurance companies and lawyers protecting the doctors from lawsuits. The people who actually treat us spent a small fortune to be trained to take care of us so they want whats coming to them. Like i said earlier its greed. Do you think the majority of doctors and nurses picked their field to really help people or was it to make good money? why do most people do what they do (me included)? It's all about money. It just keeps going and going, it's an industry that has to be controlled some how. Too much money is being made the way things are and there is no room for any real choice in this matter for us. The people that are involved with the system don't have a problem, it's the people that are not making money from it that have the problem. JMO

Orion · #20 03-06-2010, 12:50 PM

The problem is not the insurance companies. It's the COMPLETE healthcare system. I do believe there is a large degree of "price fixing," in the healthcare system. For example if you go for a test the charge is $3k if your covered by insurance, the company may pay let say $800. You never get billed for the $2.2k. If your not covered then your on the hooks for the $3k.

This mess started in the early 80's when the hospitals and medical personnel were getting sued by people which continues to today. The lawyers and bean counters took over the healthcare system. Does anyone remember when it was called a practice? Since it is not an exact science. Today the radio and TV have many commercial on different health problems which makes people believe the industry can cure your problems in which truth be known they can't cure many health issues. They make it sound like it's a simple as getting your oil changed in your car.

BTW the other reason is we are a CAPITALIST society which means you can make all the money you want and screw the people all the time and get away with it most of the time!