McCain's Health Plan

Right now I work for an employer that #1. Doesn't know how to get the best deal for their employees for healthcare and #2. would love it if they didn't have to provide health insurance for their 5,000 plus employees. I purchase the highest health plan and that means I pay more in premiums than some of my co-workers. I don't use the HSA, so I can have a better health plan and I do use the FSA. I don't have a lot of health issues. I do have asthma and thank goodness I haven't had to use my healthcare much because my healthcare plan sucks. Believe me, when I leave this job it will be for two reasons and one of them is the lousy insurance.

I've heard of jobs where the pay is a little lower, but the benefits packages (tuition reimbursement, healthcare, etc.) are excellent. These positions have made me stop and think about whether I would jump ship to gain better benefits, but not gain much more in money.

Let me say this: I don't want the government supplying me with healthcare -- I want my employer subsdizing it. Right now, one of the few tax breaks I get is the pre-tax healthcare benefit for which I pay $84.49 per month or $1013.88 per year. Remember, this is completely tax free.

McCain wants to take that little tax break away. According to CNN Money, the amount my employer pays "would become taxable income. But anyone who buys insurance would receive a refundable tax credit worth $2,500 per person ($5,000 per family). That's a dollar-for-dollar reduction of your tax bill, or, if you don't have a tax bill, a dollar-for-dollar increase in the amount of money Uncle Sam would send your way."

Except it isn't. Right now, my employer pays $276.82 per month or $3321.84 per year. Under McCain's plan, I'll be taxed on that amount. So, I won't get the out of pocket pre-tax break and now my income will look like it has gone up and I'll be paying even more in taxes. But, McCain gets to tell you that he's offering you a tax break. Let's take a look at that.

McCain wants to give a single person a tax credit (and by the way, there's a difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit. A tax credit reduces what you owe and a tax deduction reduces the amount on which you pay) a total of $2,500. So, if I purchase the insurance I have now, it will cost me $4335.72 -- because the tax break is only for those people who buy their own insurance. The government will be giving me $2500 back, bringing my grand total to $1835.72, which is not only $821.84 more than I pay out of pocket now, but it's all taxed, which adds to the amount that I give back to the government.

Let's just see how much more someone who makes $50,000 a year will pay our government and for health insurance.

I'm using last year's tax tables and I'm going to make the assumption that I'm still allowed to put tax free money into flexiben, which'll keep some figures the same. I'm, also, assuming that I can even purchase the insurance and maintain at least the same coverage for the same price as my employer, but we know that won't be true. Also, keep in mind, your salary goes up on your Federal form, it goes up on your state form. (And, yeah, I know, some states don't have income tax. Bully for you.)

Under the current system, taking off the $1,013.88 for current healthcare costs and $2,500 for Flexiben a single person's taxable income (with no deductions, but the standard) is $41,136.12. The tax amount is $6,705.00. That comes to 16.29% for Federal Tax. And, I've only paid $1,013.88 for healthcare.

Now, the new system:
$50,000.00 salary
$ 2,500.00 flexiben
$ 5,350.00 standard deduction
$42,150.00 taxable income

$6,955.00 taxable amount

My tax amount is now $250.00 higher under the new system. I'm now taxed at the higher amount of 16.50%. Oh, wait, I did forget to take the tax credit off.

Okay, now, I'm paying $4,455.00 in Federal income tax. That's a lowering of my taxes by just under 6%. Hey, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Except my state income tax rate is 6.5%. Under the old system, I report $41,136.12 in income and I'm taxed: $2,673.84. Under the new system, I report $42,150.00 in income and I'm taxed: $2,739.75. A difference of $65.91. So, now, I've paid more in taxes -- not much more, but still more AND I've paid more for my insurance coverage: $821.84 more.

And, what did I get for it? $821.84 could pay for a new laptop or pay for a gifts for my grandsons. Maybe, I might give that money to charity.

But, who benefits?

My employer. They now get to save $3321.84 and if you think they'll pass that savings on to me in the form of a raise -- think again. It goes in their pocket. Multiply that by 5,000 employees and they've saved $16,609,200.00. It isn't going to be in the employees' pockets -- I can guarntee you that. Some companies might be willing to pass the savings along, but most won't and you know they won't.

You know who else benefits?

The insurance companies. They can then charge me more for insurance because I'm no longer a part of a group.

You know who won't benefit?

American workers. They'll have even less in their pockets than they do now. According to McCain, that'll be a good thing. But, then, the Republicans are acting like our country is chugging along just fine and we don't need to fix it. Life is good. And, if you think the economy is bad, you have a mental condition.

Someone recently called me a single issue voter, but I'm not. I have loads of reasons for no longer backing McCain. His ideas are not good for me. Ask yourself, are they going to be good for you?

God Bless

Another column of some random thoughts -- including gas prices...

As the gas prices continue to rise, I heard a rumor that the federal government was considering a $1.00 per gallon tax. Now, the other thing I know about this is that I overheard someone saying it. Whether it is true or not, that I can't say. But, it got me to thinking about stuff...

#1. I don't think using corn as an additive to gasoline is such a grand idea. All it is going to do is drive up the price of corn. Which will drive up the price of pork and beef because a lot of farmers feed their livestock corn.

#2. Has any of our government officials thought that if we are having difficulties coming up with the money to pay for the gas to get to work that this will slow the tourist trade? Every single year for as long as I can remember, Cheryl and I take a vacation to Door County. We buy some wine, some cheese and other trinkets. We always shop for a Sarah's Angel and I try to find a new dragon for my collection. We stay in a hotel and we spend quite a lot of money. No one in Door County is going to be out of business because we can't make the trip this year -- we who live fairly simply can't find extra money in the budget to put aside for vacation. But, the good folks in Door County will certainly be in trouble if even 10% of their regular tourists can't make the trip.

#3. We keep hearing about how illegal immigration is bringing this country to its knees, but since I work with a lot of contractors -- 90% of whom are legal immigrants, I can't help but wonder if the Visas that bring the high tech foreigners to this country is helping us. While I don't believe that the illegal immigrant who works as a bus boy is taking a job an American wants, I'm pretty sure the high tech legal immigrant is. Maybe, he or she isn't taking a job right now, but as long as a company can higher an immigrant for less than an American, it will. Also, if we don't invest in the education of our young people, we're going to suffer on the global market. Now, I happen to prefer 95% of the foreign staff with whom I work over my American counterparts. Also, I want people who want to be here to come here -- I'm the descendant of immigrants, but I think it's time to reconsider just how many HB-1 (I think that's the correct number) Visas we give out every year. We need to ensure that Americans are being trained for the jobs that the foreigners are doing.

#4. Now, having said my piece with #3, here's my next thought... When someone comes into this country on a work Visa, they are pretty much stuck at that company until they get a Visa/green card on their own. If they switch companies, they have to start the whole process over, which I think pretty much stinks. What if you accept a job, get here and discover that the company isn't doing what it promised to do? We're basically trapping these people in positions and I think we should work on this to make sure they aren't trapped in bad jobs or with bad companies.

#5. Now, having said #4, my other thought is we really do need to secure our borders to make America a safer place, but I don't think a fence across the border in Mexico is the place to start.

#6. Healthcare -- totally different track -- I think we need to hold companies responsible for the healthcare they provide (sell) to their employees. We need to require companies to report how many of their employees have health insurance through them, how many have health insurance via their spouse and how many are covered by the state. Companies who have employees covered by state plans or no insurance at all, should be taxed an amount equal to the cost the state spends on that specific employee -- the more employees covered, the lower the costs. Also, let's not let them get away with that crappy catastophe insurance. These people might as well not have any insurance at all.

Those are just some thoughts off the Top of My Head. I might expand on them some other time or I might not. We'll see.

God Bless

Health Care

Today it was difficult to settle on a topic. Ann Coulter just made an outragerous remark against John Edwards, so I could discuss that. But, I was thinking, hasn't that hateful woman received enough attention? So, I decided to write about another subject: Health Care.

A while back, I contacted the Human Resources department where I work and requested the opportunity to purchase additional coverage -- coverage that I was willing to pay for, but since it would be through the company, I could receive at a lower cost. On Tuesday, I received a we're sorry, but no, along with a lecture on the rising cost of health care and the flexible spending accounts.

Okay, I'm not even going to get into the fact that I understand about flexible spending and it was obvious to me that the woman who answered my email never bothered to see that I put a lot of money into my flexible spending account all ready. What really bothered me was the condescending air that health care is some sort of privilege and I should be grateful that they let me have it.

Excuse me, but I work hard for a living. I give my all at work and I care about the company for which I work. All of this talk lately about health care centers around the fact that somehow in employers' minds, workers don't deserve health care. They shouldn't have to put out the money for the premiums.

Well, that's just wrong. Health care is a business expense, like the computer on my desk, the paper in the printer and the electricity that lights the building. I give them a honest days work and they give me a honest day's pay and health care. That's the deal for which I signed on.

But, it isn't just the company from whom I work, it's all of them. Chrysler, Ford, etc. are blaming their financial woes on the high cost of health care (which was cited in the email), which if they made cars we want to buy, they'd make money.

And, it's the same with other companies. They have these huge payouts for their CEOs, but they don't want to spend the same amount on the people who are actually making them money. I'm sorry, but you know what gets sugar on the table? It's not a CEO, it's the little people who do all the work. And, that's a fact, Jack.

I know that health care costs have gotten out of hand, but I'm tired of these companies wanting to take away the little in benefits they offer.

God Bless

The Upcoming Election Year...

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that next year is a Presidential election year. It's all over the news.

I'd like to try something different this election. Let's not pick a front runner until all the facts are in. Let's not let the media pick the two people we should like.

Also, let's agree on some basic items with which our next President has to deal. Here is my top three list and I have more, but I'll save them for later.

1. The War in Iraq. Anyone who thinks we'll be out of Iraq by the end of 2008 is fooling themselves. We can't leave this country until it has a stable environment. That means more troops and more money spent. (and, yes, unfortunately, more lives lost). We've started something that we just can't leave. Not winning in Iraq means more terrorists, not less. This isn't like Vietnam. The Vietnamese weren't going to get on boats and planes and attack us. Terrorists trained in Iraq eventually will. Should we have started the war? No, but now that we have, we can't just take our football home and not play anymore because it's too hard to finish the game.
2. Health care. 45 million Americans do not have any form of health care. I'm not necessarily advocating a national health care plan, but let's find ways to reduce costs, while not reducing coverage. The company for whom I work is touting their new health care program for 2008. Smaller premiums, but they are encouraging each employee to put money into a tax free savings account -- that translates to less is going to be covered. We shouldn't have to lose coverage for lower premiums. Also, I'm tired of these rich companies complaining about health care, like it's some great sacrifice to cover their employees. These same companies pay their CEOs so much money that if they got themselves a cheaper CEO, they could put that money into health care for their employees. (You know, the ones doing the work.) We need to offer better tax breaks on the employers' portion of the premiums, maybe even credits (which is better than a deduction).
3. Dependence on Foreign Oil. Enough is enough. We need, since our car companies can't seem to do it on their own, to mandate higher MPG on our cars. If we have to subsidize some of this, take the money back from the oil companies to do it. We need more research into other alternative fuels -- including electric cars. GM (correct me if I'm wrong about the company) had one, but they concluded that it was too expensive to mass produce and there wouldn't be a large enough buying public. Are they kidding?!? I would've purchased the car. Also, let's do real tax credits for buying electric or hybrid cars. Not this only the first so many buyers need apply and that it had to be by a certain date. Further, let's encourage companies that provide company cars to purchase hybrids/electrics -- give them a tax credit for doing so.

There are many other items we can agree upon, but these are a fairly good start. Let's find the candidates that come up with the best solutions to these issues. Let's not care about political parties. And, above all, let's not let the extreme right wing Christians hijack our country for another four years.

God Bless