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Healthcare tied to employers. (1 Viewer)

Absolutely. But beyond that why does every damn bakery, body shop, marketing firm, manufacturer, municiplality etc etc etc have to go out and become experts on a bysantine set of health regualtions and even more confusing health care market? It's bizarre. Do a universal program of something and let me get back to doing what I do best. 

Not to mention why should I as an employer hold sway over the most personal aspects of my employees and all their loved ones? It's freakish and feels like a real violation even if you follow HIPPA to the letter. 

 
IC FBGCav said:
I think this hurts entrepreneurs exponentially.  Do you disagree?  
Why?  If you're an entrepreneur, you're your own employer - and you can then get your own healthcare (at least in my state, and others are doing this as well).  If your business has it's own tax ID number, no matter the number of employees, you can enter the "group market" here. 

Of course, that's all after the changes that came with the ACA.  Coverage is no longer as tied to employment, as anyone can get coverage on the individual market now, regardless of health or income. 

 
I've hated employer provided healthcare for many years ago.  I started my career in 1981 and for the first 15 years I would change employers about every 3 years on average.  Each time I had to switch health insurance, picking primart care physicians, etc.   I thought way back then that I wished health insurance could be like car and home insurance and be unaffected when I switched jobs. 

Almost 40 years later I still feel that way 

 
I've hated employer provided healthcare for many years ago.  I started my career in 1981 and for the first 15 years I would change employers about every 3 years on average.  Each time I had to switch health insurance, picking primart care physicians, etc.   I thought way back then that I wished health insurance could be like car and home insurance and be unaffected when I switched jobs. 

Almost 40 years later I still feel that way 
While I agree with you in principle, if we disconnected health insurance from employment overnight (without replacing it with some type of universal coverage), the rate of uninsured would skyrocket.  There are lots of people out there who are only insured because they have it through their employer. 

 
While I agree with you in principle, if we disconnected health insurance from employment overnight (without replacing it with some type of universal coverage), the rate of uninsured would skyrocket.  There are lots of people out there who are only insured because they have it through their employer. 
Oh no doubt and I do not pretend that I have an answer.  I understand how it all started but wish that the two were uncoupled.

 
Why?  If you're an entrepreneur, you're your own employer - and you can then get your own healthcare (at least in my state, and others are doing this as well).  If your business has it's own tax ID number, no matter the number of employees, you can enter the "group market" here. 

Of course, that's all after the changes that came with the ACA.  Coverage is no longer as tied to employment, as anyone can get coverage on the individual market now, regardless of health or income. 
I can only speak for myself with my own business..  But Idaho has never had a Group of One option to enter the "group market."  Either before or after ACA.

 
I can only speak for myself with my own business..  But Idaho has never had a Group of One option to enter the "group market."  Either before or after ACA.
Yeah, it's new here in VA.  Can't speak on other states (I'm only licensed here).  It's a pretty cool deal for self employed folks. 

 
I feel like healthcare was something employers offered as kind of an extra bonus. 

@Godsbrother I’m curious if you ever looked into what it would have cost to just buy your own health insurance over the years. Seems like it wasn’t really an option, but I’ve never looked into it. I’ve never heard of anyone that had anything but employer provided insurance until the ACA. 

 
I feel like healthcare was something employers offered as kind of an extra bonus. 

@Godsbrother I’m curious if you ever looked into what it would have cost to just buy your own health insurance over the years. Seems like it wasn’t really an option, but I’ve never looked into it. I’ve never heard of anyone that had anything but employer provided insurance until the ACA. 
It was and then was bastardized into this clustermuck of what we have today.  It's quite insane. 

 
IC FBGCav said:
I think this hurts entrepreneurs exponentially.  Do you disagree?  
I think it hurts everybody.

What we have now is the unintended consequences of decades of insurance companies finding it easier to sell in bulk to companies than individually to everyone. 

 
I feel like healthcare was something employers offered as kind of an extra bonus. 

@Godsbrother I’m curious if you ever looked into what it would have cost to just buy your own health insurance over the years. Seems like it wasn’t really an option, but I’ve never looked into it. I’ve never heard of anyone that had anything but employer provided insurance until the ACA. 
No to be honest I never did.   When I was in college my parents took out a policy for me but I have no idea what the cost was.  My guess that coverage for an 18-21 year old back in the late 70s was pretty cheap.   When I graduated college I just took the Blue Cross plan that nearly every employer offered back then.   In the mid 80s it became a lot more complicated when HMOs became the rage.  They were mostly the suck but costs were still reasonable.   

I could be wrong but I think it was the early 90s when healthcare costs went out of control and by then I didn't think that getting private insurance was going to be cost effective.  Now if the company would have given me their costs in the form of pay and let me buy my own it might have been worth it but that was not an option.

 
It's creating a problem where I work right now. My company recently merged with another company and doubled in size. They feel like they can now shop around and get better coverage cheaper. The problem is switching networks causes everyone to chose new doctors, which affects people with pre-existing conditions.

 
It's creating a problem where I work right now. My company recently merged with another company and doubled in size. They feel like they can now shop around and get better coverage cheaper. The problem is switching networks causes everyone to chose new doctors, which affects people with pre-existing conditions.
There are companies that shop around pretty much annually. It is so annoying. 

 
I am often shocked corporations arent pushing for medicare for all or whatever other plan that gets insurance off of their books. 

Employer provided health care decreases control over total compensation. You would think they would hate that. 

 
There are companies that shop around pretty much annually. It is so annoying. 
That's my company. It's the worst. Although same Anthem this year as last. It's like a miracle. I once got blood drawn at Quest instead of LabCorp after forgetting there was a switch and got a bill for 4 grand. Thankfully after complaining a lot they waived most of it. So dumb. 

 
There are companies that shop around pretty much annually. It is so 
 I picked our healthcare plan since 1997.  Every year 2 things were pretty much consistent.  Double digit increase and a reduction in benefits.  About every 3 years we would switch insurance companies because of this.  One year we got about 100% increase because the insurance company wanted stop serving smaller companies.  

Switching carriers was the only way to keep costs down and not lose too much coverage.  

 
UncleZen said:
It's creating a problem where I work right now. My company recently merged with another company and doubled in size. They feel like they can now shop around and get better coverage cheaper. The problem is switching networks causes everyone to chose new doctors, which affects people with pre-existing conditions.
In what way?  And just because you switch networks doesn't mean you need to pick new doctors.  My kid's pediatrician accepts Blue Cross, Aetna, United...and lots of others. 

 
Not a secret at all, and how is this tied to the Republicans?  In the individual (Obamacare) market, the average premium increase from 2016 to 2017 was around 27% nationally.  The following year was roughly another 20%.  When prices spike that large, that fast, consumers walk away as they can no longer afford it.  There were about 15M people in that market, though most of them subsidized.  When people's prices nearly doubled in 2 years, they dropped it, and became uninsured.  The actual number is well over 1m, and I'd honestly say closer to 5m. 

 
Absolutely. But beyond that why does every damn bakery, body shop, marketing firm, manufacturer, municiplality etc etc etc have to go out and become experts on a bysantine set of health regualtions and even more confusing health care market? It's bizarre
From  simply the perspective of these couple of sentences (and ignoring the rest of your post) it seems that 30 million (give or take) businesses trying to be enough of health insurance experts to pick plans for their employees is more efficient than the 150 million they cover trying to be experts.  (Though I think for about three fourths of these businesses it is one and the same as they have no other employees besides the owner.)

Of course the rest of your post where there is universal coverage and nothing to be an expert on would seem to be better yet.  

 
From  simply the perspective of these couple of sentences (and ignoring the rest of your post) it seems that 30 million (give or take) businesses trying to be enough of health insurance experts to pick plans for their employees is more efficient than the 150 million they cover trying to be experts.  (Though I think for about three fourths of these businesses it is one and the same as they have no other employees besides the owner.)

Of course the rest of your post where there is universal coverage and nothing to be an expert on would seem to be better yet.  
The businesses making the decisions don't represent the interests of the employees. They represent the interests of the business.

What we have is a system where there is very little free market capitalistic influence by the end consumers. 

 
It’s ridiculous that health insurance is tied to an employer, from almost any way you look at it. Mostly for employers. Definitely for individuals too. God forbid you want to retire before 65, for example. 

 

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