Young people think they're bullet proof. It's not stupidity, it's youth. 80% of my time is spent with very bright 20somethings. Their inexperience and lack of foresight is breathtaking, but it does not mean they're stupid.
major medical, 1000 dollar deductible, PPO with 100% covered after deductible. OON costs are paid at 70% after deductible. My current employer pays 100% of premiums now, so I'm good.
Thats pretty damn good. Mine is similar, but the deductible is not that high. Im only 28 and in very good health.
I don't think this is true. Employees with good benefits would stay in their plans as they do now. Employees with poor beniefits would go find better benefits. Right, and under McCain's plan they have more money in their pocket to cover what they pay with. What is the problem. I think it is a flawed assumption that employer coverage will be diminished. Employers offer benefits to attract and maintain talent as well as to keep their employees healthy. If employer plans are squashed as you reason then they will have to offer other measures to attract and retain talent. It might be through increased salaries. In the end I think it will wash. You also continue to ignore that as more Americans are able to afford insurance the risk pool shallows and premiums go down. You also ignore other tax saving measure such as HSA's and itemized deductions which would also serve to close the gap.
And you ignore the deductibles and things that are not covered because of a health care clerk deems it pre-exisiting. Which are out of pocket expense that could far exceed the tax credit and the type of care you are receiving. You make alot of assumptions yourself, that are unfounded. I believe even employees with good benefts that would be taxed all of a sudden, would drop out of the plan.
Would you expect a homeowner's insurance company to sell you a policy after your house got hit by a tree?
I think you are missing the point a little. Thats something that happened, that I can understand not being able to be covered for that. But if you go in for a physical and you find out you have colon cancer and their is someone in your family with colon cancer. A healthcare professional can say its pre-existing because your great aunt had it 40 years ago. Thats what I mean.
Why would I consider these things in my analysis? Pre-existing conditions and deductibles already exist. How would being taxed on the benefit then receiving a compensating credit change this? As an example I have a healthy family, so I elected to take the biggest deductible I could. It is like 6,000 dollars. I pay about 3,000 dollars a year in premiums, my employer pays about half of that. So my potential out of pocket for a calender year is about 8,000. Now my employer puts a pre-tax 2000 in my hsa which lowers my OOP to 6,000. Under Mccain's plan I would pay my marginal tax rate on the 3000, but I would get 5000 to use for coverage. What is the biggest number? The deductible has no effect. Ir exists no matter how much my employer pays or how much I pay. It has no effect. I suppose they would if they were dumb and thought a marginal amount of taxes was worse than taxes and a credit, or if they were smart and found they could do better in the market for themselves.
