But, but Obama promised we could keep our plans.
Will only get worse. I doubt Congress cares though. They got their waiver and we get to pay for their healthcare.
But Osama Obama & Pals needn’t worry.They’ve made sure that *they’re* exempt.
My mother is 84 and living on her 50% of an IBM pension with just SS as a kicker... Dads insurance money is long gone... he would have been mortified to think of his wife on Medicaid...
There is a lesson to be learned here. Before ACA healthcare cost was out of control. Drug companies did not care, hospitals did not care, insurance companies did not care, doctors did not care, BUT the Democrats cared. Americans voted for them in 2008 and 2012. Result is an even larger diseaster. I think the GOP would do a better job, but telling everyone leave it to free markets (medicine does not work that way) was no answer. If you are in pain and dying and the drug company says you need this pill twice a day for the rest of your life at $ 25 bucks a pill, you will be hard pressed to say no like other commodities. Same with hospitals and doctors. You want to live, gimme $ 100,000 for treatment, hospital stay and doctors’ fees. To keep a person alive and treated, we are talking about chemicals, skills and knowledge. None are rare and hard to attain, only the holder and owner of it is trying to make a profit and living off of it. If abused, doctors can be a small elite with its ancillary industries (pharma, hospitals, devices etc etc) cater to the upper and well to do and still make a lucrative living from it. Just look at history where doctors cater only to those who could pay (ala royal family, rich merchants and landowners, while the poor relied on charity and churches). The rich had the best science can offer and the rest got average. That always been the norm till recent history.
This will snowball. Bet on it!!!
I’ve been expecting my company to do the same. They went high deductible after 4 years ago - not holding my breath it’ll be around at all for more than a couple more.
I....I’ve
B...Been
M...Moved
...off the company health plan.
Received my ‘Dear John’ several days ago. Have to see what the additional expense will be Oct 1st.
Nice going Obama
That is what retirees get for voting for Democrats.
WOW! This is friggin’ HUGE!
Why would someone with Medicare want to be on an exchange?Couple 66 years old would have premium $1,200/month. Full blown plan F Medicare supplement "F" would be about $300/month plus part "D". "F" Coverage; $0 out of pocket, $0 deductible and a wide choice of doctors and hospitals.
IBM suggested that younger workers move to India. They would be paid less by the company but their dollars “would go farther”.
Anything to keep the upper wigs’ bonuses and golden parachutes.
“If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” — President Barack Obama, Aug. 11, 2009
This will be the norm with our without Obamacare. Health insurance costs have been going up and up and up for decades. U.S. corporations just can’t carry the cost anymore. They never got into business to provide healthcare for their workers.
There is no way corporations could have anticipated the advances in health care that allow retirees to live so much longer but through expensive procedures and medications. I know someone who worked there 30 years, then retired at age 60 with a 2/3 salary pension for life and free health care for life.
During retirement they have had hip replacements, cancer surgery and chemo/radiation, pacemaker, eye surgery, and are on a dozen prescriptions, some cheap but most expensive. They are now 82 and could likely live another ten years. Meaning they will have been retired for more years than they worked there, drawing 2/3 salary plus health care while contributing nothing to the company for the last 30 years.
This is simply unsustainable, and IBM like SS, can look forward to thousands of baby boomers retiring every day. It is very unfortunate for those who were promised the moon in retirement by their employers and may not have a Plan B. It is a lesson for those who are younger, to know that employer promises cannot be relied on and you must plan to provide for yourself.
As for IBM offering to transfer IBMers to India at their expense, I see nothing wrong with that. The world is changing. At least they are offering to let you keep your job instead of just having you train your Indian replacement then laying you off, which is the alternative. They are in business to make a profit and benefit their shareholders, not as an altruistic social agency.
Contrast this with public employee unions who just extort more taxes out of you and cut services if they don't get them, hiding the fact that the extra taxes are not necessarily paying for current services but for hefty retiree obligations. They have no incentive to lower costs and will hold public services hostage until you pay up.