Why Do We Get Health Insurance from Our Employers Anyway? (Another Legacy of FDR Needing To Go.)

American Shareholders ^ | 3/15/10 | Noreen Alladina

[oh8eleven]

Which is the direction we should be heading in.
After I retired, my company decided they weren't so interested in contributing what they had promised to my h/c after all. The SOBs.
Anyway, I'm now on a CDHP plan with a $0 (zero) per month premium and a $1200 annual deductible. Once I reach that out of pocket limit, the plan picks up 80%.
That's what most in America should have which would make them think twice about running to the ER every time they get the sniffles.

[Melas]

You’re easy. I demand all kinds of benefits from my employer. Any of which a prospective employer doesn’t offer, his competitor will. Health insurance is a must. Dental is a must. A minimum of 4 weeks paid vacation is a must. If I have to travel, an expense account up front is must because I’m not playing the reimbursement game. Matching retirement is a must. The more benefits an employer can offer me, the more likely I am to work for him and not the competition. That’s as it should be.

[CodeToad]

Every dollar they pay you in one form is one dollar they won’t pay you in a paycheck.

The original benefit from employers offering health insurance was the group policy discounts. They got discounts like 20% off what you might pay privately.

Now, some companies pay more. I am not kidding. I paid $112/month for a BC/BS health plan. The company got charged $269 for the exact same plan. Some companies pay less and get a great policy.

I agree paid time off is a benefit, but they have to account for your time off when figuring how many employees they need to hire to get the job done, and we need guaranteed time off, otherwise they’d work us 365.

I prefer to get cash for everything else. Pay me a good wage and I can buy my own retirement account, health, dental, etc. I work for a company now that has excellent benefits so I use them, but previously I always bought my own.

So, to me, pay me a good wage, give me vacation time and I’ll take care of myself for the rest. I have used that as a basis for negotiating higher salaries and bonuses than other employees by as much as 30%.

[Melas]

Everything you’re saying would be true if it weren’t for the government and the tax structure. I want as much remuneration as possible that ISN’T taxed. My employer would really have to bite the bullet if he wanted me to buy my own insurance. It would cost me more than it costs him, plus it would paid for out of taxable income. It’s better for both of us to have it paid by the employer. The only winner if I had to buy my own would be the government who would get more tax dollars. No thanks.

[CodeToad]

“weren’t for the government and the tax structure.”

Yes, that is very true. That causes some of the benefits that only an employer can give, such as some retirement accounts and pre-tax insurance.

If we could get the nosy government out of our pockets, we could get paid better and buy ourselves better insurances and retirement accounts.

[Jvette]

Thanks, missed it before.

[CaliforniaCon]

RE: “Along with rent-control, withholding, and the currently-structured United Nations, employer-given healthcare is something that Franklin Delano Roosevelt started, and to solve real-problems without giving the government absolute control must be solved.”

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My long deceased parents ranted against FDR for years, having gone through the Depression and so many years of his ‘rule.’ They always had a big problem with the employer-provided healthcare, Medicare, Social Security — you name it. Their own parents did just fine, as immigrants from Europe but who WERE skilled, raising several children with no help from anyone else, least of all the dollars of other taxpayers.

If I had a buck for every time I heard one of my parents bash FDR I’d be a millionaire — they detested him and all of his policies — oh, and the UNIONS incurred their wrath, too, big time!