Of course that extra income will be taxable.
Will wipe out the current advantage of contributions to 401K’s and health plans being paid for with pre-tax income.
True. And they will be less likely to abuse it [ex: going to the E.R. for the flu].
The line about "the change isn't designed to make workers pay a higher share of health-coverage costs" is pure B.S.. That JUST what it is. It probably exempts the companies from all kinds of crap under ObamaCare.
This is the way it should be. Employer paid benefits started as a way to get around government wage limits.
Start with “this money is for your insurance’ and eventually it becomes obvious that it is all part of wages anyway. And we get back to normal, and as you point out, a step closer to the consumer being in charge of shopping for what he consumes.
In the event of cancer or something serious, you'll be covered and able to get into a hospital. An extra $40,000 in life insurance covers the excess for the family... Had a family member do this years ago.
I agree. If republicans had proposed having individuals pay for their own health care, which many have, in order to control costs, they would be vilified. We need to dump Obamacare, and people should just buy medical savings accounts.
You're missing the obvious change wrought by Obamacare - guaranteed issue with no pre-existing condition clause. What that means is that only idiots will use their extra money to buy health insurance - why would they, when they can just buy it the night before the operation? Of course, that will leave only the sick with health insurance, which means premiums will skyrocket. Eventually, we all wind up where Obama wants us - in line for our single-payor health "benefits", if the death panel permits it.
Welcome to 1984, comrade.
Won’t help much as the price of individual policies is skyrocketing due to mandated changes in the risk pool, i.e., no pre-existing condition(s) exclusion(s).
Real culprit IMHO for high health care costs? I did data work for the MEDICAID agency here in IL for years. When I started the cost of an office visit was around $20 and nobody needed insurance to cover that. Insurance covered major medical only.
But Medicare, and by extension due to Federal regulations, MEDICAID capped physician payments for decades at around $8.20. That payment wasn’t enough to cover their cost of doing business especially with rising malpractice insurance costs. So, inevitably, and in a stealth ‘tax’ the cost of office visits began to creep and then went ballistic to around $160 here in Springfield. The person not on the government programs is taxed for the minimal payment by the government and then foots the bill for the remainder of the shortfall in the increase in private-pay/insured patients. Eventually, everyone wants insurance to cover the ever-more-expensive office visits and routine care. Demand drives prices.
The case can be made for getting government out of the healthcare business, of course, but we all know that won’t happen anytime soon - until the country is broke. The abysmally low rate paid to doctors wasn’t an accident BTW. They knew it had to cause prices to rise to meet the manufactured shortfall. But, had they paid the ‘going’ rate taxes (the visible ones) would have had to raise dramatically. Far easier and safer for re-election if the tax is hidden in passed-on costs to consumers, then insurance companies, then right back to consumers again.
The new smaller paychecks would certainly not help Obama.
Of course they’ll have to buy it from a Gubbermint-run exchange where all the required benefits have been mandated by Obama. Hence the price will not possibly vary from provider to provider by more than 5%.
Let them compete......
How long before Sebelius orders them NOT to do this?
Big Insurance doesn’t want to have to compete, they want it all in big chunks, thats what the mandate was for.
These evil business owners are just doing this to screw the 99%. We need the gubment to tell us what is best.
must I? /s
This is the natural path for most corporations and I see it likely to gain momentum. It is EXACTLY like the move toward 401(k) style pension plans. It limits corporate liability and stabilizes their cost.
A lot of people won’t like it - unintended consequences of Obamacare. Only problem is that the trend won’t be visible in time to affect the election outcome.
On the plus side, it brings competitive pressures to bear in the market - exactly what we want to control costs and improve options.
So the employees think Barry, Pelosi and Harry are liars?
Bite down through that yummy sugar coated shell and you are still chewing of a fecal fruit cake.
they have been reading what I have been saying for five years
see my post # 29 in the following recent FreeRep thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2936656/posts
The insurance companies are declining coverage on many individual cases.
It’s a shame the Democrats passed Obamacare. Now a lot of employees are going to get a rude awakening and find out what their employer has Really been paying for years. The employee will get to pay for their healthcare, and the companies, via the “Roberts Tax” will get to pay for the healthcare of the “free cellphone crowd”.
Well business once said our employees are our most important asset. Now it’s just shows that employees are now an expense rather than an asset and they can be written off quickly.
Good! A reason for American employees to start caring about healthcare inflation. Something similar would happen if the guv just gave some lump sum toward Jr’s higher education, rather than play the game of loans for it.
No, this is a way for companies to prepare to dump peoples' health insurance coverage starting in 2014.
The trouble is, as long as people are more concerned with premiums and the size of co-payments rather than the actual costs to deliver the healthcare, the problem will always exist. When providers have to concern themselves with meeting the paperwork requirements of bureaucrats to get paid their pittance (be they insurance bureaucrats or government bureaucrats), rather than figuring out more efficient ways of meeting demand, there will not be innovation to make healthcare more affordable. Rather, there will be ways to figure out how to game the system more effectively...on both ends.
The only way out of this is:
Otherwise, you're just dealing with fascism vs socialism...the same bird, just from different angles.