So, I want to caveat this post by saying this isn’t supposed to be any sort of argument for more vigorous intervention in health care. Beyond my general instinctive “gummint bad” caveman grunt, I have no very well thought out views on healthcare policy. (Funny how that works, isn’t it? Five years ago, I felt competent to speak confidently on almost any sphere of policy… At this rate I’ll soon be reduced to discussing things I actually know about.) But I found this report in Politico on a McCain press call puzzling, because even I knew the answer to this question:
[McCain surrogate Doug Holtz-Eakin] also argued that young people wouldn’t opt out of employer-sponsored care — which Obama’s camp says would trigger a collapse of part of that system — because they’d be losing a subsidy from their employer and wind up simply with lower-quality care.
“Why would they trade $4,000 worth of coverage for $2,500?” he asked.
OK, well, here’s why I would do it. I don’t know how common this setup is, but the way my insurance works is that I get a pick of various health plans with various degrees of out-of-system and deductible levels, each requiring me to kick in some percentage of my salary. If I and only if can prove I have some alternate coverage (because my employer has decided they don’t want their folks going around uninsured) I can opt out of the system and get a moderate boost in my paycheck.
Now, I don’t do this because even if I felt like shopping around for insurance plans—which I don’t, and haven’t—I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t find anything as good on my own as Conde Nast’s baseline group plan plan for the amount I’d get by opting out. But if I could reclaim my insurance contribution and get the government to foot the bill for coverage, even if it were a more modest plan? Being relatively young, I’d certainly consider it.
5 responses so far ↓
1 bottomofthe9th // Oct 27, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Have you ever priced out insurance? I imagine that it’s much cheaper than you’d think, provided you’re willing to accept a moderately high (say $2,000) deductible. When I did it, the cost (~$350 for six months) was about half of my contribution under my employer’s plan, for which they pay 80%.
I mean, Obama is right, of course. I just disagree that the collapse of employer-provided health insurance is a bad thing. The reason I don’t buy over-the-counter health insurance right now isn’t that I can’t write it off (at less than $1,000 a year, who cares)–it’s that I get no benefit from my employer for declining coverage. If health insurance becomes less de rigeur, then this will change, which improves efficiency (fewer folks staying in jobs for sake of insurance), not to mention liberty.
2 AmPminsure // Nov 3, 2008 at 7:58 am
Opting out from mandatory health
insurance is the faculty given by Law to individuals to leave the compulsory
health insurance system and seek health care financing privately, under the conditions established in the same Law and its regulations. Opting out could be established in full, meaning that no financial solidarity contribution
is made to the national social health insurance system
3 Robbie // Dec 19, 2016 at 6:47 pm
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4 angebot für kredit // Dec 25, 2016 at 12:23 pm
I use to get things ready for camping. Then I let kids pack. Then we had to go to the check list. I could be assured that they would have plenty of socks and other hot and cold clothes. One time when I let my son pack he did not add socks and we had to buy socks for camping. My husband did not really help the kids pack, however he did get many other things packed.
5 barkredit fur arbeitslose ärzte // Feb 8, 2017 at 11:31 am
ska man med han till nu när Taiwo redan anlänt? Killen gjorde ingen bra säsong i Lyon, därav priset som sägs ligga på 10 milj euro.