In article , Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
(Doug Miller) wrote:

In article
, Smitty
Two wrote:

According to the National Coalition on Health Care, $13,000.

http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml

"The average employer-sponsored premium for a family of four costs close
to $13,000 a year, and the employee foots about 30 percent of this cost."

--x--x--x--x--

Based on personal observation, government employees of almost any type
have excellent health insurance policies paid by the employer, with
funds graciously provided by my taxes. Those policies cover vision and
dental as well as regular insurance, and include the employee's family.

Private companies often cover only 50% of the cost of the premium, and
if the employee wants insurance for the rug rats or the spouse, the
entire premium comes from his or her own pocket.

The entire premium is coming out of the individual's pocket anyway, even in
employer-sponsored plans. Every dollar the employer spends on purchasing
health insurance is a dollar that is unavailable for spending on salaries or
wages.

It is likewise a convenient fiction that the employer pays half of the FICA
premium. Nope. The employee pays all of it -- half in direct payroll
deduction, and half in the form of a reduced salary.

Well, if we're segueing into "convenient fictions," here's another one:
Governments have to pay high salaries and provide luxury-class benefits
in order to attract qualified workers away from private industry.

Well, they have to do *something*.

In
truth, the pay and benefit scales are often double what industry pays
for comparable skill sets.

Maybe in your state; not in mine, and, I suspect, not in most.

And that's not even remotely close to true in the Federal civil service,
*especially* in management positions. The salary of a cabinet secretary is
something like $160K -- try finding a CEO who will work for that.

For scientists and engineers, Federal salaries are significantly lower than
corresponding private-sector salaries. The principal attractions of Federal
employment are stability, benefits, and the fact that the Federal civil
service in general, and Defense in particular, hand much more responsibility
to capable people at a much younger age than they'd ever see in the private
sector -- it's good for your career.

The city, county, and state here are all
going broke, and it's due in large measure to absolutely obscene wages.

That's because you live in the People's Republic of Kalifornia. Don't make the
mistake of supposing that the rest of the nation has the same insane public
policies. Most state legislatures are wiser than yours.