Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:
On 8/11/2011 12:44 PM, Han wrote:
wrote in
:
Since NJ was interjected into into conversation, can someone verify
that apparently the police union negotiated that police in NJ pay
1.5% of their salary for health insurance?
Googling "nj police health insurance contribution" comes up with a
lot, but I can't easily corroborate that figure. The new rules for
public employees may be something like this
http://www.cliffviewpilot.com/beyond...on-and-health-
reform-affects-you:
All employees must pay a portion of their premium, based on salary
and using a sliding scale that starts at 3% of the premium for those
making less than $25,000 a year and reaches 35% for those making
$110,000 or more (the percentage changes for every $5,000 over
$25,000).
For the median income ($90k+) mentioned earlier, that is less than
$150/mo.
My wife and daughters is $800+/mo, and that is a bare bones policy
with a huge deductible.
That is unconscionably high, and I hope some of that is deductible on
your taxes. Can't you get a better plan, maybe via AARP or AAA?
Actually that is normal, do you have any idea how much the employer
pays for an employees insurance?
I was involved in writing grants, and know about the budgets. On top pof
the salaries/wages there was always 30% extra for benefits. Plus on top
of the socalled "direct costs" the universities had negotiated with the
NIH (National Institutes of Health) an additional percentage for overhead
(building costs, maintenance costs, water, what have you). That
percentage? In the order of 70%. In other words, you (via the NIH) paid
me 100K in salary, 30K in benefits, 30K in equipment and chemicals and
other materials for my science, plus 70% of 160K=112K for the university.
My salary was in that order, which was quite normal for someone with my
qualifications.
OTOH, my coworker, who was screwed out of a salary (too long a story)
for something like a year, while her husband was also not being paid,
was paying over $1000/month for COBRA coverage in New York.
At Weill Cornell health insurance is a great benefit. For myself and
my spouse, when I worked full time, my contribution for medical,
dental& vision was ~$212/month.
I can guarantee you that you were only paying a small percentage of
the total. When I was working for others I never had any deductions
for my insurance however being a check signer I knew full well what
health insurance was costing the company.
Yes, I know. Officially, that was because the university was competing
with other employers to get the most qualified people. A good benefit
package was a big plus.
Pardon me while I sob a few tears ... for all of us. 
IIRC, this is EXACTLY what the issue in WI was about ... union choke
hold on public purse strings, bought and paid for by bought and paid
for politicians.
The issue is really what the cost should be, and (red flag waving) I
believe that the leveling of the costs for everyone under Obamacare
is going to be a plus. Remeber, my insurance is now paying (in New
York) a surcharge over the hospital costs of 8.5% to cover uninsured
people.
Think about how much that is going to go up when you start footing the
whole bill, Fewer raises, smaller raises, higher taxes....
I don't know. Everyone (in my reddish opinion) should pay similarly for
health care insurance. No ducking because you think you are invincible
and won't get sick, because if you do, you'll be unable to pay back what
you evaded before. And, better to have a colonoscopy now than colon
cancer later.
--
Best regards
Han
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