tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12897315.post116827417287178547..comments2024-03-28T03:14:51.294-05:00Comments on Dad29: Health Care: Start with Facts, not FallaciesDad29http://www.blogger.com/profile/08554276286736923821noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12897315.post-1168398169949172632007-01-09T21:02:00.000-06:002007-01-09T21:02:00.000-06:00Not true.HRAs are funded by employers only. No em...Not true.<BR/><BR/>HRAs are funded by employers only. No employee contributions are made.<BR/><BR/>HSAs are employer/employee funded (except for self-employed people, who obviously are both sides of it..)<BR/><BR/>Like a lot of Democrats, you are saying something that is almost meaningless in the context of the discussion on the thread. This debate should be held on statistically-valid grounds, not on what's rumored to be so.<BR/><BR/>I already indicated that perhaps it WILL be a good thing to cap one's medical expense at 6% of gross income--maybe only 5%, or 4%. That's a starting point.Dad29https://www.blogger.com/profile/08554276286736923821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12897315.post-1168394240181152162007-01-09T19:57:00.000-06:002007-01-09T19:57:00.000-06:00Unfortunately, HRAs and their kin presume that the...Unfortunately, HRAs and their kin presume that there is excess money after rent, after heat and electric and phone, after groceries and pharmacy, available to contribute. For large nimbers of us out here, that just isn't so.<BR/><BR/>Just for another data point: 63.7% of my monthly pension is deducted for my health insurance premium (single, secondary to Medicare). Only 2.9% is deducted for fed and state income taxes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12897315.post-1168289351033977252007-01-08T14:49:00.000-06:002007-01-08T14:49:00.000-06:00I wasn't criticizing you per se. More grumbling t...I wasn't criticizing you per se. More grumbling than anything else. The deductible I chose was my own. I don't think the stats tell the whole story, b/c medical costs are not normally distributed by income. As this relates to affordibility is where we have the problem. For example, my premium alone is 14% of gross at the start of the year. It was 10% of gross last year. If I exhaust my $1500 deductible, that will mean 18% of gross income spent on heath expense.<BR/><BR/>So, let's build it backwords and cap medical expense at 6% of income. In my case, we would be looking at an income of $100,000 to support the 6% affordability mark. Going the other way, say we wanted 80% affordability, e.g. 80% of the state's residents could afford it, my guess is the lowest income among the top 80% would be $18,000, +/-. 6% of that would be about $1,000. That is approximately my employer's and my combined monthly premium for family coverage. <BR/><BR/>I agree with you that it is important for people to understand what we are discussing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12897315.post-1168283065634169012007-01-08T13:04:00.000-06:002007-01-08T13:04:00.000-06:00MZ, you can't accuse me of having "specifics" and ...MZ, you can't accuse me of having "specifics" and then use your OWN "specifics."<BR/><BR/>$30K x 4% is $1200.00--which is the national norm. In other words, about two weeks' gross income.<BR/><BR/>I do not object to 'capping' medical expenses at 4%, or 5%, or 6% of family gross income. But that's not the point of the post.<BR/><BR/>The point of the post is to get some definitions of the terms, and to start the discussion with those firmly in hand.Dad29https://www.blogger.com/profile/08554276286736923821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12897315.post-1168279012680569972007-01-08T11:56:00.000-06:002007-01-08T11:56:00.000-06:00Having an HRA, I can tell you that they are one th...Having an HRA, I can tell you that they are one the worst creations on earth. They are just another form of cost shifting. I'm still sorting out several thousand in bills and my son was born 6 months ago. It is a cruel joke. <BR/><BR/>As far as the % figures, they tell an aggregate story, but they don't account for the specific. A man making $30,000/yr supporting a family of 4 with a $5K deductible and a $3.5K HRA has 5% of his income going to covering deductibles alone and 16% of his income cash flowing the HRA and his own deductible. That's 2 months of income before taxes/housing and everything else. Add another 10% of the man's income for family premiums and you are talking about a whole fist full of dollars.<BR/><BR/>You know what the median wage is in this state. And you know the median household income. It is a plan 50% of the State can't afford.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com