I Want Decent Health Benefits! Is That Too Much to Ask?

[Googlenurse]

It seems to be a great time to be a nurse right now. All of the opportunities presented seem endless!

But why does it seem like employers do not want to offer decent health insurance AND decent pay?

I just left a job that basically had no insurance. There was a $9,000 annual deductible that had to be paid before insurance even kicked in. The monthly premium for a single mom with kids was $200.  I stayed at the job for 7 months. Now, I  started a new job. I was on orientation yesterday and the monthly premium for a mom with children for Aetna HMO 40 Choice plan is $975 and $105 for dental.  Since I will get paid every two weeks, that is $500 every paycheck. 

Meanwhile, my sister in IT pays $200 a month for PPO, and that is as a single parent with children.

1 hour ago, Daisy4RN said:

Kinda painting with a broad brush! Personally I have seen many more people on Medicaid who feel entitled than those on Medicare, (and even when they have not put into the system like those on Medicare). And even if true about Medicare recipients not wanting universal healthcare their reasons are probably the same as others who have concerns. And don’t forget that Medicare recipients have already been taxpayers, and probably still are in most cases. You will more than likely be on Medicare someday too and will probably expect a certain level of care that you have been paying into for a very long time. 

Don't you consider Medicare to be a form of universal healthcare? Medicare is a single payor health delivery system that has relatively universal benefits. Doesn't it seem odd for Medicare recipients to campaign against their healthcare model?

[Daisy4RN]

52 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

Don't you consider Medicare to be a form of universal healthcare? Medicare is a single payor health delivery system that has relatively universal benefits. Doesn't it seem odd for Medicare recipients to campaign against their healthcare model?

Well by using that logic one would have to also consider Medicaid, Blue Cross, Kaiser, Tricare and every other private or Fed/state Insurance to be Universal healthcare also. So when we have so many different entities we do not have universal healthcare. If we just talk about Medicare alone, no it is not universal healthcare. It is not available to anyone/everyone. So far it is only available to those who have worked long enough and earned enough credits (like people on this thread who work, pay taxes, high medical premiums now and will be on Medicare someday) and those with certain disabilities. And, those who are on Medicare still pay premiums, deductibles and copays. 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

We don't have Universal Healthcare as most of us, including retirees pay insurance premiums.   Most of us middle income workers are going to retire and pay a premium for medicare and another one if we want a supplement.  

 

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

2 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

Well by using that logic one would have to also consider Medicaid, Blue Cross, Kaiser, Tricare and every other private or Fed/state Insurance to be Universal healthcare also. So when we have so many different entities we do not have universal healthcare. If we just talk about Medicare alone, no it is not universal healthcare. It is not available to anyone/everyone. So far it is only available to those who have worked long enough and earned enough credits (like people on this thread who work, pay taxes, high medical premiums now and will be on Medicare someday) and those with certain disabilities. And, those who are on Medicare still pay premiums, deductibles and copays. 

Facts: Many receive Medicare that never worked. My mother for example, she never worked outside the home a day in her life. She's on Medicare because my father worked. And with the standard Medicare recipient nowadays, many women on Medicare were housewives and personally never paid taxes. Many of us on this thread may be lucky to live to Medicare age due to the lack of universal, preventative care to the younger working class.

[MunoRN, RN]

3 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

Well by using that logic one would have to also consider Medicaid, Blue Cross, Kaiser, Tricare and every other private or Fed/state Insurance to be Universal healthcare also. So when we have so many different entities we do not have universal healthcare. If we just talk about Medicare alone, no it is not universal healthcare. It is not available to anyone/everyone. So far it is only available to those who have worked long enough and earned enough credits (like people on this thread who work, pay taxes, high medical premiums now and will be on Medicare someday) and those with certain disabilities. And, those who are on Medicare still pay premiums, deductibles and copays. 

The vast majority of those who receive medicaid work, and acutally 80% of those on medicaid are currently working.

If it comforts your fascist political views to think that those on medicare aren't receiving the only universal healthcare that exists in the US then great, feel free to think of it as something else.   

I'm all for "Medicare for all" but referring to it as an alternative to universal healthcare if you're too freaked out by the idea of calling it what it is.  

[PoodleBreath]

22 hours ago, kp2016 said:

PoodleBreath I was being sarcastic. I'm well aware they took pennies on the dollar from a debt collection agency when they refused to accept even a payment plan their own employee, who had sought care in their own hospital in good faith as the hospital was in net work (just not the doctor's who happened to be on shift that day). My friend was left with a large debt and a destroyed credit rating.

Was agreeing with you. The system is a snake that eats it's own tail. The fact that this happens in healthcare and on top of that to a healthcare worker in that very hospital makes it all the more appalling.

[Googlenurse, ASN, BSN, RN]

On 3/1/2022 at 10:17 AM, morelostthanfound said:

This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time.  While pay for nurses has gradually increased over the years, the medical/dental plans that many healthcare employers offer to employees, have been gutted to the point that they are almost of no value.  We've all had our eye on the money (nurse salaries) while this bait and switch was quietly taking place.  Why did this change occur you ask?  Corporate healthcare has to funnel more money to the top to pay their executive managers' obscene and decadent salaries.  Also, you can bet that the stuffed shirts in their plush offices don't have the same crap PPO plans that you and I have.

I am noticing this more and more. Salaries went up,health benefits are stripped to the bare bones. I won't even mention  pension plans.

13 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

Well by using that logic one would have to also consider Medicaid, Blue Cross, Kaiser, Tricare and every other private or Fed/state Insurance to be Universal healthcare also. So when we have so many different entities we do not have universal healthcare. If we just talk about Medicare alone, no it is not universal healthcare. It is not available to anyone/everyone. So far it is only available to those who have worked long enough and earned enough credits (like people on this thread who work, pay taxes, high medical premiums now and will be on Medicare someday) and those with certain disabilities. And, those who are on Medicare still pay premiums, deductibles and copays. 

Tricare is certainly a single payor health care model.  Health insurance companies are capitalist interests involved in shuffling money while they take a portion of the funds...sometimes by limiting access to care. 

You are on to something...the residents and citizens of the USA don't have universal health care...millions don't have access to care outside of EMTALA and that system is so expensive and fragmented that those people have terrible health outcomes as compared to other industrialized nations.

Let's talk about Medicare.  No, not everyone has access to that but they could...what is stopping us from expanding Medicare? Are we afraid that poor Americans will get good access to quality healthcare? 

When you mention that the fixed income seniors are still paying high out of pocket  costs for Medicare do you imagine that to be a reason that we cannot expand it for more citizens? I don't understand your point. 

 

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

Today in the US, if you aren't rich and don't qualify for Medicare or Medicaid, you are at the mercy of your employer and the insurance companies. 

[londonflo]

In the 80s, I worked for a hospital that supported their own insurance plan. I had multiple ER./hospital stays. I was told I was "lucky" that when I got back to work, the hospital would deduct the payment from my pay. 

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

IMO healthcare is a basic human right not something that is only avaliable for people who can afford to pay

18 minutes ago, Tenebrae said:

IMO healthcare is a basic human right not something that is only avaliable for people who can afford to pay

Our devotion to this broken and failing system is fueled by right wing propaganda from those who profit most in the status quo.