over a petal or two, and a guinness or three, or four the conversation, as it often does, turned to money and economics. mcdonalds, jack-in-the box, and a total of 30 companies, including big insurance companies cigna, and aetna, also received a one year waiver---for what, and why those 30 and no one else? all of these companies, who all offer mini-med plans, complained to the feds. mini-med plans offer limits of $100,000-$200,000 per year. the reason they offer those is that many of their hourly workers are paid so little that they couldnt afford the differential, so they developed up what are commonly called mini-med plans, which don't cover catastrophic. the new law says, that, by next year, coverage limits must be $750,000 yearly, increasing to $2,000,000 by 2013, and, in the years, afterward, NO ANNUAL OR LIFETIME LIMITS. if an employeed insured family incurs medical costs of $10 million, or, even, $50,000,000, the employer, and its insurer will be obligated for these amounts. some of the current mini-plans now have limits of only $5,000. the costs, both to employers, and employees will be staggering. this kind of stuff, and lots of other stuff, should have been vetted before they came out with this bull-bleep program. now, the government is catering to the big companies. unions, of course, have also come begging. these entities have been given a one year reprieve; what happens after that one year, no one knows. logic tells us that these big outfits with mini-med plans will be permanently exempt, but no other entities. everyone should have the same rules; this is how the small guy and small business are going to be royally screwed. competing businesses, (e.g. mcdonald's competitors) wont be able to offer these same plans. if you work retail, you may be taking home $1500/month. an insurance plan for a family of 4 would take your whole salary, and even that will increase. there is no argument that the cost of health care is exorbitant, far too high. the next few years are going to be much higher. if families had a plan costing $50/week, that could pay for some child care and emergency visits, sounds pretty good to me, and should work well for many people. the problem with the small plans is that they aren't regulated nearly so close as the bigger plans. our current system is rife with inefficiency and breeds dependency. soon, folks will be required to buy coverage, or they will be fined. health care costs go up monthly, but if you talk to a doctor, relatively, they are doing as well as they once did. just where is this extra money going? is the overhead, the screwing round back and forth so high that it might be better just to pay the bills. why not a $3,000 annual deductible for everyone? there is a new breed of practitioner (we don't know if any have made it to this area) who doesnt take insurance anymore. they deal DIRECTLY with the public. they may charge $30 cash or credit card per visit and they probably do fine. many doctors no longer deal with medicare and welfare plans. will they now be required to treat these patients? it would be neat to go to a doctor for a physical, which would take about an hour of his time, leave him a $400 check, and be done with it....... most peoples limits with their employers might be a million per year and about 5 million, lifetime.
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