Amanda, Texas: My husband works in medicine, and is a master’s-degreed specialist. He’s been in his field of work for ten years now, and has worked in medicine for a total of 25 years. Until two years ago, he has always been a hospital employee, with full salary and benefits and medical coverage. We moved to be closer to family, and for the first time he was hired as an “independent contractor” rather than as a hospital employee. The group hiring him cited the “coming changes in medicine” as the reason they would no longer be hiring folks like him as hospital employees. Now we pay our own payroll taxes, and buy our own healthcare out of pocket, and have no employer contribution to retirement, so it’s the equivalent to a 25% pay cut. Of course, many self-employed folks face this scenario, but they at least enjoy the benefits of working for themselves and calling their own shots and potentially reaping the profits, whereas my husband does the same work, reports to the same people and, pulls the same hours, with much less to show for it. In the past two years, he has witnessed many changes such as these within the healthcare industry and firmly believes it is fundamentally changing to accommodate the new dynamic of Obamacare. Our healthcare insurance premiums have increased twice over the last six months, and this was before Obamacare even went into effect. We paid very high premiums, had incredibly high deductibles that ensured that all of our office visits were also out of pocket, and expected to pay substantially more for the privilege next year. So for now, we have dropped out of the fray and into a medical sharing arrangement, which saves us some cash and for the time being, exempts us from the requirement to purchase insurance. My father worked for the same manufacturing company for 34 years. During that time, he worked his way up from an entry level lineman to managing the entire plant and was only ten years away from retirement. The Great Recession decimated their construction dependent business and over time they reduced their workforce from several hundred to a skeleton crew of a few dozen. The company was holding on for dear life, with the hopes of weathering the challenging times and rebuilding as the economy improved. But when Obama was reelected, and all hope of the repeal of Obamacare vanished, it was the final straw and the plant closed. To be clear, the owners specifically cited Obamacare as the reason they were closing up shop for good. My father was fortunate to find new employment, but at half his previous salary, in a new state, and with a company that does not offer any medical benefits. He rents out his mortgaged home in his previous home state because he is underwater on the home and cannot sell, so was forced to cash out his retirement to buy a smaller home in the new locale. He works more hours, for less pay, has no prospect of retiring anytime soon if at all, and after enjoying good health and good insurance for most of his life, faces his later years and the potential for increased health problems with no medical insurance at all.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 03:17:06 +0000
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