Jugearscare Follies

So, I got a new job. It has "benefits".

One of them is "mandatory" health care - or pay a "fine". So, I logged into their web site and checked out the two (2) available Jugearscare eligible plans.

The "high deductible" plan is a mere $300 every week, for a total premium payment of $15,600.00. This plan allows you to go to the hospital or emergency room, pays for X-rays and such - you only have to come up with another $5000.00 per person - me and my wife - to satisfy the deductible. So, out-of-pocket so far is $25,600.00.

OK. Now the deductibles have been paid. Every doctor visit now costs $40 for the co-pay. Prescriptions are between $15 and $60 copay, depending. Emergency room visits are a mere $250 each. Similar deductibles and copays for other things like ambulance rides. What a bargain!

But wait! You don't have to pay all that! Jugears the Benevolent, through his angel Nancy Pee-lousy, has in his infinite mercy, given us a lower cost alternative..

For only $90 per week, you get zero deductible for doctor visits. Zero for preventative care. Zero for pregnancy care before the birth. Zero for prescriptions, if they are generic or "preferred".

Sounds good, huh? There's a small catch.

The "basic" Jugearscare plan gives you all the preceding "free" stuff at a minor cost.

No hospital coverage.
No coverage for X-rays or other imaging - they will pay for blood tests, though.
No coverage for the delivery room or any postpartum care.
No coverage for "non-preferred" medications. Need an exotic drug? Get fucked.
No ambulance coverage.
No mental health coverage.
No substance abuse coverage.

So, if you can't afford to spend $300 every week for your "mandatory" health insurance, you have a choice of spending $90 every week for a crock of shit, or paying 2.5% of your salary to the IRS in the "fine".

Another little tidbit - the money they steal from you for Jugearscare is taken out of your paycheck before they calculate taxes - so the low wage earner will have less Social Security taken out than usual. This could result in lower benefits for some people at the low end of the ladder. Another "get fucked" from CONgress and our emperor to the working man.

Jugears and crew are going to rot in everlasting fire in Hell if there is a God with any sense of justice.

It's a freaking miracle I didn't pull an Elvis and blow my monitors away. I guess I'm not your typical redneck gun nut.

Now, let's look at the actual costs of Jugearscare. My employer must pay the same amount I do - so even if I don't use any medical services, $31,200.00 has been taken out of the economy and given to an insurance company to cover all those who get the "free" coverage. There's your income redistribution.

And that is just for one employee. There are maybe 150 office workers in my company who all pay at least the same for coverage, with the company matching the thefts by the IRS. Just at this one company, at least $4.7 million stolen. This does not count the factory workers who probably make less and get hit harder.

How many employees in the United States? No wonder the insurance companies were lobbying for this under the table.

Oh, yeah - after I finished signing up, I went back to the benefits page - and found that they supposedly offered both a "bronze" and a "gold" plan, that since I had signed up already, I am ineligible to get. No big loss - they cost more than the crap I had to buy, with dubious extra value - and doesn't the Jugearscare law fine you for a "Cadillac" plan anyway?