[Trang Ánh Nam] New comment on Republicans are reading the signs on health care.

Miller Stephen has left a new comment on your post "Republicans are reading the signs on health care":

I think historically, one of the decisions with the worst impact on healthcare was employer-paid coverage; making my health care part of my employment package. When my health coverage is linked to my employment, there's not much I can do to control what coverage I get and how I pay for it. My employer decides. Plus, I start from ground zero with every job change.

i had a very rough 2016, and wound up having 4 different employers over the course of the year. Every time I started with a new company, I got a new plan, with new deductibles and copays. None of the money I had already spent on deductibles and copays at my previous jobs counted at all. So if I had paid $9000 of a $10,000 deductible and then changed jobs, I would be starting at $0 of the new deductible.

Now, if I OWNED my own plan, bought on a state-wide or national exchange, I would take it with me from job to job. My employer could offer to reimburse me for some of my costs, as part of their incentive package to get me to take the job, but I would still own my own coverage. Since my wife and I are in our late 50's, I would pick a plan that didn't include maternity care, but possibly included options for long-term care coverage. And competition and market forces would drive the creation of better, more flexible plans.

Having someone else "take care" of my healthcare coverage reduces my need to manage it myself and make the most informed choices.

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Posted by Miller Stephen to Trang Ánh Nam at April 2, 2019 at 10:01 AM