Health Insurance

[[email protected]]

Since Obamacare has been enforced, we have been lucky enough that our healthcare hasn't gone under any major changes.

Our policy needs to be renewed in December. We have been working with the broker for our company. If we continue with our current plan, our rates will go up considerably. We are talking in the neighborhood of $1700/month for a family! Company pays approx. 50%, Employee pays the remainder.

Luckily, our broker has found a comparable plan. The monthly family cost of this plan is ONLY $1300/month for a family. But, our co-pays have doubled.

My health care costs are already nearly equal to the cost of my mortgage+taxes+home owners insurance.

Not only is the insurance increase a huge burden on an individual's paycheck but, it also is a major blow to a small business that employees 50 people. A $150/month increase to the company for premiums is nearly $100,000 extra in a year!

So I want to thank you Mr Obama for "fixing" healthcare for all of us who work for a living and anyone trying to run a small business.

 

[Traumahawk]

Welll you could always quit......and live off of the system like A lot of other people.

My ins thru work had our coverage cut last year to help keep costs down....but this year even with that, its beginning to creep up again.

 

[Traumahawk]

This year 2015 the feds will gather more tax dollars than ever before in the history of the U.S.A. -- about $3 trillion. That's because since taking office, President Obama has proposed a whopping 442 tax increases. Not counting 20 others associated with Obamacare. As you may know, measures earning more than $400,000 a year must pay close to 40 percent of their income to the feds; Social Security taxes increased from 4.2 to 6.2 percent -- all workers pay that; and itemized deductions which can bring tax bills down, now being phased out for high wage earners and profitable businesses.

In fact, the U.S.A. has the highest tax rate on business in the world. And if you invest in business, short-term cap gains now close to 40 percent. Long-term cap gains up 15 percent to 20 percent. There's also additional 3.8 percent tax on investment income to pay for Obamacare. So you can see, you have to be able to see that taxes are everywhere on affluent Americans and business profits.

But, for the rest of Americans, they aren't so bad. Bottom 60 percent of wage earners pay just 2.7 percent of all federal income taxes. The bottom 40 percent actually get money from the feds they receive payments called earned income tax credits.

 

[Tex85]

It's funny how every year I have more taxable income than the previous year but every year it seems like the cost of living is proportionally higher. I might as well make the same salary now as a decade ago, it certainly feels like the same spending power. It didn't help that I moved to a new state that has an state income tax (I'm an FL native so state income tax doesn't make sense to me).

They really need to get rid of the marriage tax penalty. Why is it that married couples have different rules than two cohabitating individuals that file individual returns?

Beyond sick of politics already and its just starting again for the next election cycle.

/rant

 

[brad bruggeman]

It's funny how every year I have more taxable income than the previous year but every year it seems like the cost of living is proportionally higher. I might as well make the same salary now as a decade ago, it certainly feels like the same spending power. It didn't help that I moved to a new state that has an state income tax (I'm an FL native so state income tax doesn't make sense to me).

They really need to get rid of the marriage tax penalty. Why is it that married couples have different rules than two cohabitating individuals that file individual returns?

Beyond sick of politics already and its just starting again for the next election cycle.

/rant

Not all states are lucky enough to have all the $$$$ that Florida has coming in from tourism.

 

[Itgoes]

Since Obamacare has been enforced, we have been lucky enough that our healthcare hasn't gone under any major changes.

Our policy needs to be renewed in December. We have been working with the broker for our company. If we continue with our current plan, our rates will go up considerably. We are talking in the neighborhood of $1700/month for a family! Company pays approx. 50%, Employee pays the remainder.

Luckily, our broker has found a comparable plan. The monthly family cost of this plan is ONLY $1300/month for a family. But, our co-pays have doubled.

My health care costs are already nearly equal to the cost of my mortgage+taxes+home owners insurance.

Not only is the insurance increase a huge burden on an individual's paycheck but, it also is a major blow to a small business that employees 50 people. A $150/month increase to the company for premiums is nearly $100,000 extra in a year!

So I want to thank you Mr Obama for "fixing" healthcare for all of us who work for a living and anyone trying to run a small business.

I feel you pain, I'm a business owner.

This is nothing new though, for many years we've been facing double digit increases every 2 years or so. When this happens we end up changing carriers and sometimes need to change the plan as well (higher deductibles and/or copays) to keep the cost down.

Right now we have a "high deductible" plan. The cost of insurance is lower to us even though we reimburse our employees for the first 5K in expenses. This may be a strategy for your company to look into.

Nobody was addressing the healthcare problems before "Obamacare"......it may not be the correct solution but it has definitely brought this issue to the forefront and will hopefully end up driving some fixes.

 

[Itgoes]

It's funny how every year I have more taxable income than the previous year but every year it seems like the cost of living is proportionally higher. I might as well make the same salary now as a decade ago, it certainly feels like the same spending power. It didn't help that I moved to a new state that has an state income tax (I'm an FL native so state income tax doesn't make sense to me).

They really need to get rid of the marriage tax penalty. Why is it that married couples have different rules than two cohabitating individuals that file individual returns?

Beyond sick of politics already and its just starting again for the next election cycle.

/rant

I agree 100%. When I was single (25 years ago) and made 1/4 of what I make now, it seemed like I always had disposable income. Not anymore.

Oh wait.......maybe my wife's the problem.

 

[old timer]

Socialism and communism are about eliminating the middle class...anyone see where I'm going with this ? :confused2:

 

[[email protected]]

I agree 100%. When I was single (25 years ago) and made 1/4 of what I make now, it seemed like I always had disposable income. Not anymore.

Oh wait.......maybe my wife's the problem.

I thought I was the only one with that problem?

 

[sdt354]

Socialism and communism are about eliminating the middle class...anyone see where I'm going with this ? :confused2:

For sure Matt. My father warned me of the demise of the middle class back in the late 60's. He's long gone but I'm starting to listen to him. He made perfect sense and was on top what direction this country was heading into. We laughed when dad said "someday you will pay for everything you watch on TV. He just about nailed that.

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

Yeah our rates went up and our coverage went down. Thanks Obama!

 

[sdt354]

The poor, out of work, unable to work, won't work, are the ones helped most by Obama care. In Massachusetts we get fined if we can't show proof of insurance when filing state taxes. The small business owner is getting the shaft. You know, the one that can put the mentioned back to work by growing and creating new jobs? Open clinics for the entitlement crowd, make the best care available for the working stiff that is doing the right thing.

 

[Traumahawk]

The poor, out of work, unable to work, won't work, are the ones helped most by Obama care. In Massachusetts we get fined if we can't show proof of insurance when filing state taxes. The small business owner is getting the shaft. You know, the one that can put the mentioned back to work by growing and creating new jobs? Open clinics for the entitlement crowd, make the best care available for the working stiff that is doing the right thing.

LOL....Steve....I'm disappointed....you should know that business owners didnt build that business....the government did.