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Get ready to lose your private insurance
By: David Freddoso
Commentary Staff Writer
07/02/09 5:03 PM EDT
Susan makes note below of Sen. Dodd's presentation of the new and improved Senate Obama-care plan. It includes a so-called "public option" for government-run insurance, and it also requires that employers either provide coverage or pay a $750-per-year fee to the government for each non-covered employee.
To put things into perspective, the average American employer pays $5,800 per year from his own pocket for each employee covered by a company health plan, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
So let's say I have 100 employees who make $50,000 on average. Health insurance costs are a problem for me, but I care enough about my employees (and about keeping them) that I'm not going to leave them hanging when it comes to health insurance. Suddenly, this bill passes, meaning that my employees can easily get coverage from the government. They can't even be turned down or charged more because of their health condition. In fact, most of my employees will be eligible for a subsidy -- Dodd's bill offers them to anyone making up to 400 percent of poverty ($73,000 for a family of three).
What this means is that I would, at the very least, phase out all insurance coverage for new employees -- perhaps I'd even dump coverage for current employees and give them part of my taxpayer-subsidized savings back in the form of a raise. If Sen. Max Baucus's (D-Mont.) plan to tax health benefits goes through, there will be nothing to deter such a course of action. Within a few years, President Obama will have completely "shredded" the employer-based insurance system, as he put it himself during the campaign while criticizing John McCain's plan.
A study from late 2006 found that of the 87 percent of Americans who had health insurance, 89 percent rated their insurance as "excellent" or "good." This is why President Obama made a campaign pledge that his plan would not force workers to give up the coverage they have. Based on the President's quick praise for Dodd's plan today, he seems quite ready to break that pledge.
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