Did you ever actually shop for it? I bought health insurance before Obamacare and I have asthma.
Sure, you found some company willing to take your money claiming you had "insurance". In reality, had you actually try to use it, would have been in "pre-existing condition" hell. Because the asthma could have cause $ailment, and they don't cover preexisting. Tood bad, so sad. Glad you paid the premiums!
I filled out paperwork in which I divulged my pre-existing conditions, including my asthma, and that was calculated into the premium price I paid.
Did you ever require care that was not covered by insurance or maxed out your coverage? Or have an expensive pre-existing condition? There's certainly an element of luck involved, especially when it comes to the US healthcare system!
There's an element of luck involved in absolutely everything. Not specifically to you but this conversation is highly interesting because it demonstrates the two different attitudes - one from the person you were replying to and one from pretty much everyone else. In software engineering it is the attitude of people who come up with a solution to their problem as compared to the attitude of the people who are complai…
To me, this conversation represents the two classes.
One guy is living life probably pulling in upwards of $150,000 a year (or living in a lower cost of living place with six figures income). Simply budgeting well will cover all these things. And another thinks that "budgeting" means you don't get to eat on Mondays so you can keep on bills.
Look at the history of labor and the 40 hour week. You have to pick a standard, otherwise the pick will default to employers who will choose ever increasing hours for a fixed salary. If we pick one together it's easier than standing as a lone worker saying 7.5 is reasonable. Modern civilization has advanced, why should the work week stay at 40 (and eroding in many workplaces in America?)
What if I want to work more than 40 hours/week in exchange for more money. Should I be prohibited from doing that?
You absolutely should get time and a half for work over 40 hours. The problem is that there are many places where that extra work is done without extra pay, most notably software.
How would your situation change, if item number 2 was no longer there. (ie, your wife became a contractor) I think that is the largest concern/tipping point for most people..
Single father and consultant of 5 years here. It's easy if you're conservative/responsible with your money. Buy health insurance, get short and long term disability. Keep 6 months of expenses in your emergency fund. Don't have any consumer debt. I think the hardest part for most people is being able to not burn through their money as fast as they get it.
Keep 6 months of expenses in your emergency fund.
You have to have sufficient income to consistently cover basics with money leftover. Some people simply don't have that.
I agree, however our government is not up to the task. Ever since Congress passed Obamacare it has been in a fight to survive, instead of trying to improve the system (which has clear benefits) Republicans have spent the past few years trying to dismantle it along with other "entitlements". The American worker is getting squeezed on both sides, private employers are offering less and less and government is not pickin…
As I recall, Obamacare didn't do much, if anything, to decouple health plans from employment. If anything it made it more tightly coupled, by mandating employers with more than so many full-time employees provide health plans. The individual mandate didn't decouple health plans from employers, it just provided additional insult to injury by causing those whom were un- or under-employed and couldn't afford a now even…
Maybe it is different in your state. In mine, FL every September I get a notice asking if I want to continue to use employer provided healthcare or would I prefer to find something on the exchange. Employers of a certain size are compelled to offer health insurance and employees are free to choose something different. That doesn't sound like it's tightly coupled to me.
Finally, according to our healthcare rep, no one has been penalized for not taking a healthcare plan. The IRS sends out scary notices every year that they swear to god are going to assess penalties this year. And they haven't so far.
Do you similarly feel that it's impossible for poor people to buy car insurance? Disability insurance is LESS complicated than that. Do you want the 50% of your current salary or 75% of your current salary option? That's it. Maybe you can pay a few extra bucks for a rider that increases your disability coverage each year as you get a raise. This is not complicated stuff and any insurance agent is going to be happy to…
Nobody's saying it's impossible or even difficult. But if I'm rushing from my shift at McDonald's to pick up my kid and drop them off at home with some dinner before heading to the late shift at Home Depot, I'm not going to be able to talk to an insurance agent who might very well be happy to walk me through it, let alone spend time actively thinking about what coverage I need.
You dodged my first question. Apply the same thing to car insurance. Are poor people generally incapable of attaining the "expertise" to be able to purchase car insurance?
The short answer to this question is that they're individually insignificant and Atlus-like in aggregate. The long answer to this question is, in fact, extremely long.
Nice platitudes. Do you believe that poor people are similarly incapable of buying car insurance?
That wasn't a platitude. That was a suggestion that the smart place to end the conversation was there. If you'd like to continue it, we can, it's just not easy over text.
Do you similarly feel that it's impossible for poor people to buy car insurance? Disability insurance is LESS complicated than that. Do you want the 50% of your current salary or 75% of your current salary option? That's it. Maybe you can pay a few extra bucks for a rider that increases your disability coverage each year as you get a raise. This is not complicated stuff and any insurance agent is going to be happy to…
Poverty impedes cognitive functioning: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.0103... i.e., being poor is harder than it looks ...
Poor people seem perfectly capable of buying car insurance as evidenced by the fact that millions of poor people have car insurance. What makes you think that purchasing disability insurance is so much more difficult?
OK, so you be sure, as a lone individual, to tell Uber you'd like to negotiate a higher contract rate with them in order to cover your expenses. And then when they laugh in your face, try it with another company. And another. And another. And let me know how it goes.
If someone is laughing in your face everywhere you go (especially with unemployment at an all-time low right now) then you probably need to recalibrate your expectations. However I'd venture a guess that most people aren't actually asking for higher rates. Most people do a terrible job negotiating for compensation (and by terrible I mean they don't even try). http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/
The "gig economy" being discussed isn't highly paid software developers. It's dudes working uber / lyft / postmates. These people have no negotiating power.... you take the gig or you leave it.
It is amazing how out of touch people in the software echo chamber are....
Poverty impedes cognitive functioning: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.0103... i.e., being poor is harder than it looks ...
Poor people seem perfectly capable of buying car insurance as evidenced by the fact that millions of poor people have car insurance. What makes you think that purchasing disability insurance is so much more difficult?
They are certainly capable of buying it (at least, when regulation means that it is something you often are compelled and assisted to do before taking a newly-purchased car home, and reminded you must do under penalty of law when registering a car, and actually cited for if you fail to do it and are pulled over driving a car—which is a whole lot of pressure taken together), and many do; whether they are capable of making good decisions and weighing alternatives in that process is...unsupported by the evidence you've cited, as is the question of how this is germane to disability insurance absent a similar regulatory environment.