91–100 of 129 posts
I'm not against H1B visas or green cards for skilled immigrants and, in fact, have great friends who fit that profile. However, considering this massive layoff, what reason could Microsoft and Bill Gates have to lobby so aggressively for H1B high-skilled tech talent, besides wanting cheap labor?
Don't we have Obamacare these days? why COBRA is still mentioned here? is it still relevant as it used to be? I thought OBAMACARE is beneficial for those who got laid-off, as low income got a huge discount, is it?
COBRA is an extension of your ex-employer's healthcare program that you pay out of pocket. You have always had the option to either buy COBRA or buy individual coverage on your own. Often it is cheaper to buy individual coverage through private insurers than to buy COBRA, especially if you're willing to settle for catastrophic-only insurance. Obamacare is a new Marketplace for buying individual coverage that includes…
Since this is in the context of COBRA, the ACA has something called a Qualifying Life Event that includes changes in income, family size and state of residence. With those, there's a good chance you'll qualify for a Special Enrollment Period and be able to purchase coverage (though you might still keep COBRA for a month until the new coverage kicks in).
There may also be some limitations on the non-exchange catastrophic plans that will curtail their availability in the future - I haven't paid attention to this, but one of the "Obamacare killed my insurance coverage!" issues was that the ACA mandated certain minimum levels of coverage or service and the plans that were being killed off were ones that didn't meet those minimums. After the outcry I believe there were some deadline extensions to grandfather in existing plans, but those will end at some point.
I guess, maybe it's OK to live in a socialistic country and pay a lot of tax. That insurance thing is a horrible situation to be in. I wonder how many staff will be replaced by cheap(er) fresh immigrants in the end (I am not against immigration BTW).
34 years old and has been at Microsoft for 15 years? That seems a little strange
I don't know what this guy's situation was but I imagine there many young & smart individuals at MS.
Don't we have Obamacare these days? why COBRA is still mentioned here? is it still relevant as it used to be? I thought OBAMACARE is beneficial for those who got laid-off, as low income got a huge discount, is it?
COBRA is an extension of your ex-employer's healthcare program that you pay out of pocket. You have always had the option to either buy COBRA or buy individual coverage on your own. Often it is cheaper to buy individual coverage through private insurers than to buy COBRA, especially if you're willing to settle for catastrophic-only insurance. Obamacare is a new Marketplace for buying individual coverage that includes…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I went through layoff six months ago. ACA definitely has helped with health insurance. If you are unemployed (no income), you are most likely to get subsidy as it is income based. Our premiums after subsidy is little bit higher than what we were paying when I was employed. I wish there was something similar to ACA for dental insurance. Most dental insurance plans on open market are expensive and with ridiculous terms…
Dental is harder, and (at least in my dentist's opinion) private dental insurance just isn't worth it. I can see the merits of that, because you're less likely to have a catastrophic dental emergency that can bankrupt you. A lot of dental insurance also seems to only cover 50% of the more expensive items. It may be worth looking at how much you're paying each month in premiums and comparing that to the annual out-of-…
I have a dentist friend whose practice doesn't accept any insurance so he is free to set his rates and charge his patient. After COBRA finishes we might go to him.
It sounds rough, but if you are not invaluable to your company, then you are always at risk. And almost no one is invaluable at such a large company. There is no more "lifer" jobs.
I'm not against H1B visas or green cards for skilled immigrants and, in fact, have great friends who fit that profile. However, considering this massive layoff, what reason could Microsoft and Bill Gates have to lobby so aggressively for H1B high-skilled tech talent, besides wanting cheap labor?
I feel bad for the guy, but Microsoft really does need to reinvent itself, and the deadweight of a huge Windows-focused testing-QA bureaucracy wasn't going to help that mission. After 15 years at MS, this guy is probably unemployable anywhere else unless he is open to learning new things and retraining. Big company people often just learn how to operate in a big company environment, and forget how to do real work.
I've not seen the video so I don't know what he was really doing in Microsoft, but you know that there are other places where Microsoft software is used outside Microsoft, right? I don't get whz he should be unemployable anywhere else..