[TheForge] OT Union Rant (Was Re: concrete)

[dann]

Darrel,

I think it all comes down to group insurance rates. I doubt that there 
is  a health insurance  group policy for  ABANA "wanna be" smiths.

My wife  works in a non-union  shop, but  I believe that the employer did 
not offer a group health insurance policy from the goodness 
of  heart.  Rather it was a management  tactic 35 + years ago to 
reduce  the chances  of  a  pro union vote.

  15 years ago,  when  I  became self employed, I was simply amazed at  the 
cost of  prospective private health insurance  polices  for my 
family.     I had a healthy, young  family, with no  medical conditions.

The policy I chose, didn't cover  nearly as much:   no 
dental,  and  our  initial deductible went from $200 of the prior Group 
Coverage  to $1,000  with the Private Plan.  Still, our health insurance 
premium was double what I figured  was the 100% "full cost" of my prior 
group policy.

The insurance policy was written, and when it came back , all  of my 
children were excluded from insurance benefits for  ear-nose-throat 
infections for the first 6 months.  (We had disclosed that we had one child 
that had received treatment for an ear ache in the prior year. )

Even though our private health insurance paid not one dollar 
in  claims,  our  premiums kept leap frogging, until my wife  began a job 
that  had a group health plan.   When she started work, we  considered  the 
insurance benefits as  real wages.  The group plan was, and still is,  a 
much better coverage than our private health insurance, for a fraction of 
the money.  That would still be true if we could get the group coverage at 
the 100% of the group figure.

  In the past year,  we have had some  medical issues.  Were we to loose 
her  group health policy now,  we could be  S.O.L.   when the COBRA  period 
would run out.

Dann Johnson

At 11:53 AM 3/18/04, you wrote:
>One thing the union would do for sure is take a good part of what you have
>left.
>Why do people think it is the bosses job to pay for health care?
>Darrell