So when my benefits-selection stuff showed up, I decided to do a little research on the plan I had selected.
Check this out:
| Year | My healthplan cost as a percentage of my salary (gross) |
| 2001 | 1.4% |
| 2002 | 1.5% |
| 2003 | 1.7% |
| 2004 | 1.9% |
| 2005 | 2.2% |
| 2006 | 3.0% |
| 2007 | 3.1% |
| 2008 | 3.5% |
| 2008 (move to AL) | 3.9% |
| 2009 | 3.9% (good raise) |
| 2010 | 4.2% (also good raise, but not good enough!) |
Can you believe how fast this is climbing? And this is adjusted for my salary!
Surely there are better alternatives, especially for people like us who aren't getting as much as we're paying.
One idea is to just save the many thousands of dollars we're putting into health-plan premiums, pay cash for whatever services we need, and if someone needs a major operation, get it done in New Delhi or Costa Rica.
I have no confidence that Congress will come up with a healthcare plan that works on purpose. But they might get lucky...
1 comment:
Did you account for part of the increase being due to adding a kid to your plan in '02? I do agree that if costs continue as they are, there will be serious problems, so something needs to be done. However, at our house at least, I think that while healthcare is expensive (12% of our gross), it's not yet unreasonable. If the complaint is just that it keeps costing more, yet it is still a reasonable rate, maybe the issue is with perception and not the expense.
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