Documents reveal AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar and Deere are considering droping health care coverage

Politicians and bureaucrats suffer from the same thing...they have no idea how the private sector really works. Of course that is a vast generalization but when you think of the two sectors as single entities then the image really fits. Private companies know how to do what they are supposed to do...make money. The public sector knows how to do what? What exactly is the motivation in that sector? There isn't one really.

Siphon your tax dollars to the private sector.

I've been on the Verizon health plan for a while now since my Dad worked for Verizon up until 2008 when they layed him off. Needless to say the benefits were top notch. However we did have a few problems after he got laid off. It took us somewhere around 1 or 2 months to renew the policy which they legally had to offer him. So I was basically getting prescriptions and going went on a doctors visit retroactively.

Now apparently everyone in my family is about to get bumped off the coverage plan, though I think part of that is due to my Dad getting a new job. I mean it's obvious why I can't be covered anymore since I'm no longer a student but I was kind of surprised to see my Mother get kicked off the plan to.

They're not simpletons for the most part nor are their staff or committee aids, they simply have others writing them bigger checks to include/exclude things from bills. These loopholes are going exist no matter what gets passed...the key is closing these loopholes as soon as possible.

Well OK, they're capable of understanding the issues, but they just don't bother to. Whether because they're having to spend time campaigning, or because they have competing interests, either way they don't get deep enough on things.

As a result they develop legislation that's too simple (hey, let's just pick a number, $2K per employee sounds good!). Then they're surprised when the AT&Ts of the world, with the intellectual capital capable of catching onto such dubious mistakes, do just that and rape the system.

This is one reason why less government is better. These guys just aren't very good at what they do.

Sorry but I think your wrong. They knew well in advance that a $2,000 fine was not enough and would have no affect and companies would do this. Its the game of failing to get what you really want national health care. Think about this fine. Congress them self knew health care was costing companies over $5,000 per year (thats a low figure I made up) and they had to know the math that a $2000 fine would not stop companies from not offering health coverage. They know it will not stop the companies and that what they want. Now the fix is national health care.

OK bizarro Michael Moore, nice conspiracy theory.

OK bizarro Michael Moore, nice conspiracy theory.

:laughing2

I've been on the Verizon health plan for a while now since my Dad worked for Verizon up until 2008 when they layed him off. Needless to say the benefits were top notch. However we did have a few problems after he got laid off. It took us somewhere around 1 or 2 months to renew the policy which they legally had to offer him. So I was basically getting prescriptions and going went on a doctors visit retroactively.

Now apparently everyone in my family is about to get bumped off the coverage plan, though I think part of that is due to my Dad getting a new job. I mean it's obvious why I can't be covered anymore since I'm no longer a student but I was kind of surprised to see my Mother get kicked off the plan to.You were probably under COBRA, Schneed can give you the details about COBRA if necessary. In a nutshell, it's a gov't mandated that you can continue med coverage if you lose your job or get laid off. I think it only lasts for 18 months and you pay the premiums 100%.

As soon as your Dad is eligible for insurance under his new company, I'm sure your Mom will be covered.

I don’t think this is a loophole or a planned thing. I think this was just a huge oversight by the previous Chair of the House Oversight Committee, Henry Waxman. I thought they had requested this info before the health reform vote, but I was wrong it was after. The reform bills passage was on March 21st. On March 25th and 26th some large companies said it would be far too expensive to provide prescription drug coverage to retired employees. Waxman viewed it as a shot at the Democrats and added embarrassment to an unpopular bill and ordered the companies to submit their findings to a him by April 21st as a scolding. Then sometime before the hearing everything was abruptly canceled.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Democrats-threaten-companies-hit-hard-by-health-care-bill-89347127.html (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Democrats-threaten-companies-hit-hard-by-health-care-bill-89347127.html)


So here is a excellent piece from a slightly biased website I stumbled on representing the Party for Socialism and Liberation (honestly they sum up the facts really nicely):

U.S. Congress: nothing but a talk shop
In response, the congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee, headed up by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) demanded that the big corporations turn over their confidential memos and summoned top executives for hearings on the matter.
But once 1,100 pages of memos from four major corporations were submitted, the congressional committee abruptly canceled the hearings and released a memo letting them off the hook.

Why did they do this? Once again, the power of the corporations overwhelmed their lackeys in Congress. The bold move of dumping health care insurance for millions of workers silenced the elected officials, who once again yielded their power to the almighty capitalists. Information getting out about such a brazen corporate plot risked the potential of an outpouring of anger by the people.

Here are some of the facts that these documents revealed:

AT&T produced a PowerPoint presentation entitled "Medical Cost Versus No Coverage Penalty" that promoted the concept of "pay not play." It demonstrated how their costs would fall from $2.4 billion to $600 million if they pay government penalties instead of providing coverage.

A document produced for Verizon, the giant telecommunications company, stated, "Even though the proposed assessment on companies that do not provide health care are material, they are modest when compared to the average cost of health care" and "employers may consider exiting the health care market and send employees to the Exchanges."

In an internal memo from Kenneth Huhn, vice president of labor relations at John Deere, Huhn urged his company to look at the alternative to providing health benefits, which in his words "would amount to denying coverage and just paying the penalty" and that he was sure he already had the ability to make this change under the company’s current labor agreement.

Internal documents also show that the giant anti-union Caterpillar Corporation felt that the penalty option deserved "serious consideration."

Straddled by health care costs won by workers through years of struggle and sacrifice the bosses now see a chance to attack those benefits, using the new health care bill as an excuse

http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=14026&news_iv_ctrl=1261 (http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=14026&news_iv_ctrl=1261)

OK bizarro Michael Moore, nice conspiracy theory.
It is too easy to figure out and is not any type of conspiracy. Or Obama and that bunch are so f^%ing stupid that even I cannot believe they are that dumb.

You were probably under COBRA, Schneed can give you the details about COBRA if necessary. In a nutshell, it's a gov't mandated that you can continue med coverage if you lose your job or get laid off. I think it only lasts for 18 months and you pay the premiums 100%.

As soon as your Dad is eligible for insurance under his new company, I'm sure your Mom will be covered.


COBRA can charge up to 102%, but i think there is currently a subsidy if he is currently unemployed. Also im pretty sure you can continue on COBRA coverage even if you start a new job with insurance benefits, as long as you dont use them. But if your family started COBRA in 2008 then its probably been about 18 months.

I've been on the Verizon health plan for a while now since my Dad worked for Verizon up until 2008 when they layed him off. Needless to say the benefits were top notch. However we did have a few problems after he got laid off. It took us somewhere around 1 or 2 months to renew the policy which they legally had to offer him. So I was basically getting prescriptions and going went on a doctors visit retroactively.

Now apparently everyone in my family is about to get bumped off the coverage plan, though I think part of that is due to my Dad getting a new job. I mean it's obvious why I can't be covered anymore since I'm no longer a student but I was kind of surprised to see my Mother get kicked off the plan to.

You can now be covered under your parents coverage up to age 26. If your mother did not work at verizon they would not offer her any coverage after you dad left.