This morning as I was putting on my makeup and fixing my hair, I started thinking about the millions of working folks in this country that don't have health care. In my divine wisdom (Ha Ha), I had a thought. For all of us that work, we pay FICA tax. We know today that part of our FICA tax dollars go to funding health insurance for the poor and under privledged. I think this is a good thing, but why not have the federal government put part of the money that they take from us in FICA tax and put into an account,then send that money to our employers to help pay for our health care premiums? I think the qualifications should be that you are a full time (40/40+ hour) employee and base the FICA contribution on time of service to a company. For example, let's say you start with a company today, after 90 days, your FICA money could subsidize 10%. After 180 days, 30%, and so on up to the 50% of the health care premium for the insurance.
My thought is that we're already paying FICA taxes, so the working folks could get the money that we're already paying back to us directly. This would also be a good thing for employers, because it could subsidize health care costs and encourage employees to stay long term with a company. Remember, that if you job hop, that you'd have to start back over with the FICA contributions. I think it's also a good thing for the government because with their 'skin in the game' they could possibly be motivated to pass legislation that would help keep or drive down current health care costs.
I'm sure there's holes in this design. Like I said previously, I thought about this while getting ready for work, but in my mind, this is a good place to start.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!1
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3 comments:
I think this is a great idea. The only way I would tweak it is to up the percentages...instead of 10% after 90 days, make it twenty.
My question is this: after the FICA contribution has maxed out, who pays the remaining 50%? Is that a standard? Lets say the 50% premium for an individual runs $400. So the FICA covers $200.00. Does the company cover $160.00 and the employee $40.00?
Also, this cock a mamey system needs to be overhauled. Once you get health insurance, it's usually pretty good. But getting it when you change jobs for xample, sucketh.
Hey John. In my idea, the company that you work for would pay the other 50%. Company's could advertise the healthcare payment as a 'benefit'. The employee could then take the extra money that they were using to subsidise the company portion of their health care insurance and spend it back into the economy.
As for the job hopping portion of the plan, remember, if you plan on going to a new job, you'd try to seek employment with a company that particpates in the plan. Remember the companies that participate would get more people applying for their jobs instead of the companies that don't offer it. Eventually I would think that companies would feel the 'pressure' to join the plan.
I also thought about part time employees who pay FICA. Let's don't leave them out, but if you are a part time employee I'd say that the company only has to offer single coverage plan. If you are full time supporting a family, then you could apply for the family plan. If you have a spouse and one of you has a full time job, then only one of the spouses would have to have the family plan health insurance policy, thus leaving more money in our wallets to spend or invest in this country. I know it's just a pipe dream but I'd love to see something like this happen.
I want to nominate you for an elected office. This is a brilliant plan! If Coach Craddock were still around he would be so proud!
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