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Originally posted by rue:
"Federal employees choose from a number of products offered by private insurance companies ...."

And that is the biggest problem. That same set of private insurers who offer good rates and decent policies to federal employees - is the same set of insurers that leaves 40% of everyone else with no coverage at some point during the year. It's called 'cherry picking'. If they HAD to offer coverage to everyone, you'd see those good rates and good policies disappear.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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BadKarma:

I've thought about that, too. I'd like to see it myself. An idea I had a few years ago was similar, in that young doctors and nurses would get reimbursement for their education on a year for year basis by serving on the staff of the local health department clinic, and anyone without insurance could see them, with payment based on what the person makes.

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I've been thinking about some sort of system like this for pretty much ALL professional fields, based more or less on the Army's ROTC program. In short, we pay for your schooling and degree, and you agree to work for us for a term of years at a (slightly) reduced rate relative to the average salary paid for that position.

In other words, a company like Dell pays for me to go to school and get my software engineering degree, and in return I agree to work for Dell for, say, five years upon graduation, at 80% of the average starting salary for that position in that location.

I know there are some who will call it "indentured servitude" and I understand the sentiment, but in this day and age, you're not getting a college degree without some help from somewhere. I know I'd gladly pay 4 or 5 years of my work life to get a degree.

Just something to ponder...

Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by badkarma00:
The simplest way to do this is to open up the Federal Government Employees health care system to everyone, allowing them to pay the same premiums as federal workers. It has nationwide coverage, so it could be applicable to everyone.

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There is no Federal Government Employees health care system. Federal employees choose from a number of products offered by private insurance companies, with different rates and coverage, and the government pays about 3/4 the cost, just like some businesses. The insurers do make pretty good terms available, because they know Federal employees are probably going to stay with them for a long time and because they are paid through payroll deduction, not monthly checks.

Here's the site.
http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/

Here's the rates, showing employee and government contributions.

http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/rates/nonpostalffs2009.pdf



"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Originally posted by badkarma00:
I'd think of it more as an apprenticeship, Kwicko. And I hadn't thought of that. It's a hell of an idea. My hat's off to ya!

Bad_karma
Great and Exalted Grand Pooba, International Brotherhood of Moonshiners, Rednecks, and Good Old Boys.

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Originally posted by badkarma00:
THen they can open the same options to everyone else, can't they?

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by badkarma00:
THen they can open the same options to everyone else, can't they?

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The options aren't that different from what everyone else can get. The only real advantage Federal employees enjoy is that their employer pays 75% of the bill. As noted above, if the feds did that for everyone, it'd cost the government more than half a trillion dollars a year.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by badkarma00:
I'd think of it more as an apprenticeship, Kwicko. And I hadn't thought of that. It's a hell of an idea. My hat's off to ya!

Bad_karma
Great and Exalted Grand Pooba, International Brotherhood of Moonshiners, Rednecks, and Good Old Boys.

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Hey, even left-wing loonies come up with a winner now and then! :)

Thanks for the support - now how do we make it happen? And yes, DO think of it as an apprenticeship or a junior-partnership-in-training program, or whatever works to help sell it. Let's face it, it doesn't look like my dream of a college education for everyone who wants one is going to happen, so maybe this is the next best thing. Either way, probably too late to be of much use to me, but still it's an idea worth exploring. Who knows? Maybe there IS some company out there who's willing to take a chance on someone pushing 50 who tests in the top one percentile, and who carried a solid 4.0 GPA back when he could afford to pay for his own schooling... What would I study? Everything I could - as long as I could apply it toward my degree. Welding? Sure. Constitutional law? Why not? Math and physics? Well, I'd have to brush up, but I'm working on that at work - I've been downloading college math lecture podcasts to listen to at work as a nice change of pace from politics for a bit!

Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

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Originally posted by rue:
"A bit over half a trillion a year."

Which is exactly why the government should do it rather than subsidize insurance profits.

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