re: #27 Justanotherhuman

Was talking to a friend of mine who is a contractor for the post office. She claims they don’t offer health coverage. She went online and bought some ins through .gov and got the cheapest policy (subsidized) which has a $5K deductible and for which she pays zilch. She makes too much money to qualify for Medicaid, evidently.

I asked her why she doesn’t inquire about group coverage through the PO and suggested she might have signed off on getting any when she was first hired. She actually works for the PO, not for some company that contracts their own hires out to the PO, but they’re considered “independent” contractors—it seems like a weird arrangement. I can see that she might have rejected coverage when she first started as she is considered PT and doesn’t make a lot of money, but it doesn’t make sense that she would have to get such a crappy policy on her own.

I told her to check w/her supervisor to see if she could get group coverage which would probably be better with less of a deduction, and perhaps would be affordable for her.

Where’s our expert on ACA, Decatur Deb?

In my industry we hire a LOT of temps, who are nominally employees of the agency we get them from. Some agencies offer health benefits, some don’t. I believe this will change when the employer mandate kicks in.

This may have the side effect of reducing what I see as the abuse of the idea of ‘temporary employees’ in the industry, where it’s essentially openended till the temp makes it clear he/she’s entertaining other offers. If the temp agencies have to raise their rates because they need to provide health insurance, then cost of a temp versus a permanent employee become more equal, so why not either hire as a permanent to start, or at least convert after a lot shorter period.