who here has been saddled by an employer-mandated 'health savings account?'

[MnFats]

with a previously almost OK health insurance benefit, the company comes up with this atrocity and tries to put it to the employees without warning, leaving many shocked that they can no longer afford to work there?


besides working for a single-payer system, or forming a union (unlikely in this case) what do you do about it?


too, which candidates are strongest on health care? Til today, I hadn't been paying all that much attention, I'm ashamed to say...

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. How is that thing setup?

Is it earning interest that the employer gets to tap?

[CAG]

2. Most large companies are getting tired of carrying the majority of the

burden of health insurance premiums as they rise 4-6 times the rate of inflation each year. HSA's are the repukes answer, which works.... as long as you and every member of your family stay perfectly healthy.;-)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. not me... I wouldn't fall for that shit.

I said NO WAY... It wouldn't cover those who really need it, and showed him how much it would have cost his (fellow employee) son for his hernia surgery.

Repugs don't seem to understand anything unless it hits them in the wallet.

Edwards is the strongest on Healthcare, imo.
http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/health-care/

[Lasher]

4. Salin predicted this 2 years ago.

Here's an article salin wrote about it back then.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=210673

This is sinister and deliberate. Companies are conspiring with one another and the government to do it. The goal is to end up with you and all others like you on a catastrophic-only high deductible medical plan where neither the government nor your employer contributes anything. Companies try to make it look like they're doing more than acting as a go-between and they might actually contribute something when they first convert to such an arrangement. But ultimately this is where things are going.

I'm sorry to say that Kucinich is the only Democrat who wants true (single payer) universal health care. You can compare candidates on this and other issues here:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/01/candidates-on-the-issues.html

[burythehatchet]

5. the greatest travesty in the health care finance system

Its the concept that furthers the unraveling of the system of insurance more than anything I've seen since the perversion of the HMO concept.

Thankfully, its dying out before it took hold. Conceptually, HSA's are the polar opposite of single payer. As an added bonus, they create generational financial warfare. Youngsters who don't use medical services opt to save the cash. Elders, who rely disproportionately more upon insurance, are forced to incur huge expenses.

You are unfortunate to be in an HSA. Though you know that already.