Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Obamacare basics

FoxTobias wrote:
July 3, 2013 at 10:02 AM
So, let's recap for the minimum wage worker:

No, you're not getting hired at a wage that barely pays rent, food, and gas to get to work - because of reactionary business owners. If you do get hired, you won't be brought in full-time because it'd require full benefits, which means you'll be stuck at 20 to 30 hours a week - because of preexisting regulation. No, you won't get health insurance, sorry, it costs a little over half of what you make a month to give insurance to you, it's too expensive. If you anger your manager, he'll schedule you during hours you're working a second job so he can fire you for cause if you don't show up - that way they don't have to pay you unemployment. If you get sick enough to go to the hospital, you get let go because you don't have sick days built into your schedule - because you're not a protected class. If you still have medical bills after being let go, you still have to pay them, and you'd best pay them, because your minimum wage employer won't hire you if you have a bad credit report - you become a risk for theft, and allowing them to check your credit is a condition of the hiring application contract. Expect to continue to be treated like an expendable speck in the workforce sandlot - because with unemployment at record levels, you are replaceable with much more 'experienced' workers.

Meanwhile, the people who decide the policies that decide your fate aren't willing to share the cost of your healthcare while they themselves make sure it's provided by the company either directly or through a high enough salary that they can afford it for themselves - all the while calmly explaining that they can't afford to do that for every minimum wage worker they have. They'll try to sympathize with you - after all, they can't afford things these days, either. But they aren't exactly living in a world where the choice is between going to the doctor to have that cough checked out and paying the rent this month, now, are they?

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