Posted on 11/12/2004 2:16:04 PM PST by Between the Lines
"non-customers"?
Funny, but that doesn't bother me in the slightest.
I work for a mega insurance company. They do something similar. Deductibles and out of pocket maximums are tiered based on salary. It's like a punishment for being successful!
the insurance is just set as a percentage of pay - not communist.
Fair? --- just like taxes.
Look at the larger picture here:
If the Upper Management decide to opt out for the cash vs.
coverage, and buy their own plan.
The rates on the Lower employees will increase to where they can no longer afford them.
Perhaps that is the plan!
I personally think that it should be even across the board.
Why punish the one who has moved up in ranks with the company. Did they not pay for their education, and experience to climb to their current Job Level.
Why is it if your successful, then you have to punished for that success?
No, it's a descriptive parable, not a prescriptive one.
In addition, God has unlimited "wages" he can pay (regardless of your opinion on what the "wages" are analagous to). Corporations definitely do not have unlimited resources to provide health care for their employees.
Two more points: first, the commands in the Bible are to believers and churches, not corporations.
Second, God only honors giving done out of love, not mandatory giving.
Thus, any analogy of that parable to this story is completely wrong and out of context.
If I go out tomorrow and buy a new car for $30,000, I won't get all bent out of shape if I find out that someone else paid only $29,500. If the $30,000 car was acceptable for me before I found out about his extra $500 discount, then it ought to be OK afterward, too.
I'm in an unusual situation; I'm a "non-customer" at every bank, due to my circumstances.
You are describing this case from the perspective of the employer. I agree with everything you've posted in that regard, but my whole point was made from the perspective of an employee who believes he is being "wronged" in some way just because he's being asked to pay more than someone else.
I'd also add that the parable in question is directed not at "believers" and "churches" in question, but at the early followers of Christ who were Jewish converts -- to illustrate that these converts held no different a place in the eyes of God than the Gentiles who became Christians (the laborers who were called to the vineyard late in the day) even though they were never part of the "Chosen People."
It sounds to me like employees at Wachovia aren't being asked, it's either pay more or you're on your own.
I'd have no problem if they were asked to pay more but had the opportunity to decline and pay the same.
I'd much rather see a company system where if an employee is 20% overweight, has 25% excess body fat, smokes, or engages in any lifestyle considered as high risk, they're charged premiums accordingly - much like the smoker and life insurance premiums...
The employer is simply asking the employees to pick up some of the increases in their compensation that the employer has no control over. I don't think that's beyond reason here . . . and we're not talking about slaves; the employees are free to take their skills and talents elsewhere whenever they please.
So if you were charged $2.50 for gas, yet someone else is charge $1.80 only because they make less money, would that be fair?
Your argument that the insurance plan is fair because it is just like our unfair tax system doesn't work.
I always have the option of buying my gas somewhere else, don't I?
Suppose the gas station charges $2.00 per gallon. Your company agrees to reimburse you $1.25 per gallon and to reimburse your lower-paid co-workers $1.50 per gallon. You can complain about it all you want, but when you realize that you are getting a gallon of gas for $0.75 you understand just how idiotic your objections are.
Once again, they're not asking.
I agree that they have other options. Fortunately, they don't even have to quit their job. Thanks to the brilliance of Dubya, those highly compensated employees can just open a Health Savings Account.
Maybe, but the last interview I went to I was offered one insurance option - yes or no... There are no other gas stations (and btw, if one gas station charges based on income what makes you think that the other stations won't know you make more and charge you the higher amount too?)
It's a private company and they can do what they want. I like it.
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