# I despise Trump but would vote for him over someone who wants to take my family's insurance away **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 17, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-despise-trump-but-would-vote-for-him-over-someone-who-wants-to-take-my-familys-insurance-away/840357 "2019-09-17T02:00:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 266
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-despise-trump-but-would-vote-for-him-over-someone-who-wants-to-take-my-familys-insurance-away/840357/266 "2019-09-30T14:06:08Z")
To x-post something I wrote in another thread. T’was a lot of work, so… > [@I get the argument for Medicare for all, but what is the argument for abolishing private insurance?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-the-argument-for-medicare-for-all-but-what-is-the-argument-for-abolishing-private-insurance/838057/5): > > **Mathematically** : Insurance is a pooled risk program. _For the insureds_, the pool works better the larger it is and the more representative of the population of a whole. In the arena of health care, where there does seem to be a general consensus towards the necessity of universal health insurance coverage (100% of the population covered), having private insurance breaks these pools apart, decreasing their financial stability, increasing the costs on the enrollees, and imposes additional costs by the duplication of effort - from staff to executive - needed to run 6+ major insurance organizations instead of 1. > > **Personal** : Delores Claireborne works at The Texas Mental Health Association, a non-profit which is the major mental health services provider for a three-county area in Texas centered around Cotulla. Delores gets paid 26 times per year, has 1 child, and per her divorce agreement from that drunken bastard, has to provide the child with health insurance. > > Delores has the following employee+child options (Plan, per paycheck cost, annual premium, deductible, Out of Pocket Max, amount paid out of pocket before insurance covers 100% of medical expenses) > > 1. High Deductible, $234.06, $6,085.56, $5,000.00, $5,000, $11,085.56) > 2. Medium Deductible, $295.34, $7,678.84, $2,500, $5,500, $13,178.84) > 3. Low Deductible, $362.57, $9,426.82, $1,000, $4,000, $13,426.82) > > Oh, in addition to this, her employer covers $4,919.78 for her medical and life insurance. Group life is $20/month/enrollee (it’s cheap), so the employer pays, _in addition to the 2nd item in each of the rows above_, $4,679.78. > > Total cost of insurance if Delores never goes to the doctor and has the cheapest plan: $10,765.34 ($6,085.56 out of Delores’s pocket) > Total cost of insurance if Delores has $5,000 of expenses: $15,765.34 ($11,085.56 out of Delores’s pocket) > Total cost of insurance if Delores has $700,000 of expenses: $15,765.34 ($11,085.56 out of Delores’s pocket) > > Median household income in Cotulla is $34,567 - Delores earns $40k pre-tax, $37,500 after tax. > > Out of pocket health insurance premium as a % of take-home income: 16.22% > Out of pocket health insurance as a % of take-home income, assuming Delores hits the out of pocket max: 29.56% > > Notes: > > 1. These are real numbers. Names are made up, I mixed and matched clients, we do business in Cotulla but not with anything called “Texas Mental… whatever”. But the numbers are real. > 2. This is, in no way, unusual for small business group medical insurance rates for the state of Texas. > 3. The employer is rather generous here - they effectively pay for the employees insurance\*, meaning _this is the cost to cover her 1 child_. > 4. The most expensive plan: $763.20 per pay period, $19,843.20, annually for employee, $24,522.98 total annual premium > > The above is repeated… [4.7 million times](https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/2018-Small-Business-Profiles-TX.pdf)… across Texas. > > That’s my argument against. \*The minimum an employer must contribute is 50% of the premium of the lowest-cost offered employee-only plan. So if there’s one “we don’t cover anything, but if you get in a situation where you have to pay $800k, you’ll be glad your max out of pocket was just $7,900” plan for, say, $249/month, in Texas, the employer can offer a mere _$125/month_ in benefit contribution to each and every employee and still be in compliance. If you need a $6,000 emp+child plan, in this situation your employer can pay $1,500 and you pay $4,500. **Just for the insurance!** --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-despise-trump-but-would-vote-for-him-over-someone-who-wants-to-take-my-familys-insurance-away/840357)._