Should Health Insurance Be Tied to Your Employer?

Detoxify Success

This is a juicy one this week.

When I first started ZARRELLCO, I was very anxious for several reasons. 

I was asking myself questions like, “what will my health insurance look like? How much will it be? Will it be worse than what I’m used to?”

My wife is self-employed also, so there’s no corporate health insurance plan we can jump on. I gathered as many quotes I could find, and the cheapest option was $1,200 a month with a high deductible. $1,200 a month! We’re in our early 30s, no kids, and thankfully no serious health issues. I went to a few insurance brokers to be sure and they said “best we can do is $1,200”. 

It was like that show Antiques Roadshow. Wild.

I went to the pharmacy without health insurance right after that. I told them I didn’t have insurance and asked how much my prescription would be. They told me it was $1,100 for three months worth, but to hold on. They told me they found a coupon, and the three month supply was only $38. The pharmacist looked at me and chuckled when my eyes and mouth widened at the cost on the screen.

This experience opened my eyes even more to the healthcare system in the United States. The cost of healthcare insurance for a self employed individual almost has them thinking twice about starting their own business. Often, more times than not, people also need ALL of the information on a company’s health, dental, and vision plans because those play a factor in their decision making.

Some companies cover 100% of the monthly premium for the employee. Others cover 100% of the monthly premium for the whole family. Some have you paying over $500 a month.

The problem here too is if you’re out of a job - now what? 

Everyone says, “but there’s COBRA, you can keep your benefits for a little longer if you just pay that.

COBRA is a million bucks!! When I left my last few jobs, I got letters from COBRA for over $800 a month. 

Again, no thanks!

I will admit I am taking a risk here by not carrying insurance, but if insurance is unaffordable or doesn’t make sense for more and more people, resulting in people not being customers anymore, what does that look like for the insurance provider? Is a business with a declining customer base a good business?

Let me know how you feel about this and any personal experiences you’ve had!

Here comes Sami…

Sami’s Take

I’ll warn you, I have strong opinions on this topic and I won’t be holding back for anyone’s sake. 

Before I dive in, I’ll give you a quick backstory- and no, it isn’t a right/left political stance for me. 

I grew up with a chronically ill father who passed from his disease when I was 14-years-old. At that young age I sat with him in the hospital holding him in my arms as he took his last breath. 

That disease was hereditary which means I have it too. I am lucky this disease does not affect me as acutely as it did my father. It is an x-linked genetic mutation that renders males more susceptible to dysfunction than females as females have two x-chromosomes. That doesn’t mean I go without concerns for my health as a result of this disease, however. It is something I have to monitor and watch out for and the memories of my father’s illness and battles with doctors, medications, insurance companies, and disability are never far from my mind. 

If this experience is foreign to you, I invite you to please take a moment to step into my perspective: When I think about how I am going to care for my body's disease I have to first think about my employer. Doesn’t seem weird yet? Let me continue.

I have to see what company they use and what doctors they’ve allowed me to visit in my area. I have to hope my employers choose a company that lets me see the specialists I need, which is tricky sometimes because my disease is rare. I don’t have the luxury of selecting the best doctor for my needs. The amount of times I’ve had to forgo care that I needed because it wasn’t covered by my insurance and my employer didn’t allow for a better option is staggering. 

My employers have become a literal barrier to my health. 

Still struggling to understand the problem? Let’s step up the scenario. Healthcare being tied to employment provides an employer with a disproportionate amount of power over the personal lives of their employees. Imagine being forced to stay in a job because your life literally depends on it? Imagine that employer gaining awareness of that and using it to their advantage to keep your wages low and pass over you for growth opportunities because they know they won’t lose you? Imagine the incredible opportunity for exploitation over that employee. 

Do you want to keep living with the risk of this happening to you? I don’t.

If you’ve been fortunate enough to live a healthy life then you may struggle to understand this. I hope you continue on in that way, but what if something were to happen? 

What if your fortune changed and you did find yourself ill and dependent on health insurance to stay alive or at least to stay functional? What if your only way to be healthy enough to work depends on what insurance your company chose to offer? What if they decided to cut it back to save costs but they haven’t raised your pay enough for you to afford the new premiums and now you can’t afford your medications and/or treatments that make you well enough to work? What if your boss giving you a raise is the only thing standing between you and health?

Yes, I’m aware disability assistance is a thing, but there is not enough time in this newsletter to address the issues with it. I will say this- it’s difficult to qualify and apply even if you do qualify. 

My biggest question for everyone is: why the hell do employers get to maintain such a personal aspect of our lives? 

Do you update your boss on your lab work? How about the quality of your bowel movements? No?! That would be weird?? Then why do they get a say in how we pay for our doctors?!?!?!!?

There was a time I accepted this idea as normal. I was young and didn’t yet know how to question and think critically. Once I started questioning it I have not been able to stop asking why this was ever allowed in the first place. 

The good news is we the people have the power to change this. We have the power to decide it should never be an employer’s business how we manage our health. We have the power to change our system. Before we can do that, we need to be aware of how it works, why it’s a problem, and begin to figure out how it can be re-shaped to better suit our needs. 

Hopefully this newsletter provides a step in that direction.