hillarys garnishments

Hillary's Wage Garnishments

Hillary Clinton finally admitted the obvious this morning, her health

care plan means garnishing the wages of those who cannot afford high

insurance premiums. Hillary Clinton's health care plan would force

many low wage workers into high deductible health insurance plans.

This is the wrong approach on so many levels. Part of the problem with

the health care system is a lack of preventative care. High deductible

plans are set up in a way that forces people to think twice before

going to the doctor. A lump may go unchecked for months, and a routine

outpatient surgery may turn into the total disaster of chemotherapy.

Worse than that, for those who are currently uninsured, the wage

garnishments could have disastrous effects. To an average worker

making $30,000 a year, the $115 per month in premiums that Clinton

would garnish represents 6 percent of their net income. Under

Clinton's plan, people who are struggling to pay their mortgage or

rent would have face a de facto 6 percent tax increase.

And what do these people get for their increased taxes? Not much. The

$115 per month in premiums Hillary would garnish buys a 40 year old

non-smoker a plan with a $2,500 per year deductible. If a disaster

strikes, and their medical expenses exceed $2,500, the person will

start to see a benefit. However, most people do not see a disaster in

a typical year (if they did insurance would collapse).

Most people just want to be able to go to the doctor for the flu and

to be able to afford the medicine the doctor tells them to take. Most

people just want to be able to go to the hospital if they break their

arm without being forced to pay a leg when the bill is due. But for

these items, which run in the hundreds of dollars, Hillary's mandate

won't help.

In fact, it'll likely make the situation worse. A person without

insurance may be able to go to a doctor when they are sick; they may

put aside a few hundred dollars a year for "miscellaneous medical

expenses." But if this person is facing a 6 percent de facto tax

increase in the form of a "wage garnishment for health care," and ends

up with a high deductible plan which doesn't cover the mundane

expenses they face during the year, they'll skip going to the doctor.

And a mundane ailment unchecked can quickly turn into a catastrophic

illness.

Hillary's health care mandate is a bad idea. It takes money out of the

pockets of working Americans and hands it to the insurance companies.

Most working Americans are unlikely to see any real benefit out of

Hillary's plan. The high deductible plans that will inevitably arise

out of a mandate will discourage, as they are designed to do, people

from getting a routine ache checked. When in doubt, realize that the

candidate of the health insurance industry is almost always bad news

for average American patients.

The good news is that health care mandates may be on a sinking

campaign. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are now tied in the polls.

Hillary Clinton's support seems to cap out at 45% of Democrats. One

interesting item in a USA Today/Gallup poll was the difference between

the candidates favorable and unfavorable ratings. Hillary Clinton is

viewed favorably by 48% of Americans and unfavorably by 48% of

Americans. Barack Obama is viewed favorably by 59% of Americans and

unfavorably by just 32% of Americans. Who can win in November should

be obvious to my fellow Democrats by now. Hillary's wage garnishments