Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim in CT
"No, it's math. Let's say your healthcare cost only 10,000 a year. If you're paying 5 wait now 10 percent of that per year the few percent of a 30,000 dollar salary isn't going to mean squat."
Using your assumptions, let's say one makes $30,000 a year. Health insurance costs $10,000 a year. And the county is asking that your share of paying for that, increases from 5% to 10% of the cost.
Today, your share of healthcare costs is 5% x $10,000 = $500 a year.
Going forward, your share is 10% x $10,000 = $1,000 a year. So your net pay is reduced by $500 a year, since your out-of-pocket expenses have increased by $500 a year.
Now, at some point (article didn't say how long it would take) your $30,000 salary increases by $14.5%. That is an annual raise of $4,350. That raise is offset by the $500 more a year you pay for healthcare, so the net annual increase is $4,350 - $500 = $3,850.
To someone making $30,000 a year, that increase is certainly not "squat'".
What did I miss, Spence?
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You didn't do your homework. The 10% number is an average of all Will County employees. The county uses a progressive scale so the lower earners pay less and the higher earners pay more, but the proposal had the lower earners paying a higher ratio of their salary to health care.
Not every county employee is part of the union and I think we'd both agree it's a safe wager that the union represents the bulk of the lower earners.
So in effect the deal appears to have been disproportionately impacting the lower wage unionized employees and as such they didn't like it.
-spence
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