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The principles that rule this blog

Principles that will govern my thoughts as I express them here (from my opening statement):


  • Freedom of the individual should be as total as possible, limited only by the fact that nobody should be free to cause physical injury to another, or to deprive another person of his freedoms.
  • Government is necessary primarily to provide those services that private enterprise won't, or won't at a price that people can afford.
  • No person has a right to have his own beliefs on religious, moral, political, or other controversial issues imposed on others who do not share those beliefs.

I believe that Abraham Lincoln expressed it very well:

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot
so well do, for themselves — in their separate, individual capacities.”


Comments will be invited, and I will attempt to reply to any comments that are offered in a serious and non-abusive manner. However, I will not tolerate abusive or profane language (my reasoning is that this is my blog, and so I can control it; I wouldn't interfere with your using such language on your own!)

If anyone finds an opinion that I express to be contrary to my principles, they are welcome to point this out. I hope that I can make a rational case for my comments. Because, in fact, one label I'll happily accept is rationalist.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The ridiculousness of COBRA

My wife, until very recently, worked at a store in the Borders chain, and became unemployed when they closed the store (as well as about 1/3 of the stores in the U. S., but about ½ of the stores in this area.) This weekend, she received a letter from Aetna, which runs the health insurance plans at Borders. She was offered the chance to continue her health insurance under COBRA, for about $400 a month.

How anyone could expect anyone to opt into this amazes me. Her unemployment compensation comes to a bit over $200 a week. That means she'd have to spend ½ of her income to get health insurance!

COBRA may have been devised as a way to provide health insurance for the unemployed, but it is a joke. You have only about ½ of the income, but you have to cover the employer's share as well, meaning you'd have to pay double the amount you did as an employed person on half the income. This legislation makes no sense. It does not really serve its purpose, but solely serves to give the illusion that health insurance for the unemployed exists.

It's issues like this that need to be addressed.

2 comments:

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