Dementia for 2

The company I work for bases the amount I pay for my health insurance on my annual salary. Since I work for a casino, and this has been a mob operation in the past, they automatically add my tips into my paycheck. Which means that as a dealer, I cannot fudge the numbers to benefit me on my taxes. I would not do this but, until recently, the cocktail waitresses, bartenders, and poker dealers were able to. So in essence, they were paying much less for the same insurance as I have.

I am not going to make this post about the health care program our government is trying to get all of us to buy into. I have not read enough of the bill to be able to give a thorough post and an intelligent argument to support my opinion.

The issue I have is this: since they base the amount I pay on how much I work, my insurance rate fluctuates. They cover less each year and I pay more. Now they have changed our prescription drug plan to a mail order drug company. So if I cannot get my medications in 3 month scrips, I have to pay more to get them filled locally. This amount is not applied to my out-or-pocket expenses or my deductible. There are several employees that are going to be paying over one thousand a month for their meds. Something is just wrong about this. The CEO of my company was the highest paid CEO in the gaming industry last year. He made over 90 MILLION dollars. They have cut our benefits, cut our lunches, and made most of the employees part-time so they no longer have any benefits.

I only have one medication that I have to take and this drug company doesn't cover it. My hubs takes 2 meds for chronic pain and since they are narcotics, they cannot legally ship them. He can't even get a 3 month supply for them because of federal government laws concerning the prescribing of narcotics.

So now instead of using my company's insurance, I am looking for private insurance that my hubs and I can afford that will cover our meds. My company offers insurance. I should not be having to make this decision. I am really distraught over this and I know many others are also. If this is the way the future is going to be, it is a dim future for all of us indeed.