Welcomed to the ranks of the unemployed...

This time it is official. I am laid off. At least the severance is decent.

Time to batten down the hatches, and go into conserve mode. Last time I went through this (almost 12 years ago) it was 51 weeks before I found another job. Of course, 9/11 happened one week after I was laid of then.

I have some special circumstances which I will not mention on this site, I really needed that insurance. Ah well, time to find out how good Obama care really is. This is not a license to go political on your views on the medical insurance, but looks like I'm going to be one of the people that will need it. The fact that rejection of pre-existing conditions are no longer allowed is going to be a God send.

Looks like I'll be day shift. I'm going to try to keep a positive attitude while I can.

So it came down to this... I'm sorry, Bill.

I hope there are positive things in the story. You told none.

Tell us if there is anything you need.

Best of luck, better luck than I had.

Going back to days is no small deal. The numbers for illness/death for people on 3rd is pretty significant.

Been there a time or two. It's no fun. Best of luck, Bill.

Sorry to hear that..Things aren't looking very good on my end either! My student list is shrinking, other instructors believe it's a cycle that'll change shortly.. Good luck!!

I've walked several miles in your shoes. Good luck my friend.

Sorry to hear this happened, Bill. I sincerely hope you can make ends meet and find a new job sometime very soon.

Best wishes,
Matt

Sorry to hear about that Bill. Maybe it's time to consider having a much more relaxed (retired?) lifestyle now doing what you want, albeit with less income and cutting back a bit on spending. Income's not everything.

Not fun. I hope this wasn't because of Gov shut down. Here at the University it could effect me as well.

I'm told that Financial Aid, work status for International Students are being affected.

I have 9 Part Time hourly People, who 3 of the International Students, but all need Financial Aid.

Across the board, eventually it will cost the University Money's. Even though we rely heavily on Donation for our department. Other Departments needs and of the University these, Departments may confiscate funds from our Budget to fulfill their operations. They rely on State Money, which a portion is received from the Gov as Education etc.

Utah has been keeping a tight Budget. The University has followed suit, even still I'm not confident that if this Gov Shutdown lingers, just what will be the cost?

I hear ya Bill, I was laid off quite a few times in my career.

But, back in those days; jobs were a lot easier to get. Just as hard to qualify, though.

My music money, helped out in those times.

Also, it helped being good enough at two Trades.

Bill_Marsden said:

Going back to days is no small deal. The numbers for illness/death for people on 3rd is pretty significant.

Click to expand...

I don't understad. Are you unemployed or just changing shifts?

Yes.......

Bill_Marsden said:

Yes.......

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@Brownout,

I think it's the first one.

If I don't have to work morning shift, then I can sleep normal hours.

Bill_Marsden said:

If I don't have to work morning shift, then I can sleep normal hours.

Click to expand...

I was ill for about 8 years, it took it's toll on me, having to sleep upright, and if your part time the health insurance cost's is overwhelming. I'm not sure if this is the case. I worked 3 part time jobs for 10yrs just to pay the bills.

I needed a surgery that would cost in excess of $10,000us without coverage back and because of the pre-existing clause I couldn't get it. It almost killed me.

I still have problems that require medication that in the end, will kill me.

My wife has MS I have to work at a place that provides Insurance for full time employees.

It becomes much more difficult to backward in time rather than foreword. I can't work the way I use too. Most young people don't get it.

My condolence, I know what it's like to loose something you desperately need.

kv

Bill ,you should know that your area has the highest rate of employment in the

country. I hope the knowledge from your work and the Forum helps you get

employment right away. I have found that being trustworthy has got me two

separate in the door things to built on. Getting the cash to flow is a whole new

world. Every thing don't have to about electronics ,but electronics that is

automated is all around new adventures. In my case being trusted to do no

harm to existing electronics means a lot. I am sure the guys will have a lot of

good information ,some of which will be by pm. Good luck on getting employment

right away.

loosewire said:

Bill ,you should know that your area has the highest rate of employment in the country.

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http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm

While at 6.4% (official) unemployment it is noticably better than the 7.7% (official) national average, it is no where near the highest. In fact, in a ranking of the 372 metropolitan areas tracked by the U.S. Burea of Labor Statistics, it is ranked 97th. The #1 slot goes to Bismark, ND with a 2.5% unemployment rate.

At the other end of the spectrum, when you get below #332 the unemployment rates are 10% or more. They stay below 15% except for the last two, which are El Centro, CA at 26.1% and Yuma, AZ at 34.5%.

Bill_Marsden said:

This time it is official. I am laid off. At least the severance is decent.

Time to batten down the hatches, and go into conserve mode. Last time I went through this (almost 12 years ago) it was 51 weeks before I found another job. Of course, 9/11 happened one week after I was laid of then.

I have some special circumstances which I will not mention on this site, I really needed that insurance. Ah well, time to find out how good Obama care really is. This is not a license to go political on your views on the medical insurance, but looks like I'm going to be one of the people that will need it. The fact that rejection of pre-existing conditions are no longer allowed is going to be a God send.

Looks like I'll be day shift. I'm going to try to keep a positive attitude while I can.

Click to expand...

Trying to stay non-political.

Almost all states had insurance pools for those that couldn't get employer or individual insurance. I know Texas did. In Colorado it was called CoverColorado. I was on CoverColorado for about three years. The cost was about 50% higher than comparable individual coverage in the private market for someone in excellent health. That certainly didn't seem unreasonable to me. Furthermore, it was comparable to, and often less than, what companies often paid for group heath coverage. This makes sense when you consider that group policies can't deny based on pre-existing conditions.

For me, it started out at $325/mo (instead of $200/mo on the private market). The cost of the group insurance from my employer was $380/mo for an employee my age with no dependents (that was the cost to the employer, who in my case paid the entire premium). The CoverColorado plan was an HSA plan with a $2000 deductible and then with a 20% copay until my total out-of-pocket, including the initial $2000 reached $4000 after which it was 100%. The only requirement for acceptance was that you weren't eligible for employer-based group insurance and that you had been denied covered from a private insurer.

Before that, I had been paying for insurance from my previous employer under COBRA (well, actually under State Continuation since COBRA doesn't apply to employers as small as they are) and that was $830/mo for an HSA plan with a $7000 deductible (and 100% coverage after that). Now, that plan also covered my wife and child whereas CoverColorado is strictly individual plans.

After COBRA ran out, we went without insurance on my wife and daughter for a while and when we went to get it she had been without insurance for too long (more than 61 days) and so wasn't able to get it due to gallbladder surgery within the prior couple of years. Had we gotten insurance on her right away it would have cost about $150/mo for her and our daughter, but now she would have to get a CoverColorado plan (about $250/mo since she was younger) and we would have had to find an individual plan for just our daughter, which turned out to cost about as much as the plan for both of them would have cost. The total would have worked out to about $750/mo. So I hired her and got group insurance under my company, which started out at $591. It was another HSA plan but it had a $10,000 deductible (and 100% coverage after that).

As you can see, the high-risk pools for which you couldn't be turned down were quite comparably priced -- it was actually better insurance for about 20% higher cost. We would have been money ahead if I had not taken the easy way and used COBRA and, instead, gone immediately into the high risk pool. If we had done that (and gotten my wife and daughter on private insurance right away, which she could have gotten since she hadn't had the gallbladder surgery yet) our total monthly premiums would have been under $500.

I just went and checked CoverColorado and here are the rates for someone my age (48) who chooses the HSA plan:
Standard: $437/mo
Income/assets below $50k: $356/mo
Income/assets below $40k: $312/mo
If you choose a non-HSA plan with a $1000 deductible, the standard rate is $650/mo and if you choose a $10,000 deductible the standard rate is $256/mo ($180/mo for low income).

With the imposition of ObamaCare, all state high risk pools will be shut down (a requirement of the law) effective Jan 01, 2014. Even if you "like your present coverage and want to keep it." I just went and looked at the costs under the new exchange and coverage comparable to what I had under CoverColorado is about $500, but it's a bit hard to tell what is comparable and what isn't, so it is probably a range from about $450 to $550 -- so in the ballpark. Certainly wouldn't cost me any less than under CoverColorado.

But quite telling is that the absolute cheapest plan for someone my age under Obamacare is $248 (compare to $256 for CoverColorado) and has a $10,000 deductible but higher co-insurance and co-pays (but not by much). So these are pretty comparable. At the other end of the spectrum, the absolute most expensive plan is $712/mo (compare to $650/mo for CoverColorado) and has a $2000 deductible (compare to $1000 for CoverColorado).

So, to a reasonable degree, the premiums and coverages under ObamaCare are comparable to those under CoverColorado, the high-risk pool that people that were "uninsurable" were guaranteed insurance under. This appears to hold true for family coverage. The lowest coverage for our family would be $524/mo (compare to the $591/mo we were paying with my business group plan) but the deductibles and annual max are somewhat higher. At the top end, the highest priced coverage under the exchange is $1500/mo which is roughly comparable (but with a $2000 deductible instead of a $1000 deductible and a considerably higher annual out-of-pocket max) to the coverage I have now, for which my employer pays $1300/mo.

So what does this tell us? That under the new exchanges, EVERY ONE will be paying what previously people who were "uninsurable" paid (or more). Meaning that people that "couldn't get insurance" before (who actually could, it just cost about 50% more) can now get roughly comparable insurance at roughly comparable rates while healthy people now get to pay the same 50% higher rates.

The bottom line for you, Bill, is that you might want to run out and see if you can still get insurance under the Texas high risk pool (which will also be going away but which I think you can stay under for the duration of your policy, which is one year in most states) as you might well get better coverage at a lower price. But, I suspect that it won't make a huge difference for you since, based on Colorado, the coverages and premiums for the ObamaCare policies are comparable to the old high risk pools. It really will depend on whether Texas just happen to have stronger subsidies for its high-risk pool.

There. I think I stayed pretty apolitical.

However it plays out, I wish you the best and that your stint of unemployment isn't too long.

WBahn said:

With the imposition of ObamaCare, all state high risk pools will be shut down (a requirement of the law) effective Jan 01, 2014.

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That's baloney. I can find no reference to a requirement of the ACA that state high risk pools are shut down. The Texas Legislature decided on their own to close thier state run pool.

Florida has no such pool, which left me with no viable option for obtaining health insurance, even though my 'pre-existing condition' hasn't existed for 5 years. Under the ACA, I can finally get the coverage I've been denied.