No more insurance for part time team members!

[Retail Girl]

The spin in the first few paragraphs of this will make you dizzy: http://www.abullseyeview.com/2014/01/talking-health-care-with-evp-of-human-resources-jodee-kozlak/

I bet she got a bonus for those big savings. I feel sorry for some of my tm's who are part time, have medical issues & over 55.

Pre-existing conditions and age are no longer factors that can be taken into consideration.

 

[Retail Girl]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it's my understanding that less than 10% of employees used this anyway. The new coverage will be cheaper than what Target could have provided, and they are getting a $500 check. So what's the issue? For everyone here bitching, who actually used this?

Ten percent is still 36,000 employees....and many here do use and depend on it, by the responses in this thread. The health insurance is one of the main reasons I'm at Spot. A $500 check would have been nice, but I would have ended up on Medicaid and lost all of my doctors in the process. That's a big "ouch."

 

[oath2order]

Think of it as the beginning of Universal Coverage rather than depending on the government.
Now all we have to do is make sure the Republicans don't get back into power so they can repeal it.

I think you meant "We have to get the republicans back in power so this communist crap gets repealed".

BAHAHAHAHA. Communist.

My coworkers are gonna have a laugh at this.

Did Wal-Mart drop healthcare for their PT team members?? Nope.

From what I understand, they stopped allowing new people to join, only allowing those who have been with the company to keep it.

Better than nothing I guess :/ I mean, yeah, it's bad for any new people but at least they didn't screw over the current employees.

 

[commiecorvus]

Think of it as the beginning of Universal Coverage rather than depending on the government.
Now all we have to do is make sure the Republicans don't get back into power so they can repeal it.

I think you meant "We have to get the republicans back in power so this communist crap gets repealed".

Dude, I grew up with communists, this is so far from communism that pretty clear you were sleeping through government class or only use one source of information for all your news.

Please check out some of the other countries and the systems they use to offer health care to their citizens.
Just about about everyone does a better job than we do.
And before you tell me about people coming over her to get surgeries because it takes forever to get them in their own counties, those are the rich and the rich can always go where they want.
The average Canadian wouldn't trade us for period, neither would the Germans, English, Australians, Israels, or Swiss.

 

[Retail Girl]

Our rich people have started going to South Korea for some surgeries.

 

[RightArm]

Hrmmm.... reworded post in another attempt. 😛

 

[GlobalJ]

Think of it as the beginning of Universal Coverage rather than depending on the government.
Now all we have to do is make sure the Republicans don't get back into power so they can repeal it.

I think you meant "We have to get the republicans back in power so this communist crap gets repealed".

I get very passionate and hostile when I debate, and I kinda like this place, so all I'll say is this. Want communism? Go to Cuba, China, North Korea. Also, we are one of the only industrialized countries in the world without (true) UH. Obamacare is not perfect, far from it. But I'm an optimist. I'd like to hope that it will one day turn into some kind of decent and truly affordable health care. So yes, we need the republicans to go, they hate anything good.

On topic, I do agree what Spot is doing is a dick move, but they don't care about ethics.

 

[RightArm]

Please check out some of the other countries and the systems they use to offer health care to their citizens.
Just about about everyone does a better job than we do.
And before you tell me about people coming over her to get surgeries because it takes forever to get them in their own counties, those are the rich and the rich can always go where they want.
The average Canadian wouldn't trade us for period, neither would the Germans, English, Australians, Israels, or Swiss.

*sigh* Let me try this again... somehow hit the wrong button and canceled my post. I do not know about the Germans, the Australians, the Israelis, or the Swiss BUT I do know about the English because I have friends in the UK. To say "everyone does it better than we do" is not necessarily true. In fact, while I haven't looked at the health care systems in the other countries you've mentioned I would hazard a guess that none of us have it worked out perfectly. Would they trade us for our system... probably not... do they think they have the best system in the world.... also, probably not. I have one friend in the UK that told me they have 1 hospital for every 5,000 people and it took her an entire year to get a common test to find out what was wrong with her. A test she would have most definitely received inside of a month here. I was told by another British friend that our concept that they don't have medical insurance is skewed. Because they don't have access to as many hospitals and medical professionals as we do... if you have a life threatening condition you HAVE to buy into medical insurance to get bumped ahead of the line in the event of an emergency. I was also told that since their doctors are not getting paid anywhere near what ours are at the moment it's a struggle for them to rise above the debt of medical school. For this reason, when medical students graduate they often seek another country of employment so they can get the money they need to get over that hurdle and have a good life on the other side. The end result is fewer and fewer doctors available and more and more people being serviced by one hospital. I am concerned for our country that the direction we're heading may end up putting us in the same boat. Is there any other country out there who actually has a system we should all emulate?

 

[RhettB]

I recall Obama saying "If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it". Keep believing his diatribe. This is why the Republicans need to take things back over.

 

[3LetterDevil]

Please check out some of the other countries and the systems they use to offer health care to their citizens.
Just about about everyone does a better job than we do.
And before you tell me about people coming over her to get surgeries because it takes forever to get them in their own counties, those are the rich and the rich can always go where they want.
The average Canadian wouldn't trade us for period, neither would the Germans, English, Australians, Israels, or Swiss.

Is there any other country out there who actually has a system we should all emulate?

Must be something with "Countries that start with 'S'"....supposedly, Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore & South Korea are pretty good....Australia too. I just read an article not too long ago about the countries with the most efficient health care systems in the world and those are the ones that I remember.

 

[lovecats]

Think of it as the beginning of Universal Coverage rather than depending on the government.
Now all we have to do is make sure the Republicans don't get back into power so they can repeal it.

I think you meant "We have to get the republicans back in power so this communist crap gets repealed".

I get very passionate and hostile when I debate, and I kinda like this place, so all I'll say is this. Want communism? Go to Cuba, China, North Korea. Also, we are one of the only industrialized countries in the world without (true) UH. Obamacare is not perfect, far from it. But I'm an optimist. I'd like to hope that it will one day turn into some kind of decent and truly affordable health care. So yes, we need the republicans to go, they hate anything good.

On topic, I do agree what Spot is doing is a dick move, but they don't care about ethics.

Ok, I already have a headache and feel like someone punched me in my stomach from finding out that I won't have insurance this year thru Spot, and now you just told me I need to go because I hate anything good. Yes, I'm a conservative Republican. Thanks so much for making me feel so much better now.

 

[TiedAndDropped]

The ACA has had its problems rolling out, but I think it will come to be seen as much better than the way things used to be. A lot more people will get health insurance, and many will pay less than they had been paying.

Getting health insurance through your job is a bad idea, and the sooner this changes the better. Think of how many people have been locked into a job they hate because they can't take a chance on losing insurance for even a short time.

By the way, the ACA is "insurance company-run health care", not "government-run health care."

We'd all be better off with single payer. Medicare is single-payer, SOCIALIST, and I and most seniors love it.

 

[JustJoe]

I'm right in the middle of all of this. As of 1/1, my average hours are 29.40. My average hours over the past 5 months are right around 35. On average I have been gaining 1.5 hours a month and probably won't hit the FT barrier that Spot put in place for health insurance until AFTER open enrollment closes.

...and I'm on the PT plan. FML.

 

[TiedAndDropped]

I'm right in the middle of all of this. As of 1/1, my average hours are 29.40. My average hours over the past 5 months are right around 35. On average I have been gaining 1.5 hours a month and probably won't hit the FT barrier that Spot put in place for health insurance until AFTER open enrollment closes.

...and I'm on the PT plan. FML.

Just a warning - the "average hours" that determine your status is not the "average hours" on your paycheck. They use the average of all of 2013. The number on the paycheck is not the same thing. HR can look up the right number.

 

[Retail Girl]

Think of it as the beginning of Universal Coverage rather than depending on the government.
Now all we have to do is make sure the Republicans don't get back into power so they can repeal it.

I think you meant "We have to get the republicans back in power so this communist crap gets repealed".

I get very passionate and hostile when I debate, and I kinda like this place, so all I'll say is this. Want communism? Go to Cuba, China, North Korea. Also, we are one of the only industrialized countries in the world without (true) UH. Obamacare is not perfect, far from it. But I'm an optimist. I'd like to hope that it will one day turn into some kind of decent and truly affordable health care. So yes, we need the republicans to go, they hate anything good.

On topic, I do agree what Spot is doing is a dick move, but they don't care about ethics.

Ok, I already have a headache and feel like someone punched me in my stomach from finding out that I won't have insurance this year thru Spot, and now you just told me I need to go because I hate anything good. Yes, I'm a conservative Republican. Thanks so much for making me feel so much better now.

That's the crux of the issue right here. Like I said yesterday, every other day of the week, I will go toe to toe with anyone regarding the ACA. But for now, people have lost their health insurance because Spot chose to cut it. And whatever your ideology is, that is going to hurt...a lot....some more than others.

So maybe this isn't the best place to debate about what could or could not be and instead focus on the facts: what we have in this country is currently what we have, and 36,000 people are now left scrambling to figure out what in the hell to do next.

 

[Retail Girl]

I'm right in the middle of all of this. As of 1/1, my average hours are 29.40. My average hours over the past 5 months are right around 35. On average I have been gaining 1.5 hours a month and probably won't hit the FT barrier that Spot put in place for health insurance until AFTER open enrollment closes.

...and I'm on the PT plan. FML.

Part time and full time status is determined once a year and has already been determined for the following year. You now start over fresh trying to make full time status for next year...you cannot change from one to the other mid-year for any benefits purpose.

 

[commiecorvus]

RightArm, I agree with you somewhat on the British healthcare system.
Back when Thatcher was PM she chopped it to bits and Tony Blair despite all his promises didn't do much to fix it.

This is a good piece from NPR on the German healthcare system.
It's very fair, everyone pays 8% of their income for healthcare, however little or much that is, to private insurance companies.
Since on the average Americans spend 18% on medical care this isn't a bad deal considering what you get.
There are no copays, not out of area doctors, none of that.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91971406

 

[InStalker]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it's my understanding that less than 10% of employees used this anyway. The new coverage will be cheaper than what Target could have provided, and they are getting a $500 check. So what's the issue? For everyone here bitching, who actually used this?

It's not cheaper in every case. For me, I'll be losing my benefits from Target. I checked the healthcare exchange yesterday after work and the cheapest, bottom-of-the-barrel plan will cost more than 4 times what I was paying for my Target coverage. And I may have made just barely enough to disqualify me from Medicaid coverage so the healthcare exchange might be my only option since my second job employs too few people to be required to offer healthcare insurance.

But the argument then becomes, "Sure it's more expensive at first but you'll qualify for tax subsidies." My response to that is, I don't make enough money working two jobs to afford the monthly payment. I would have to wait until the following year to recover the money spent on the insurance payment. It makes more sense for me to forgo insurance all together just to make enough money to live. And by doing that, I'll have to suffer a tax penalty of $95 this year, $295 next year, and then $695 in 2016.

This shit really is a catch-22 in every sense of the phrase.

 

[commiecorvus]

I recall Obama saying "If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it". Keep believing his diatribe. This is why the Republicans need to take things back over.

I'm going to answer this one and than stop because as Retail Girl pointed this thread is about the people who lost their insurance, the ACA is the law of the land and we need to do what we can to help them.

It's been proven that the insurance companies were the ones who were at fault for cancelling the peoples policies and it had little to do with the ACA.

The fact is if you are one of the estimated 2 million Americans whose health insurance plans may have been cancelled this month, you should not be blaming President Obama or the Affordable Care Act.

You should be blaming your insurance company because they have not been providing you with coverage that meets the minimum basic standards for health care.

Let me put it more bluntly: your insurance companies have been taking advantage of you and the Affordable Care Act puts in place consumer protection and tells them to stop abusing people.

The government did not “force” insurance companies to cancel their own substandard policies.The insurance companies chose to do that rather than do what is right and bring the policies up to code.

This would be like saying the government “forces” chemical companies to dispose of toxic waste safely rather than dumping it in the river.

I got this from Fox News so it must be true.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013...ama-or-aca-blame-america-insurance-companies/

 

[InStalker]

An as far as this decision affecting "only 10% of employees", that's still 36000 people. As far as I'm concerned, Target owes me a hell of a lot more than a measly $500.

 

[Rarejem]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it's my understanding that less than 10% of employees used this anyway. The new coverage will be cheaper than what Target could have provided, and they are getting a $500 check. So what's the issue? For everyone here bitching, who actually used this?

Me ... and my children.

 

[commiecorvus]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it's my understanding that less than 10% of employees used this anyway. The new coverage will be cheaper than what Target could have provided, and they are getting a $500 check. So what's the issue? For everyone here bitching, who actually used this?

Me ... and my children.

Sorry to hear that Rarejem.

 

[Formina Sage]

We hear about all these cuts at the store/district level... are there any going on at HQ? They laid off some a few years ago but surely there's more fat to be trimmed there.

Ha! They are just wrapping up a 33-million dollar addition to their north-metro HQ campus.

 

[GlobalJ]

We hear about all these cuts at the store/district level... are there any going on at HQ? They laid off some a few years ago but surely there's more fat to be trimmed there.

Ha! They are just wrapping up a 33-million dollar addition to their north-metro HQ campus.

Scumbag Gregg

 

[PullMeBackIn]

I'm getting a kick out of everyone saying that if we could get republicans in office this would all magically go away. It's done and gone, Target will no longer have benefits for part timers. Once they've ripped off that bandaid and endured the negative press they're not gonna change their mind. It's all about cutting costs at this point and your part time health benefits are the best way to cut those costs.