Tax Health Benefits? Are you nuts!

In looking at President Bush’s proposal regarding taxing health insurance benefits, I must first of all protest. Secondly, I would like to know what crazy person came up with such a stupid idea.

We have a family of four – my husband, me, and our two children. Both my husband and I work full time in the Information Technology fields. We are paid fairly well for our efforts – though I lost 30% of my (industry) income following the dotcom burst and the recession of 2001, and to date, Project Management has not completely recovered – primarily due to two factors – one is the propensity (and advantages) for businesses to use “contract” labor (thus cutting out all benefits, vacations, holiday and sick pay for the employee – and “paying” the company to restrict access to “full-time” benefits) and the second is the outsourcing issue – overseeing is killing our industry as companies try to outsource to “save money” so they can line to pockets of their rich executives.. We have health insurance coverage through my husband’s company since I have no access to benefits – and with project contract turnovers averaging every 6 months, we would be changing health care like some people change draperies.

The White House spokespeople say that this measure will be tax neutral through 2011 – and will encourage people to go seek out lower cost insurance so they can gain a tax cut. I would argue that fact quite hard. We do not have the advantage of “seeking” insurance – we take what is given to us by my husband’s employer. As I do not have health benefits as an option, there is no comparison ability. We can go out on our own and buy our own policies – with dire consequences. Most private plans do not offer maternity care (in the event we want to have another child) without raising the premium exponentially. Also, most private plans have much higher out of pocket costs – for such things as office visits, prescriptions, routine preventative care (mammograms, lab work) hospital visits etc.

I really want all of our leaders to consider what these types of changes will do to working families. We are putting up with $3.00 a gallon gas, $3+ dollar a gallon milk, meat and produce prices that are rising off the charts, and now, on top of all that you want to tax benefits? We haven’t gotten a raise in 5 years. How are you doing? They are breaking the backs of Middle America. We do not own a McMansion on a golf course – our house is a modest $120,000 2000 sq ft 3 bedroom ranch-style house in an older neighborhood with good schools. So, I ask you – where would you like us to cut back so we can afford these tax increases?

Here is a suggestion : get rid of the illegal immigrants who are taking our school tax dollars, hospital services, welfare dollars, and driving insurance rates through the roof. That will save some money. Then, we can hire those jobs out to people in the tech industry that has gone flat. Pretty soon, my husband and I will be working two jobs so we can keep the same life style that was easy back in 2000. You think Americans are getting ahead? Wrong. We slip back every year. Soon, we will be worse off than our grandparents during the Depression.

Please do something to help Americans. Do NOT vote for ANYONE who is currently in office. Get rid of the bums.