Guaranteed Healthcare

I work for a small employer(80 employees)and had never really looked at my health care expense until last July. Our Human Resources Director was saying she had to look for another Health Insurance Company because CIGNA had just presented her with a 47% increase.

A couple days later, I looked at a recent pay stub and saw that $516 was deducted from my pay check for health insurance. I'm paid every other week and that adds up to $13,416!! In addition, I have an FSA of $3,500 to cover deductibles, glasses, dental, etc... That's almost $17,000!!! I was shocked!!

After work, I went to CIGNA's web site and checked out their 2006 annual report. They made $1.155 billion net profit while paying out $194 million less in claims than 2005. What a cash cow!! No wonder the health insurance industry lobbyists pump millions of dollars into our legislators' pockets. Since then, I have really educated myself on the health coverage mess and became a big universal health care advocate. This is a huge industry and the fight will be vicious, but it is one we must win so all Americans can have affordable health care. Keep up the good work!