Forum Post: Example to share

I am encouraged by the movements happening in New York, Boston, and other cities speaking out against the corptocracy which runs this country. I am unable to attend but wanted to share my own experience with corporate greed and lack of regulation which allows the situation to continue.

My company introduced a new health care plan for 2012. The plan charges the same monthly premium as the previous plan, but now runs as a so-called "high-deductible" plan, where a deductible of $3000 per family must be met before ANYTHING is paid by the plan. After the $3000 deductible, the plan covers only 80% of costs up to an out-of-pocket maximum of $8000. The plan essentially guarantees thousands of dollars of additional out-of-pocket costs for employees, while happily collecting the same monthly premium. My wife and I have a newborn son at home, and she is worried the additional costs will force her to work (maybe for a better health plan) and put our son in daycare.

The change is a gross departure from what is offered at most other large companies, and comes after the company also decided to take away the 401k matching contribution, which is a key component of retirement security for employees. Whatever the situation, all things corporate-related have one common thread: squeezing more money off the working people and shuffling it upwards into the corporate coffers.

No government regulations offer protections for the basic things employees need, such as health care and retirement security. Companies are allowed to squeeze with impunity. Just like the bank bailouts, no government regulations place any restrictions on the money corporations squeeze from these practices. They are not required to spend it on growth or jobs or basic benefits for employees; they can just as easily pass it to executives as bonuses or to lobbyists to further strip away regulations. It is the reason the middle class has disappeared from this country. It truly is the 99% poor and the 1% super wealthy, and the wealthy make all the rules.

Please continue what you are doing. Please have our voices heard, and please see that no one is hurt. We have to win, because we have the moral high ground.