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Nissan drops company health care for U.S. retirees


jasonj80

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GO nissan let's start the true foreign manufacture buisness policy show.

just like the guarented jobs for life they promised back in japan and then gave up on that.

hope all those people affected did not put too much trust in what they were told about their benifits.

sounds like walmart.

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I don't see any different than what every, yes every, Aerospace company has gone to... Face it the idea of jobs for life and the company paying every cent of medical costs are over. In the face of mroe and more incrreased competition and higher and higher medical costs it simply is impossible. Blame who you are going to blame, but that's the fact of the currrent cuissness climate. Old industrial sectors are always the latest to feel thse pressures.

 

Note: No white collar workers at Boeing hired within the last 10yrs or so (including me) have retiree health care. And starting with the blue collar guys hired this year they don't get it (at least in my division). I of course have the COBRA option, paying the comapany's share along with my share to stay in the plan... But that's mandated by law (they can't stop you from continueing your healthcare at your expense after retirement or layoff).

 

Second note: I actually like the idea of getting away from a tradiational pension plan... First of I get control of my own retirement funds (no more company mismagement). Second I get the money deposited immediatly (no more underfunding). It's my retirement and I don't like "trusting" the company to take care of it and give it to me when the time comes. Too many horor stories of the past from companies rolling up their pension funds just as people are ready to retire.

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All they are doing is cutting the medical insurance for folks that don't need it anyway since "Medicare" is supposed to cover it all anyway, right? Makes sense to me, at least in theory.

 

Yeah, I know, it's not like that. I have mentioned this before, but rather than kicking around medical cost like a hot potato, the Govt, industry, and even us private citizens need to be up in arms about the medical cost in this country. I guess since we have become a society of overweight, outta shape, health "unconcience" scooter riding people, medical cost will continue to rise.

 

In short, I read the article and for those in good health, the effect will be minimal since Medicare covers checkups and such. Oh, wait, "they" got you convinced that since you are 65 or older you are "supposed" to be on 1000 dollars a month worth of drugs...

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I think a major factor in medical costs are that the insurance industry, the one paying the bills, has no incentive in pushing the doctors to lower their bills. For example: When I go to the eye doctor I get both new glasses and contacts and have to pay for one or the other. Why does the eye doctor give me a 10% discount when I pay directly vs. going thru the insurance company? Same thing in auto repair... Had a buddy who was getting some body damage repaired... He was first told $4000, but once they found out he was paying directly they lowered the bill to $2800. Think about it... The insurance companies are being force fed these inflated prices because they don't care. They simply pass on that increased, inflated price in increased premiums. We eventually pay the bill, but are three steps removed from the actual cost for service transaction. In this system the market forces simply don't work... I'm really at a loss at what to do, but think the Predisent's ideas aren't enough. So what if you reduce the hospital costs by reducing lawsuits and going to more effecient records systems... Without market forces to force they have no incentive to lower their prices... They'll simply take those extra profits to improve the balance sheet for their investors.

 

Something fundamental has to change because the system is broken... And I don't believe the Candian or European system works either.

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