Thank you for choosing an Oxford "product:"

[lapislzi]

It's not health CARE. It's not even health INSURANCE. It's a PRODUCT.

First of all, I didn't CHOOSE it, OK? Let's get that straight. In our part of NY state, we're down to about 3 insurers, and it's a choice between jackals, hyenas, or vultures.

My company (small business, under 40 employees) is changing insurers due to a 47% rate hike by the jackals at HealthNet. We'll benefit from the reform package, but not immediately. My employer is moderately pleased about this, as he pays 100% of our premiums (nice guy, huh?), unless we opt to buy our own, in which case we'll be reimbursed for what he would have paid had we stayed on the plan. Meanwhile, he struggles to keep us all covered.

Here's how it works: he pays high premiums for a crap plan with high deductibles and co-pays. There's only a handful of doctors on it, no mental health services, and poor prescription coverage.

So my employer purchased a PRODUCT for me that I can hardly afford to use. Even he admits that it's little more than "catastrophic coverage," and there's no guarantee that, should disaster strike any of us, we wouldn't be bankrupted by denied claims and the like.

I'm not posting anything new here. But...for my employer's sake, who's one of the good guys, I'm glad that there will be some small improvements.

Product. :puke:

[Dogmudgeon]

1. It's century-old Insurance and Finance industry slang

I worked in the field for a few years after college. Policies were always called "products".

--d!

[Schema Thing]

2. You and your employer will see huge improvement.

And it sounds like they deserve something good.