Wednesday, June 2, 2010

DeKalb Over Spent Health Benefits By 1.6 Million Dollars

Wasn't the reason for dropping Blue Cross/Blue Shield to save money?

The commission continues to show it's gross incompetence.

Click here for more.

Note from DeKalb Officers: Some of the comments received at starting to get into national politics.
This is not that type of forum. There are thousands of national political forums to choose from on the internet.
Please comments related to DeKalb County.

Thank you

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

34% of those covered have chronic conditions???? How much higher than the norm is that? Wonder how much of the illnesses are stress or "sick building" induced. Hmmm.

Anonymous said...

Well guess what folks...it only gets worse because effective next year 2011...the county will be reporting to the IRS on your W-2's the cost of that health insurance benefit as income that the county pays on your behalf...which means you will be paying an increase in income taxes because of that...It's all part of the new and absolutely wonderful ObamaCare...all you have to do is look it up....it's there...yep folks....it's no longer considered a benefit after next year...it will be counted as income ...which means you must pay the IRS the increased amount as taxable income....yeah!!!...Isn't Socialism great....Now you know why they didn't want anyone to read the healthcare bill.....then ...and it only gets worse...the county will drop the private insurance companies all together because they will be charging outrageous prices and the only health insurance coverage you will be able to get will be...the single payer plan...in other words (GOV'T Healthcare)....You Gotta Love the Gov't....

Anonymous said...

We have to vote these socialists out ASAP !

Anonymous said...

We have to vote these socialists out ASAP !

Anonymous said...

We have to vote these socialists out ASAP !

Anonymous said...

Makes me glad I can use the VA hopsital. Geeeeezzzz At least I can have a meaningful conversation while waiting all day to get my pills. I have to take them now because I worked for Dekalb Police way too long and now I have PTSS and several other medical problems related to getting old driving a PD unit. At least I earned the right to sit in line with all the other veterans and not at Grady hospital like all my fellow police brothers and sisters are going to have to do. Take it from a retired veteran DeKalb Police Officer, these folks (in Decatur and DC) do not have your best interests at heart and they will screw you whenever and however they can. I wasted decades working there trying to convince myself otherwise. Now from this vantage point the truth about what they think of us is painfully obvious. At least I got to smell and taste a small piece of the pie. You young guys wont even get to see what it looks like. I pitty you.

Anonymous said...

To the old vet...thanks for your service to our country and the PD. The younger guys need to wake up and realize that they need to look out for themselves. They need to watch our pension because jackasses will use it to their own advantage as had been done recently. We have no representation on the pension board at all and that needs to change. I think the county is going to make some big changes in benifits and soon and not to ur advantage. We have no one looking out for us at all as far as I can see.

Anonymous said...

I want to know who was responsible for organizing the switch from BC/BS to Cigna. Cigna has one of the worst reputations out there. Not that any of them are perfect - but, good Lord - Cigna? I am retired, when we switched from BC/BS to Cigna - I got a letter from Cigna requesting any pre-existing conditions - I told them to sod off. They couldn't hold that against me (I do have a few medical problems). I had to get Decatur involved to tell them Cigna couldn't request that info - Cigna was stuck with me. I am profoundly puzzled by this switch - anyone have ANY info as to why the County switched?

Unknown said...

I think Anonymous at 6:21 pm may have been a victim one of those chain emails that misinforms us mere mortals. Here is something that may help (at least it may allow for further research and thinking about the situation):

"For tax years beginning after December 31, 2010 (the fancy way of saying the 2011 tax year), employers will be required to report health care benefits on a form W-2. This is a reporting requirement. It is not a taxing requirement. In other words, your health care benefits won’t be taxed any differently for the 2010 (or 2011) tax year as they were for 2009. In fact, there is not a provision in the new law to tax health care benefits for individual taxpayers. If you receive one of those chain emails stating otherwise, ignore it. It’s a fake. If you want to see for yourself, the reporting requirement is at section 9002 of the new law."

This is from:
http://www.taxgirl.com/ask-the-taxgirl-health-care-benefits-and-taxes/

So, I'm not sure that health insurance benefits will be taxed as income in 2011, but the idea was floated by Bush at least as late as 2007:

"-- Health insurance should be considered taxable income, including those who currently have health insurance through their employment"

The quote is from:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/61278.php

I'm not arguing that this is a good idea, but is Anonymous at 9:06 pm saying that Bush is a socialist? :)

Anonymous said...

Yes ...they are all socialist!! Satisfied now....don't care what party they claim....socialism is socialism....and it will raise you taxable income dumb a$$

Unknown said...

Geeze, Anonymous at 10:32 AM, I'm just bringing some facts and sources to the conversation. They apparently don't fit with the narrative you're pushing.

Anonymous said...

Read the law. Your health care is not going to be considered part of your taxable income unless you have a really, really elaborate and expensive health care plan. You can all rest easy. The county does not provide us with that kind of coverage.

Save your cries of "wolf" for when there really is a wolf!

DeKalb Officers said...

From DeKalb Officers: Some of the comments received at starting to get into national politics.

This is not that type of forum. There are thousands of national political forums to choose from on the internet.

Please comments related to DeKalb County.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the county made everyone on Blue Cross / Blue Shield switch to CIGNA to deal with pension issues. If we have good insurance and live long, it's going to cost our pension a lot of money.