Comments on: Gay marriage: the law of unintended consequences https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/ A blog about political change, among other things Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:43:49 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Richard Aubrey https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-255100 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:43:49 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-255100 Den mother.
That’s my point. You got your premiums back. It’s a pre-paid plan. A savings plan.
Auto insurance is, as somebody said, more the model. You pay, say, $2000 annually and, if your luck is bad, get $40,000 a year for life due to disability, and all the medical bills, and a new car, should you still be able to drive one.
You hope not to get your premiums back. Insurance for dental work is like insurance against paying the rent.

]]> By: Bill Johnson https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-255070 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:17:54 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-255070 You are lucky to have an employer and any dental assistance. I traded a nice inboard/outboard boat for a crown.

Needed the crown more – could sleep at night without the boat, but not without the root canal…

]]> By: The Den Mother https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-254843 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:11:17 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-254843 My dental insurance covered a root canal, post, and crown, but only up to an annual maximum. Still, I got my premiums back for many years from that one procedure.

]]> By: Richard Aubrey https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-254767 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:15:58 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-254767 Oh, yeah. Despite the obvious and simple nature of the above calcs, most of the recipients think it’s “free”.
In fact, it’s not “free”, but it’s “better”.

]]> By: Richard Aubrey https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-254765 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:14:50 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-254765 Dental insurance is not insurance in any meaningful sense.
Insurance is using periodic small payments to provide access to a large payment in case of a rare and severe contingency.
Dental insurance is pre-paid dental payments. Given the co-pays, maximums, waiting periods, better to put the money in your own pocket and floss regularly.
Exceptions are the contracts with big firms, particularly union contracts. Those are dental-expense pass-throughs to the employer.
Here’s how health and life/disability bennies work:
If the employer has $100 per month to give to his employees and tries to figure out how to spend it, he can bump the salary.
From which comes SS, leaving about $88 Then work comp and unemployment premiums might drop that by, say, $3, depending on history and occupation, so we’re down to $85 to be paid to the employee. State and or local income taxes we’ll say are $4, down to $81, and 25% makes brings us to about $60. It would be even less than that if the compensation increase required an increase in the pension contribution.
The $100 is deductible to the employer as compensation or business expenses, one way or another.
Or, bennies. No taxes, no work comp premiums, no unemployment premiums, all deductible to the employer.
Result: Employer has $100 with which to buy/provide bennies, or about 65% more effective expenditure.
So even if the dental insurance is nothing more than a high-limit dental expense pass-through to the employer, it’s better than trying to bump the employee’s premium by that much.

]]> By: ELC https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-254660 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 03:30:52 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-254660 Bravo, Curtis! 🙂

]]> By: Occam's Beard https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-254657 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 03:09:02 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-254657 Actually, the desire for “freebies,” and the willingness to evince sufficient mendacity to promise such, is the engine of the Democrat Party.

]]> By: Occam's Beard https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-254656 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 03:07:46 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-254656 The demand for “freebies” is what got us in this mess.

Exactly, Ilion. It’s a flaw in neural wiring; if we don’t pay for something shortly before or after we get it, we consider it “free.”

Rather like housetraining dogs, in fact. If you don’t catch ’em in the act, they don’t connect your irate response with the puddle (or worse!) on the floor.

]]> By: Don Carlos https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-254645 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:41:52 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-254645 Freebies, like dental insurance for annual cleaning. Absurd, Like gas insurance for your car.

]]> By: Ilíon https://thenewneo.com/2011/07/09/gay-marriage-the-law-of-unintended-consequences/#comment-254643 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:14:24 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=7845#comment-254643 Indeed, Occam’s Beard. The demand for “freebies” is what got us in this mess.

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