A post in which security looms large

I had hoped for a simple day at work.  Having dealth with Monday's unpleasantness, I had once again accepted the fact that I am at the mercy of my employers, am subject their whim. I was prepared to put my blinders back on, engage my Power of Southern Denial, and get on with it.  But the rest of the staff hadn't dealt with it, and the HR meetings to explain the new ways we are being screwed started today.  There is an aggressive campaign to move people into health care savings accounts, and to accept "HD" (High Deductable) health care plans.  They're even offering to pay a premium of $750.00 to entice people to accept an insurance package with a $4,000.00/year deductable (for single people - double that for a family).  I hope they didn't fool many people into taking that.  Most of the staff here don't make enough to afford that.

When the meetings let out, the disgruntled people around me returned to their desks (I had decided not to go - I know the bare bones already, and I'll find out the little peripheral screwings as I go along.  No point in taking the whole lot at one time.) discussing their unhappiness with the new plans.  So I went through some of the details with them. In fairness, some of the provisions make sense. There was a loophole for chiropractic care that many people at the office had been abusing to get 'theraputic' massages each week, which was costing thousands of dollars.  I can understand why they wanted to close that.  But many of the changes, of course, are designed to shave more money out of our health care costs, the better to fatten the wallets of the board and investors.  It's hard to accept that the purchase of a couple more mink back-scratchers for the privileged few is deemed more worthy than the health care we need.

It gets to the heart of the eroding social contract.  It used to be that you signed on, you devoted yourself, and you worked until you were too old to do it any longer.  In exchange for that, you had sustenance, and if something bad happened, you were protected.  If you got sick, you were taken care of.  Not any longer.  No value at all seems to be placed on people any more.  We're as disposable as kleenex, and as valued.  The focus now seems to be on what they can get away with not doing.  It's sad, and it's scary.  I make good money.  Not great money.  But I can live reasonably well, and can for the most part keep my place up.  I'm able to put a bit away for my dotage.  I'm one of the lucky ones. 

But I'm all too aware of my tenuous grasp on the middle class.  Our generation is said to be the first who will do worse than our parents did, financially, and I definitely have.  When I got sick, I comforted myself.  "I may not make the most money," I thought, "but at least I have health insurance, and I don't have to worry about getting the treatment I need."  Indeed I didn't.  But that was two health care revisions ago.   I shudder to think what would happen today if I became seriously ill, or God forbid had a relapse.

I've worn blinders for years because things have been pretty good at work.  I looked the other way right after I started, when they did a suspicious lay-off.  Most of those 'laid off' had health issues.  I looked the other way when they started out-sourcing jobs.  We send a lot of work to the corporate offices in Bejing.  We also now have a satellite office in Manila.  So I work for one of those companies that is moving jobs overseas.  If they can figure out a way to farm my job out to some third-world person at one-third my salary, they will do so with no hesitation.  When things like this happen, it forces me to think about things like that. 

So by the end of my little thought train, I was dying destitute in the gutter.  That's a downer.  I went home in a funk.  I ate left-over quiche and a salad, supplemented with piece of cornbread that I really wanted.  I was watching Master Chef, and one of the contestants talked about how his mother had died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  I felt the breeze of a methaphorical scythe brush me lightly. 

Gary called to talk.  Apparently he is still in the midst of a dilemma about where to work, but I acted as a sounding board for him, and by the end of the call he seemed to have made a decision.  The down side is that he won't be able to come up until Saturday evening.  The upside of that is that he doing it for an honorable reason that is a credit to him.  He's a good man.  Plus that gives me the room to get some things done, to take Rhonda out Friday night, and to have a little time to myself.  I don't want to squash things right away by spending too much time together. 

He made me feel better too.  By the time we got off the phone, I was in a much better frame of mind.  That was most welcome.