NIU

Family health insurance

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:00 PM

Family health insurance is one of the few benefits that the larger corporations are still offering. Many of them are no longer offering 401K matches or pensions. So many more have eliminated things like personal days, paid holidays and over time. My husband works for one of these companies that have taken away almost all of the employee benefits that they used to offer. It is sad, some of the people he works with have been working there for the past 20 or 30 years or so. Now, these people are losing many of the benefits that caused them to take this job and keep it over the past few decades.

It is really sad that companies are allowed to do this to people who have been long term employees. These people have poured their hearts and souls into this company and now after a lifetime of service, they are just left in the dust as the company tries to cut costs. Working in factory environment, this job also requires a huge amount of physical labor. Several people have been injured significantly during their time working here. Now what they are doing is only allowing people to go on disability for 6 months. At 6 months, they send you a letter saying that they are letting you go. They do say that you can try to get hired back as a new employee, but at their current rate of pay and with whatever benefits they have available at the time. I really think that this is an outrage. In the past, one man was injured so badly at 46 that he had to begin living with his parents again so they could take care of him. He had a back injury and when they went in to fix him, something go messed up, and now this person is barely functional. It is scary to think that people like him may be left in the dust.

As far as I can see it family health insurance is about the only benefit that you can receive from these big companies any more. How long until they stop offering this? I am sure that it is only a matter of time before that benefit falls by the wayside too. Then what will people do. Your average factory worker can not afford to pay out of pocket for their whole families medical insurance, if they do they won't even be able to eat!