Talking turkey around the Thanksgiving dinner table (with one eye on the games), the conversations were focused on ObamaCare and the economy.
General agreement was reached: Pretty much everyone, old and young, thinks ObamaCare is a complete train wreck, and most people are scared and nervous and don’t know what they are supposed to do.
What will be covered by the plans. which almost no one has ever seen? And at what out-of-pocket costs? And what won’t be covered?
For decades, these are the fundamental questions that people have asked — and had answered — before selecting a plan.
What should Aunt Penny do now that she was dropped from her plan for the upcoming year? She can’t get onto the website!
Eventually, of course, the conversation shifts to the economy. Pretty much everyone agrees that the economy is, thankfully, more stable today than it was just a few short years ago. And each year it has been getting more stable.
Your son-in-law Bob says he even got a promotion at work.
But a bit more upward mobility doesn’t include as much of an income raise as it did pre-crisis, in 2006.
According to the WorldatWork human-resources site, about 8 percent of the working population has gotten a promotion; on average receiving a 7 percent to 10 percent raise.
That’s good news (although it should be much better), but in spite of the positive promotion data, median household incomes have fallen every year since 2007 including during the “recovery” of 2009 to 2012. Household income remains nearly 10 percent below 2009 levels.
And much of what small raises some get has to go to their health-care contributions increases, so the take home on a $51,000 job is now $200 to $300 per month less than it was in 2007.
So we passed the pumpkin pie and assured Granny the turkey wasn’t dry. But we didn’t know how to ease her fear that she might not be able to see her regular doctor next year.