Wow... since when is being objective and looking at an argument from different angles being apologetic and foolish? Is this what political arguments have come to? LOL!!!!
Just because it's a plan you can deal with doesn't mean that EVERYONE should be able to use. I know MANY people who can't afford $16,800 a year on health coverage (going by your figure of $1400/month) even on a $40K salary. Instead of using any personal or political bias, let's use
MATH to explain.
First, let's do taxes! Take away $4,386.25 plus 25% of the amount over 31,850. (
2007 Federal Tax Rate Schedules)
They're already down to $35,613.75 a year just on the first major deduction. Now, we factor the second half of this tax equation, or 25% of $8,150. Which means another $2.037.50 is taken out of their checks yearly for Federal Tax. Already, this "well off individual" who should be able to afford your $1400/month plan has lost $6.423.75 of their wages to taxes. That doesnt even include State Tax, Social Security, FICA or whatever other tax dollars that disappears from their daily, survival income. For the sake of this argument, lets bypass this. That leaves them only $33,567.26 a year.
Now your employees need a place to live. Factor in rent, which can range anywhere from $500-$3000 a month these days depending on where you live. I don't think every city or town has rents that are as outrageous as New York or Boston (the two most expensive cities in America), so we'll say that their rent per month is $1250. That's another $15,000 a year out of their pay, bringing them down to $18,567,26 a year.
Now factor in travel expenses. I know people who have to spend TONS of money a day going back and forth via public transportation. But let's say that a typical day is $8 for a bus and a train to and from work. That's another $2,080 a year... and that's being nice. If they have to drive to work, with current prices it may be even higher. Of course, I havent factored in any other travel expenses for any other miscellaneous reason because these people shouldnt even be leaving their houses unless theyre going to work.

:biggrin:
Now we're down to $16,487.26.
As you can see, at this point they couldnt even afford the rate youre currently paying for health insurance! So, you create a package which in reality costs $4800 a year ($400/month). Making it so that they only have to pay $60 a month is a nice gesture, so they would only have to pay $720 a year. Now were at $15,767.26. Everything sounds good on paper
BUT, theres other small things to worry about like food, phone bills, heating bills, gas, electricity, laundry, etc...
you know, the things necessary to live day to day.
We can continue to average out these things, but you can already see how their income is VERY limited. You have no idea what your employees could be paying for these things. But if we average out the remainder of this persons $40K/year salary, youll see that theyll have only $1313.93/month left to take care of them, plus leave some money to try and save for a rainy day. Can
you take care of all your bills and remaining necessities per month on this amount? Some people cant, and it doesnt necessarily mean theyre living out of their means. Maybe these people ARE being as responsible about their money as they can be and you don't realize, or more likely, just outright REFUSE to believe it.
Also, people would be fools not to take a free plan if it they didn't have any health coverage to begin with. Don't get mad that your employees decided to take it.
You'd do the same thing if your employer did it for you. If you didn't want to endure the extra expense, you should have never offered the free plan. I know that I don't get a free plan from my job, and right now I make considerably less than $40K a year.
And like I told many people on this board...
calling me "liberal" is not an insult. I proudly wear the title. If it means being open minded and having the ability to give a REAL analysis on situations instead of jumping to some hasty conclusion based on your own ignorance and blind perceptions of the American Dream, then gladly call me a liberal. Damn it, call me a fuckin' liberal all day and night if it makes you feel happy. All I know is that I'm not one of your employees and I can already understand why they did what they did. If YOU can't, and you have to supervise them everyday, then I don't know what to tell you.