Oh yes, healthcare is a huge burden here in the US. It's beginning to feel like universal healthcare might never happen. The amount my wife and I pay monthly is astronomical and the coverage isn't great. Thankfully we can afford it right now but many people can't and have to choose between surviving and healthcare. It just isn't right.
We have a good friend, Tommy, who bartended all his life. He lived within his means, paid off his house, and is living a very good life now in retirement. I think the cash tips really helped him along the way. I can imagine it's tougher to make it now in the hospitality industry though. What struck me about him is because of his late night shifts almost all of his friends are in the industry because they had a completely different schedule that people who work regular day jobs.
We have a teacher who works at one of the local bars a few towns over. He only works on weekends, but he said he can make about half his annual salary in tips just from working during the summer and some weekends through the year. I really do think if you manage things well it can work, but you have to be smart and disciplined. I was looking at the healthcare portal the other day trying to figure out what my monthly hit would be like if I needed it. Looked like about $1200 per month for the top plan, but I wasn't sure if I was reading it right.
I believe it. After the minimum wage was raised to $16 for servers here in the Twin Cities local businesses started adding a "convenience fee" of up to 21% to the restaurant bills in lieu of customers giving cash tips. This caused a lot of servers to have to divide up equal shares of those fees from the pool and declare everything they make to the IRS. Many of our friends in the industry said they were better off before. I don't believe this happens much outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul though.
$1.2k sounds about right for monthly premium for two. Ours is almost double that from the insurance marketplace. My wife will be eligible for Medicare in two years, I think, which will help out tremendously. She'll still need to carry some kind of supplemental policy but nothing close to what we're paying now.
The big thing we are seeing now besides increased prices across the board are places adding the fee for processing credit cards. I don't really fault the business for the processors charging so much. It sucks though because it really adds up after a while. I like the idea of being able to have something supplemental along with your other insurance whether it is federal or private. I know some places don't allow you do that. Like you have to disclose if you have additional coverage.
Yes, we're seeing those credit card processing fees everywhere but big corporate stores as well. I've heard that's actually hurting credit card companies as people are waking up to realize having to pay those CC processing fees negate their credit card rewards and they're paying in cash again. Yes, I think the more coverage you can afford the better these days. Thankfully Medicare/Medicaid allow it.
Oh yeah, that is a good point. I mean if you have to pay 3 or 4 percent and you only get 1 % back then it is kind of a scam.