A misguided person thinks that his employer-paid health insurance and continuing Medicare coverage is “free”:
One gentleman said he never has to pay for healthcare. He gets his for free.Free? uh-huh “” sure.
I asked him if he works for a living. No, he said he is retired. So I asked him if his employer paid for his medical care and he said yes “” and that’s why he gets his healthcare now for free.
I waited until after the workshop was over, but I felt compelled to explain this truism to him. For all those years he worked, his employer was paying premiums for health insurance on his behalf. That doesn’t mean it didn’t cost him anything “” what it means is that because the employer had to pay those premiums, that was money that didn’t get paid to the man! In addition, he had money taken out of his check for medicare and social security “” and that’s why the government pays for part of his healthcare now. Even today he’s paying into the system with his retirement checks.
He had never thought about it that way.
