Yacht Crew Insurance, Disability, Retirement and more

A lot of this comes down to the value systems and motivation behind the hiring company or individual.

I have drawn my paycheck from this industry since 1988 and have seen a wide disparity of pay and benefits. Mostly private companies with the concern of them and their families welfare first, and rightfully so. But as the employee benefits ranged from almost nothing to a rare 401K plan that got cancelled or to decent health care that was cut to the bone to save costs, all the while the 3 family members became millionaires with the help of 200 hard working employees , mostly left to fend for themselves. Quite a few of those years were also without healthcare coverage. Being a small industry with limited opportunities, you have periods in your career where you take what you can get.

I received offers from design and engineering offices only to find that they were mostly 1099 sub-contractor positions where all tax and benefit burdens were your direct responsibility. From reputable design companies that most people on the outside had no idea it was mainly a principle with "private contractors".

And then finally went to the corporate side of this business and saw a noticeable gain in benefits after years of not so much. But the burden to please shareholders has become the battle cry and an easy way to show profits is to cut costs and benefits. Couple that with a good idea for national healthcare that was poorly executed, and I have seen the health care costs increase, while the coverage decreases. Still better than most, but the trend is alarming. My small business owner friends (20 employees or less) in CA have been hit hard, with Health Care premiums going from $700/month to $1900/month, with reductions in coverage and the dreaded increase in deductibles. And that does not include the new burden of employee health care benefits. I have been told that for me to pay my current Health Care plan as an individual, I would have to pony up $22K per year. It is this perspective that makes this topic so volatile for many. But discussion is better than sweeping it under the rug.

I applaud those companies, private or public, who have the courage to stand-up for something beyond the bottom line, and pay better wages and benefits, in addition to securing their profits. Very admirable from my point of view, yet too uncommon in this country as well.

The health care and retirement safety net that the primary countries in the EU have developed for their nations is superior to ours, but their pay-in / pay-out structure is different. Maybe this young country will get around to doing it right in the future, acknowledging that leading countries in the EU have had more miles under their wheels to get to that point.

After reading post here it is obvious the damage Obamacare has caused working class Americans. The entire Democrat congress voted for a huge bill and did not know what was in it according leader Pelosi and Reid. They would have been Hero's had they focused on big cuts in all healthcare costs allowing funds to provide Free coverage to the voters they needed for re-election. Lucky for the Republic they failed. If not fixed we will end up with a single payer government system, which was the goal of Obamacare from the start.

I know it may not mean much to you but today is our Liberation Day. The day we got rid of the Nazi Overlords 70 years ago who had the power to snatch people off the street, send them to entenerment camps and then gas them for looking a bit jewish.

I see the marks of this vile regime every day with their bunkers and bulletholes. Yes, it may not have effected you personally, but getting bombed, starved and alienated for 5 years p*ssed a few folk off.

It was from this battle against hate and murder that universal healthcare sprung.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_the_Channel_Islands

When it's free, it's abused to the max. Next idea please. America was founded on freedom, not socialism.

Well actually it was founded by capitalists who relied on indentured labor to generate profits for overseas investors. Of the first three settlements,Jamestown was an economic venture, Plymouth was a bunch of folks looking for a place to set up a socialist commune and practice their own religion, and Massachusetts Bay was founded by puritans who wanted to persecute people who didn't believe what they did and act like them.

This.

Those horrific chain of events and the resulting mass numbers of European populations in failing health at the end of WWII certainly compelled the need for nationalistic health care system that is so beneficial in EU.

The US stayed on a different path at that time but is finally converging on the same solution. My own theory on the why goes along the lines that the US has seen itself as liberators during WWII, from a position of strength. With the military success on foreign soil, it only bolstered this military driven ideal, and we have a somewhat internal "John Wayne" stereotype that we can just man up and handle whatever is thrown our way. Add the post-war growth and expansion of wealth, the US was satisfied with their own system. Now we are seeing a change in tides, the system has shown its vulnerability to those with less and those who don't have the same access to the health care system as the ones who can afford it. They are lost in the system. As a sign of change, we have a movement that believes a fast-food worker should be paid a $15/hour minimum wage that can provide for a family. These where typically transient positions held by high school and college students, and now they are being relied upon as the main source of financial support for some families - something has truly changed since here. Their is a certain lack of compassion that has resisted the universal health care program, partly because we have more of a self-made persona in this country. But having worked for international companies, I can clearly see the national health care systems in major EU countries are a superior system to ours. Our biggest problem is how to replicate a similar system and keep it affordable when you have 30 million people who can't pay into it and then millions more who can barely pay into an "entry level" plan with unreasonable deductibles and less benefits than they bargained for.

Start by getting the insurance industry out of health care. We pay 3 times as much in the US than Europeans for the same drugs. The insurance companies make this possible because they will not cap drug prices. The drug industry spends enough in a single week of ad nauseam advertisements during the 6 o'clock news to cut medical costs by a huge percentage. We don't have a health care system, we have an unhealthy system of harvesting wealth from the greatest number of people with the full support of a government of lawmakers financed from the proceeds.

One thing for sure, America did not rise to the top with a Socialist government. We did have a good system until socialism crept in with LBJ's famous "Great Society Program". People do get addicted to other people's money. Can't help but wonder why so many foreigners are still lining up to come here to America legally.

Totally agree that we must find a way to cut costs. But the "hawks" have their talons in so deep, who is going to be the champion for that cause and remove their claws from our system? And what political lobby is going to release their grip? Is it flawed from the get go as it is really a business meant for profit first or is their an equitable way to run the balance sheet for the greater good? That is a great concern we are facing now, very unique to the U.S.

You talk to the Gen Z people today and you will be amazed at how they distrust the baby boomer and Gen Xer's, basically most of us over 50, simply on the state of affairs today and how those in charge run the country and their own interests. That will be their reference point going forward, not the events which shaped the "greatest generation" before them. It will be interesting as we all age and the Gen Z generation takes charge and what they have in store for us - more right to die and euthanasia legislation to cull the aging heard or some better form of well-life and end of life care that involves a recognizable level of dignity?