Taxes

Today I went over my finances for two reasons: 1) I need to find out how to limit the losses to my pension after the stock market crash and 2) there's a new president on the way and both of them are promising change.

If Obama wins then I'm allowed to carry on with my current health plan. My employer carries on contributing as do I. It works OK but doesn't compare to the health system I grew up with; if you required emergency treatment you got it, no questions asked and no soul-destroying bill at the end of it. Three years ago, in the US, I had to have emergency treatment and it cost me nearly $6000. Fortunately I had health insurance otherwise I'd have lost my house, but have only just finished paying off the bill.

With McCain's plan I'll end up having to find another $1000 a year to pay for health insurance, and that's after the so-called tax refund, with no change to out-of-pocket expenses.

The only way I won't lose out is if my employer increases my wage by the amount they no longer have to pay for my insurance. I have a good employer, they might do that, but I suspect that most companies in the US will use the money they used to spend on medical benefits to recover after the recent stock market crash. The employees will lose out and we'll end up with more people without health insurance.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I've gone over the numbers several times for my own situation and I'm a little scared.