4 ms·

Here's the link to the primary article. Must read for all, it's eye opening. http://www.iasc-culture.org/THR/THR_article_2014_Fall_McPherson.php http://www.ias

Here's the link to the primary article. Must read for all, it's eye opening. http://www.iasc-culture.org/THR/THR_article_2014_Fall_McPherson.php http://www.iasc-culture.org/THR/THR_article_2014_Fall_McPher...

rglover 10y ago
This is the spooky part: > The pension would start twelve years later when I was sixty-five. What cost a dollar at the time I accepted the offer, would cost $1.44 when the checks began. Today, what cost a dollar in 1986 costs $2.10. The cumulative rate of inflation is 109.7 percent. The pension remains the same. It is not adjusted for inflation. In the meantime, medical insurance costs have soared. Today, I pay more than twice as much for a month of medical insurance as I paid in 1987 for a year of better coverage. My pension is worth half what it was. And I’m one of the lucky ones.
- TuringNYC 10y ago
  I'm glad you highlighted this paragraph, but I'd say it is much worse. Sure, the headline inflation rate may be 109%, but that is just for a limited basket of goods. Other things like RENT have gone up far more than that, many multiples. Also, not sure how this person pays only "twice as much for a month of medical insurance" compared to 1987, my rate is up more like 500%. Almost everyone I asked pays 500% more per month for medical now than when my friends graduated (2001), plus the deductibles are higher ($5 or $10 --> $50 for basic visits; $5000k+ total annual.)
  - Jtsummers 10y ago
    Twice as month for a month as for a whole year in 1987. So they were paying 24x as much per month: 12*X/year in 1987 2*12*X/month in 2014 EDIT: We need strikethrough here. Don't know why I said this: So 288x/year.
    - Infernal 10y ago
      24x as much per month is also 24x as much per year...
      - Jtsummers 10y ago
        Yep, I don't know why I said that, long day.
  - Infernal 10y ago
    The author has phrased it awkwardly, but he's saying his insurance costs have increased more than 24x. He pays a monthly rate that is double his yearly rate in 1987, and had better insurance in 1987 to boot.
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      I think it's pretty hard to compare insurance from 1987 to insurance from today. There's all sorts of treatments that simply didn't exist. And a lot of them are pretty expensive. There's been huge medical inflation, I don't dispute that, but new, effective treatments are going to increase the cost of insurance outside of medical inflation.
      - Infernal 10y ago
        Oh sure - to be clear, the "better insurance to boot" was just my paraphrasing of the author. I fully agree with the idea that it is hard to directly compare whether a particular insurance in 1987 is better or worse than a particular insurance in 2017, for just the reasons you stated.

rglover 10y ago

This is the spooky part: > The pension would start twelve years later when I was sixty-five. What cost a dollar at the time I accepted the offer, would cost $1.44 when the checks began. Today, what cost a dollar in 1986 costs $2.10. The cumulative rate of inflation is 109.7 percent. The pension remains the same. It is not adjusted for inflation. In the meantime, medical insurance costs have soared. Today, I pay more than twice as much for a month of medical insurance as I paid in 1987 for a year of better coverage. My pension is worth half what it was. And I’m one of the lucky ones.

TuringNYC 10y ago
I'm glad you highlighted this paragraph, but I'd say it is much worse. Sure, the headline inflation rate may be 109%, but that is just for a limited basket of goods. Other things like RENT have gone up far more than that, many multiples. Also, not sure how this person pays only "twice as much for a month of medical insurance" compared to 1987, my rate is up more like 500%. Almost everyone I asked pays 500% more per month for medical now than when my friends graduated (2001), plus the deductibles are higher ($5 or $10 --> $50 for basic visits; $5000k+ total annual.)
- Jtsummers 10y ago
  Twice as month for a month as for a whole year in 1987. So they were paying 24x as much per month: 12*X/year in 1987 2*12*X/month in 2014 EDIT: We need strikethrough here. Don't know why I said this: So 288x/year.
  - Infernal 10y ago
    24x as much per month is also 24x as much per year...
    - Jtsummers 10y ago
      Yep, I don't know why I said that, long day.
- Infernal 10y ago
  The author has phrased it awkwardly, but he's saying his insurance costs have increased more than 24x. He pays a monthly rate that is double his yearly rate in 1987, and had better insurance in 1987 to boot.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    I think it's pretty hard to compare insurance from 1987 to insurance from today. There's all sorts of treatments that simply didn't exist. And a lot of them are pretty expensive. There's been huge medical inflation, I don't dispute that, but new, effective treatments are going to increase the cost of insurance outside of medical inflation.
    - Infernal 10y ago
      Oh sure - to be clear, the "better insurance to boot" was just my paraphrasing of the author. I fully agree with the idea that it is hard to directly compare whether a particular insurance in 1987 is better or worse than a particular insurance in 2017, for just the reasons you stated.