NIMBY

The folks in Saginaw, Michigan have been the beneficiary of a taxpayer subsidized health plan, but that is going away.

Those who are eligible must earn $14.50 or less an hour, work part- or full-time at companies with no more than 50 employees and have proof that they have waived group-sponsored coverage and had no insurance for the previous 12 months.

Interesting qualifiers.

You must have waived an employer sponsored plan AND have been uninsured for 12 months.

So much for personal responsibility.

The cost of the insurance is divided equally among an employee, an employer and the county. For an unmarried worker, for example, each would pay $53 a month to cover a $159 monthly premium.

Sounds like a very attractive premium for the benefits.

Part of the cost of the program came from taxpayer subsidies. But a proposed levy on property was defeated.

The levy would have generated about $5 million and brought in $1.2 million in federal matching funds in its first year. It would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $50 a year.

So much for spreading the wealth.

And then there is this.

Thomas R. Call Jr. of Saginaw Township, head of the grassroots opposition group Stop Taxing Our People, said he is happy the tax failed.

"We have to be diligent about the rampant tax movements popping up every few months. This issue goes beyond the county. The federal and state governments aren't taking care of people, so we should do it?

So Mr. Call thinks it is OK for the state & federal government to tax people in order to fund health care, as long as the locals are not asked to chip in.

NIMBY.