Wouldn't You Love to Have 100 Percent Income Replacement thru Your Disability Insurance?

by LAS

Wouldn't we all love to be assured of full income replacement if we were disabled, either short term or long term? Well, unfortunately Americans cannot get that kind of coverage, at least not if they live in the United States.

I viewed the film Sicko again and there was so much covered in there, that it was difficult to sort out all the issues. But one of the issues apart from those related to health insurance was the matter of disability insurance.

Here in the United States, one cannot get more than about 60 or 65 percent income replacement through a disability policy, whether from a private policy or through the federal government's SSI program. It is felt that people should not profit by getting injured or disabled. Well, they should not be forced to choose between rent and food, or rent and medications -- and so many of those on disability rely on several medications just to get through the day.

Tony Benn was quoted in Sicko as saying that choice depends on freedom to choose, and if you are shackled with debt, then one does not have the freedom to choose. I might add that if you are shackled with healthcare bills beyond your ability to pay, then you do not have choice or the freedom to choose, either.

But in France, the law requires that disabled people receive full pay while on disability. The government pays 65 percent, and your employer pays 35 percent. Sicko related the story of a Frenchman who was too exhausted after a course of chemo to go back to work right away, so his doctor gave him a note for a three-month leave. So the guy goes on vacation, soaks up some sun and recoups his old energy, and voila, he's a new man again.

So if you should be so lucky as to work for the French office of an American corporation, you could reap the best of both worlds. American pay with French social security -- real social security, not just a retirement check that won't cover rent, but retirement, healthcare, disability, full maternity coverage, and more.

I have read that recent years have found the French hard-pressed to pay for rising expenses even in a system that pays its doctors well but not extravagantly. Perhaps they will have to cut the less necessary fringe items like paying for vacations, or for college beyond the first two years, or or home services for new mothers.

But I sure hope that the French maintain their militant insistence that even foreign corporations have to obey French labor laws. Someone has to keep the corporations in line. And if the French will do the job, then more power to them.