Affordable Housing and Healthcare
Many years ago, when I heard the term "affordable housing" I automatically thought of "the projects": dense residential housing consisting of brick tenements for the working poor. But now, the umbrella of affordable housing now covers the middle class, at least here in CT. With the median price of a home in Fairfield County now at a whopping $477,000, one needs to take a step back and wonder what the hell's going on.
Seven years ago, my wife and I were fortunate enough to land a raised ranch here in Bethel for $225,000. Bethel is on the outskirts of Fairfield county, like its neighbor, Danbury, and Bridgeport down on the coast. But now, the median price for a home in Danbury is $330,000, which one needs an income of $81,000 to reasonably afford (at least according to the article). Between market valuation and the improvements we've made, I know that we could sell our home for at least $125,000 more than we paid for it.
But what about everyone else? Do they have to wait for the housing bubble to burst? How long will they have to wait for prices to come down? But will prices come down? I haven't know home prices to devaluate during slowdowns. They tend to level off, but not decrease. At some point though, if there's a glut of homes on the market the prices will have to come down somewhat. But if you're a teacher, policeman, or landscaper what do you do until then? Live outside the county I suppose.
Businesses have been bugging lawmakers in Hartford to do something about the skyrocketing costs of healtcare. But according to this article, the legislators told the executives that they're on their own. It goes on to say that employers may make more of an effort to adopt preventative health measures. I wonder if this will result in businesses sticking their noses into their employees private lives. Lay off the smokes, booze, and Twinkies boys and girls or you'll be getting a call from HR.
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DED
Seven years ago, my wife and I were fortunate enough to land a raised ranch here in Bethel for $225,000. Bethel is on the outskirts of Fairfield county, like its neighbor, Danbury, and Bridgeport down on the coast. But now, the median price for a home in Danbury is $330,000, which one needs an income of $81,000 to reasonably afford (at least according to the article). Between market valuation and the improvements we've made, I know that we could sell our home for at least $125,000 more than we paid for it.
But what about everyone else? Do they have to wait for the housing bubble to burst? How long will they have to wait for prices to come down? But will prices come down? I haven't know home prices to devaluate during slowdowns. They tend to level off, but not decrease. At some point though, if there's a glut of homes on the market the prices will have to come down somewhat. But if you're a teacher, policeman, or landscaper what do you do until then? Live outside the county I suppose.
Businesses have been bugging lawmakers in Hartford to do something about the skyrocketing costs of healtcare. But according to this article, the legislators told the executives that they're on their own. It goes on to say that employers may make more of an effort to adopt preventative health measures. I wonder if this will result in businesses sticking their noses into their employees private lives. Lay off the smokes, booze, and Twinkies boys and girls or you'll be getting a call from HR.
\_/
DED
Labels: economy
posted by DED at 9:07 PM
2 Comments:
I work for CIGNA Healthcare, and one of the big initiatives they've added to every single plan over the last few years is "Well Aware". Basically, it's a preventive med outreach program. So, about once every couple of months, I get these annoying fucking phone calls from some nurse wanting to talk to me about my asthma. I just want to say to them "Honey, I've had asthma and allergies my entire goddamned life. I know how to manage. Leave me alone."
In the last two years, they've required us to take Web MD's HealthQuotient survey before they'll even let us sign up for benefits.
Oh, and smokers now get different rates for coverage than non-smokers.
So, yeah, you bet your ass they're getting intrusive. Highly annoying trend.
Dude! I used to work for Oxford back in the 90's!
Wow, I remember pissing in a cup to prove that I listened to Nancy and just said no. After reading about your tale, I'm convinced that it's only going to get worse.
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