If Texas is soo great, why is it so cheap? (Houston: vacation, income)

[momof2dfw]

I hate to say this but as an employer I do see this being that we are one of the few companies that does pay for our employees health insurance. Your health concerns are a major drawback especially if your looking for a company that has excellent health benefits. The rates we pay on health insurance even if it is paid for by the employee (the rates given don't matter who pays) have gone up almost double every year for the last 5 or more years. It has gotten INSANE!!! We once upon a time paid for the entire families health insurance and had to stop that due to the ever increasing costs. Most of our employees do take and pay the family coverage and we cover the employees portion. We have several that smoke but do not have any other health issues - the rates for them are HORRIBLE! And it does not go to just them as EVERYONE PAYS FOR IT! The carrier takes a survey to see what issues they are dealing with BEFORE they give a quote. They compile all of that information then give a base quote for each catagory:
Employee only, Employee + Spouse, Employee + Family. If 1 person smokes or has some major health issues the carrier spreads that "liability" around so that all pay for it. The 1 person that smokes will not have a higher premium than one that does not.

It is so bad that we have changed carriers twice in the last 4 years. Each summer (and we are in the middle of the quotes now - urgh) we get the new premium quote for the next year. The increases are INSANE as I said earlier. I can see why some businesses have stopped offering it and even carrying it. For what we pay for insurance I don't believe we get our monies worth out of it. It really makes my husband mad when somoene calls in sick and won't go to the doctor because it will cost them $25. We pay over $1000 A MONTH for them to ONLY have to pay that $25. Without insurance it would be much more. We also have a great prescription benefit coverage as we have a child w/ asthma and allergies and she has 4 meds she takes all the time. Without the plan I'd be spending a fortune in meds so we DO take into consideration the out of pocket expense to the employees as it does effect us as well. So we DO have very good health insurance coverage and it is NOT cheap.

Have either of you checked with UTSW????

[CalGal953]

I don't think my boyfriend has checked with Southwestern. I did try applying for the clinical lab science program there but got rejected. I haven't looked for jobs there since I didn't see much available. (And neither of us smoke, so we are not concerned about smokers' insurance rates.)

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by CalGal953

I don't think my boyfriend has checked with Southwestern. I did try applying for the clinical lab science program there but got rejected. I haven't looked for jobs there since I didn't see much available. (And neither of us smoke, so we are not concerned about smokers' insurance rates.)

I was only using the smoker as an example. My daughter with asthma ALSO makes the rates higher as do employees that have other health concerns (two with diabetes, one that had some lung episode, etc). EVERYTHING is taken into consideration by the insurance companies based on how much they will expect to have to pay out when they are quoting rates.

[CalGal953]

I see what you mean. And I am not happy about being asthmatic. If I could choose to not have asthma and if my boyfriend could choose not to have Ehlers-Danlos, we'd do so in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, we were born with our problems.

[mythoughts]

Are you complaining? We aren't! I'm grateful because I just moved back from Louisiana. Immediately, I earned a 50% increase in earnings per month. No joke. The pay and racism in Louisiana is at all time low and high respectfully.

[houstoner]

Originally Posted by CalGal953

I wrote that above post on my own, though it took me some time because I had to check over the paragraphs very carefully. And how do you know I have excellent "verbal" communication skills, when we can't exactly talk to each other via voice on here?

Touché !

I have looked into career counseling, and my career counselor suggested I check the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. I am doing so, but the processes are painfully slow. I just took an evaluation test there and will have to wait two weeks before I can get more help in finding a job with their help. I am looking at technical library jobs though I haven't had luck in finding jobs there either.

I worked at a sign language interpreting agency and we frequently dealt with DARS, so I'm familiar with the paperwork and red tape that must be gotten through with that agency. My condolences.

At any rate, I hope it works out for you guys. Good luck.

[CalGal953]

I guess I am bummed about the job market here because our families' job situations have been pretty grim themselves. My boyfriend's stepdad lost his computer job in Plano to outsourcing, his mom just lost her computer job which was based in New Jersey since she couldn't find anything that fit her here (she telecommuted since the cost of living here is better than NY or NJ), and my own dad's engineering job in Arlington is in serious danger itself. My dad says that it is tough being a computer person here in N TX since the telecom corridor north of Dallas went bust.

[DWong]

1.Supply and Demand.

2. Plenty of habitable land and easy to build on (except parts of W tX).

3. Most land in TX is unprotected and few zoning and building laws to prevent quick growth and construction.

4. Not that TX cities aren't that great, but the "desirability" for most of TX is very low compared to Coastal cities. (it's hardly a world renown vacation destination or on the top of anyone's vacation's list).

5. In CA and other parts of the NE we have the opposite effect. People come here for a lower standard of living (less cash flow due to high housing) and many live in small apartments. The appeal to TX is anyone who works hard and earns a decent living can buy a nice home in good area. That is only a dream to many in coastal regions.

6. Anyone look it up, but all TX metro's have a FAR higher crime than any other besides St. Louis and Detroit.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

No kidding. We have land in Colorado that we can't GIVE AWAY! Yet any land around this state comes w/ a price tag. It may be "cheap" compared to land/dirt in downtown LA or NYC but it is not "cheap" by any stretch. Besides, that word "cheap" is not the correct term to use. It should be "reasonable" as the other word means something entirely different. And rent in any commercial/retail area is HIGH DOLLAR. At least in areas that one would want to open up a business and be visible to a large customer base.

Whoever has a problem finding a job in this state will have a hard time in ANY state. We can't find enough GOOD people that are worth hiring. My dad is semi-retired and has done a few p/t jobs in his area (otr truck driver) and every company that he has run into is BEGGING for people. There are jobs out there the person wanting them just needs to be qualified and in some cases they can't even pass a simple drug test or they just flat out don't want to work. This is why one reason so many companies now hire people that they are already familiar with. It could be someone that works for one of their customers or vendors/suppliers and they already know the person is a go-getter and they like their personality. Companies are tired of hiring washups or people that just want a paycheck.

High crime? Sure. Go ahead and believe that one. I feel safer in the worst parts of Dallas than I do in many places in California or Florida.

Every crime data will put TX far ahead of CA, but about even w/ FL.

[theSUBlime]

I think people are afraid to "mess with Texas."
They're afraid they wont like it or maybe they're afraid they will.

Since it's not really a state most people (besides Texans) vacation in, there's also lot that has to be assumed.