I didn't put this report together for any class; I just did it because I felt like college students

are really ignorant when it comes to cost of living. And I wanted to show the numbers behind why single parents working minimum wage jobs can't cut it, not because they're lazy (as most of college students think) but because the math doesn't add up.

Why America Needs National Healthcare: Families simply can't afford the Premiums of private insurance companies.

There's no such thing as a full time minimum job in most instances, because if you worked full time your employer, say it be McDonalds, would likely have to offer an insurance package to you that would easily double the overhead it costs to employ you. Let's say for instance you make 8 dollars an hour, well, your employer isn't paying 8 dollars and hour he's paying more like 12, which is insurance case you get hurt at work or something they won't be liable. Throw on personal health insurance benefits. This is the health insurance package that my company offers.

The bottom bracket is a health savings account which operates differently than health insurance. So it's not a true health insurance policy like you hear about. The numbers I will use come from the top bracket. So, let's say for instance youre a single parent. Your insurance Premium under Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield would be $672.08 (lloking at the top chart). Your employer covers $436.85 of the premium leaving you to pay the difference of $235.23. Let's take someone who makes $7.75 an hour. $7.75*40 hours = $310per week * roughly 4 weeks in a month = $1,240 how much you make per month before taxes. Taxes =30% on average. This number can vary. I'll explain why I selected 30%.

Here is my 2 week pay stub. Before taxes I clear $1808 (obviously, as you can see I make twice of minimum wage). Taxes take out $374.67, meaning that after taxes I clear roughly $1,433 dollars bi-weekly, meaning I CLEAR $2,866 dollars a month.

So, to get back to percentage of your earnings that is taxed. Doing the math anyone can see that I pay around 21% of my total check to taxes. I selected 30% for our single parent because when I was hired I selected a package that would tax me less now and give me less back on my return. So our parent makes $310 a week BEFORE meaning $1,240 dollars a month BEFORE taxes. Take 30% of $1,240 dollars and that leaves your typical minimum wage worker clearing.

$868 dollars a month.

So, let's take a look at our insurance benefits (that likely aren't offered to our worker because McDonald's doesn't want to pay Anthem an extra $436 a month.) Our single parent, minimum wage worker is paying $235 a month to have them and their children covered for any medical bills that exceed their deductible. Mine is $3000.

Single parent, clears $868 dollars a month. Monthly Bills Health Insurance Rent Food Gasoline Car Payment/Insurance Utilities Total Cost to Live Monthly Income Difference Doesn't include day care* Average Cost $ 235.00 $ 150.00 $ 200.00 $ 100.00 $ $ $ $ $ 150.00 200.00 1,035.00 868.00 (-167.00)

So here, in this instance, our single parents who is working a full-time, minimum wage job still comes out every month in the red. If your child's mom or dad is willing and able to pay you child-care that may put you back in the positives. You shouldnt expect to receive any more than $200 per child.

So, if you are a lucky enough minimum wage employee, who is valuable enough to your employer that they are willing to play an extra $437 a month to insure you, they decide to make you full time.

If you accept their package you will be spending every month $167 dollars more than what you make. All of the estimates I gave are extremely reasonable. I pay $575 a month to live where I do. A point that I am trying to stress is that there is a lot of incentive for employers to NOT make you a full time employee. Especially now in a down economy where there are more workers than jobs (I will explain later). Finding a replacement for you will not be difficult. So, what happens if you aren't offer insurance from your employer? You still need medical insurance. What do you do? You pay the entire premium.

$636 a month.

That looks like this; Monthly Bills Average Cost $ 636.00 Health Insurance $ 150.00 Rent $ 200.00 Food $ 100.00 Gasoline Car $ 150.00 Payment/Insurance $ 200.00 Utilities $ 1,436.00 Total Cost to Live $ 868.00 Monthly Income $ (-568.00) Difference This does not include clothing or toys or any other expense other than what's listed. What I have proven here is that clearly no single parent is capable of affording Medical Insurance if there Employer is unwilling to provide it to them. And even if their employer does it's still iffy. So what if your married and with two children? With both parents working minimum wage jobs and paying the difference of their premium, there books look like this. Monthly Bills Health Insurance Rent Food Gasoline Car Payment/Insurance Utilities Total Cost to Live Monthly Income Difference Average Cost $ 430.00 $ 150.00 $ 300.00 $ 100.00 $ $ $ $ $ 300.00 250.00 1,530.00 1,736.00 206.00

These parents have $206 to cloth their kids, and all other expenses. Can't be done. Not on minimum wage. Unfortunately the truth is that millions of people are uninsured. And they still receive medical care if taken to the ER. No hospital will turn down a patient because of lack of health insurance in the ER. Does the hospital lose money because they couldn't afford to pay? No! That's why insured people's rates are so high. We offset uninsured people. But for most illnesses those people are left paying out of pocket and they simply can't any medical treatment. What happens if you have a pre-existing medical condition? Chances are you might because 19 million people in the United States do. Well, if you are like my brother, and depending on the condition, you will simply not have insurance. Let it be known; COMPANIES WILL NOT INSURE YOU if they know they can't make money off you. All of these companies have algorithms that inform them of exactly how much they will make off you. That determines whether or not you are accepted. I will end with this. The biggest push back of Obamacare comes from small private businesses. Why? Because these businesses currently DO NOT offer their employees' health insurance benefits. They are afraid that they will go under if they are forced to do so by the federal government. Although I still claim my parents insurance, I am fortunate that my company does offer health insurance because many, I won't say most, but many do not. And the trend is down. More and more companies are eliminating health care assistance. So where does that leave us "informed" college students when we turn 26? It puts us in trouble.

I threw this in here for kicks and giggles. This chart describes the big picture financial trends of America, and curiously shows that there doesnt seem to be a correlation between % of able bodied, working age Americans who are employed and America's GDP (how much money we make).

Andrew McAfee put together this chart. He's a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business, at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

This trend shows that although employment % hasn't been able to rebound after the recession, America's GDP (how much money our country makes) has increased to levels nearly as high as before the recession. Employment of able bodied, working age people dropped from around 62% before the recession to where it stands now at 58%. It is intriguing to me that the gap between % of people employed and the % of GDP is the largest it's ever been, however, America is still making money. We are making as much money with 58% of people employed as we were when 63% of people were. If you listen the TED presentation that McAfee gives, he credits automated systems or "droids" replacing the needs of humans to produce goods as the explanation.