In the midst of the Bush Depression, we now know that there are 12 elected officials in the County of Orange who get 100 percent FREE health insurance premiums paid for by us – the taxpayers! And not just for themselves, but also for their dependents, according to the O.C. Register.
How do the rest of the county workers fare? They 95 percent of their own health insurance paid for, and the taxpayers cover 75 percent of the bill for their dependents.
In 2009, it will cost us $140,167 to pay for the elected officials’ health insurance premiums. That works out to $11,681 per elected official, which would be typical for a family of four.
Free health insurance is the tip of the iceberg for our County elected officials. They also get $765 a month car allowances, $3,000 a year in reimbursable professional and educational expenses and, for supervisors, $143,031 base salaries.
How does all these perks compare with our average county residents, or especially with our working poor?
“The Orange County Health Needs Assessment reports that while the county’s rate of uninsurance has fallen since 2001, the percentage of uninsured Latinos and Vietnamese has increased. And according to a UCLA Center for Health Policy Research analysis of the California Health Interview Survey data, only six California counties have a greater percentage of children who are uninsured than Orange County. What is more, the county’s community clinics, which provide a safety net for the uninsured, are overloaded,” according to the Irvine Health Foundation.
Here is some more information about poverty in Orange County, from the Irvine Health Foundation’s website:
Long considered to be a stronghold for the middle class, there are signs that Orange County is becoming a region of extremes, with the very rich and very poor clustered at opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum. During the 1990s the gap between the rich and the poor in Orange County widened while the number of residents in poverty grew 44 percent. Overall, Orange County’s median family income declined 3.2 percent to $64,611 as statewide incomes rose 0.2 percent to $53,025.
Illustrative of the bottom end of the continuum is the county seat. According to a 2004 Rockefeller Institute of Government study, Santa Ana topped the list of the nation’s 86 largest cities as having the highest level or urban hardship, a rating based on factors such as income, education, and housing conditions. The city’s per capita income of $12,152 is less than half that of Orange County ($25,826) as a whole, and nearly 20 percent of its residents live below the federal poverty level. Santa Ana also has the highest percent of population over age 25 without a high-school education in the U.S. (56 percent).
I wonder if Santa Ana residents will still vote for Supervisor Janet Nguyen in four years, when they hear about how greedy she and the other Supervisors are?
Considering the tough times we are in, it is time for our County elected officials to stop ripping us off! They should not be getting 100% free health insurance. They should not be getting an outrageous $765 a month car allowance. And they should not be getting $3,000 bonuses, which are hidden as education reimbursement.
All of our County Supervisors are supposed to be conservative Republicans. Most of the other overpaid County elected officials are also Republicans, except for the County Assessor and County Clerk Recorder Tom Daly. I think Daly needs to give back these perks if he expects to get elected to replace Supervisor Chris Norby at the end of his term.
I encourage our readers who are Republicans to quit the GOP today and join the Libertarian Party. Then be sure to send a note to OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh and let him know why you quit his deplorable party.
I ownder how the jannies in the DPOC are feeling about their support and collusion with Sup BNguyen right about now? Hey Art, have you tried to get an assessment of janet nguyens performance from janets cheif jannie in the dpoc Chris Prevatt? is he still being controlled bvy janet via her mole, the planner known as Count Chocula?
#1,
I saw Chris and his partner Dan C. at the Register’s Freedompolitics.com party the other day. Both of them argued with me that there are no “Usual Suspects,” and that there is nothing wrong with their leader, Julie Stroud, who is a Republican.
Count Chocula was there too but he avoided me as he was busy kissing up to Tom Daly.
I think that Chris and company owe their fellow Dems an apology for being such Jannies.
WOW, Chris Prevatt in bed with Republicans!!?? Why am I not shocked? is there a relationship between the strouds and janet nguyen? If so you can guess where Prevatts alliance with Republican operatives stems from. And I am not surprised that Prevatts handler Count Chocula was there. I know he is deep in the fold of the usual suspects cabal and he is leading Chris Prevatt down that path too I see,
Dem Insider,
Yes, the Strouds are backers of Janet Nguyen. Not surprising…
Art,
You should ask Chris Prevatt exactly what his relationship is with Count Chocula. It seems to me that Janet is using Count Chocula to lead Chris Prevatt down the dark path.
I wonder if Chris Prevatt is aware that he is a full fledged janny due to his being controlled by Count Chocula?
I just read prevatts post about the out of touch prioroties of the BOS. He mentions Norby and Bates but only mentions Nguyen in the fact that she was spied on while she was texting during the meeting.
Is it unclear to anyone that Prevatt has drunk the janet Nguyen kool aid and is a full throated janny?
Why do we as Democrats have to put up with this deep invasion of the our party by the GOP and janet nguyen?
healthcare and salary are ok by me but not the car allowance. That is sort of piling on a perk. But salary and healthcare sounds like a normal thing to get in a job. Perhaps healthcare only for the individual and than pay more for your dependents would be ok. I do not know how it works in private industry. I have never had healthcare, cannot afford it at near 60 years old, and have not been to a doctor since I was 18. In a few more years I guess I get Medicare and maybe can get some of my ailments corrected then. But I do not begrudge the sups their healthcare just cuz I don’t have it.
Statement on blog incorrect: The percentage of uninsured Latino children HAS NOT increased, the PROPORTION of the percentage is larger for these populations.
The OCHNA 2007 Survey and the subsequent report on Health Care Coverage for OC Children (posted under publications at http://www.ochna.org) states that while health care coverage has improved in the last 10 years for all children, (3.5% in 2007 uninsured vs. 11% in 1998)but the proportion of children without coverage is largely Latino(representing 63.4% of the 3.5%)and Vietnamese(9% of the 3.5%, which WAS an increase in their share of the proportion over the 2004 survey).