I as have ventured into business for myself, I am proud to report that I now have individual health insurance for my family. Fortunately, my family has always been insured, but up until now, it has always been provided by an employer. As I shopped for insurance amongst that nationwide debate on healthcare reform, the topic really hit home.
For my family of five, I pay $280 per month for a decent plan. There were options both more and less expensive, but I was able to choose what best fit my concerns. Admittedly, I did become frustrated with the complexity of the insurance plans, and do believe the system as a whole is not user friendly and generally too expensive.
For $280 a month, 5 people are covered in case of medical tragedy, let's assume that is average for most households. Granted, $280/month is a lot of money, but not the travesty that some are making it out to be. Especially when you consider we just came off a government sponsored program aimed at people buying brand new cars. The program catered only to those who drove so called "clunkers" and helped them get into a brand new car. Now, this is pure speculation, but I'm guessing very few of those individuals bought their new cars with cash. They got a loan, to pay for one of the worst investments a person can make - a brand new car. I don't know what the average new car payment is these days, but I suspect $280 would be fairly reasonable.
So, it is perfectly acceptable and encouraged by our government to go into debt on an material item that is rapidly depreciating in value, but outrageous that we should have to pay the same amount to protect the health and well being of a family of 5? I know that car is only worth $20 - 40K, but how do you put a value on the health of your family?
I pay about $140/month to insure two 5 year old vehicles worth a combined $25,ooo. So is it really that unheard of to pay $280 for myself, my wife, and my three kids?
I don't write this as a proponent of our health care / insurance system, as it certainly has some issues, but merely to put the issue in perspective. Those shouting the loudest are generally those wasting the most. The last person I heard griping in favor of ObamaCare, and that they couldn't afford health insurance, was a smoker who spent around $300/month (between them and their spouse) on cigarettes!!!! What?! Another proBama and raging democrat was all for social programs and high taxes, but regularly works jobs for cash to avoid actually paying taxes. They also voluntarily take regular "layoffs" so they can draw unemployment. I'm getting off topic....
Anyways, our government should be focusing on lowering debt, lowering taxes, and allowing Americans to prosper based on their own ingenuity.
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This morning while eating breakfast and reading a book my friend Josh loaned me called Hideous Gnosis - a book about the philosophy behind Black Metal - I came across the word anomie. It's a word I've seen used before in other things I've read but for whatever reason this time I decided to look up it's meaning. Wikipedia has this definition for anomie:
