I keep hearing about what is considered to be “junk” health insurance, but what, exactly, does that mean? The way most of these new “compliant” policies are being written, is to make the deductible or co-pay requirements SO high, as to provide practically no insurance at all until catastrophic levels of expenses are reached, then only pay maybe 80% of those expenses over $5,000 or $10,000. For many families, this is a quarter or more of their GROSS annual income, and they are closer to being bankrupted for medical reasons than they ever were before. The “approved” plans are in themselves just another variety of “junk” policies.
Alan Grayson, the slimeball congresscritter from the Orlando area of Florida, accused the Republican plans (there are several) as being focused entirely on cost containment. “Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly” is a perfect example of picking up on a half-truth, and like a half-brick, it is both easier to throw, and provides twice the ammunition when hurled separately.
“Don’t get sick”, a euphemism for sensible preventative care, is not a “plan”, it is common intelligent response to the vicissitudes of life. And as for assuming that the mere fact of contracting an illness or injury is inevitable death, we are all born with an expiration date, and sometime, sooner or later, every one of us shall come to a crisis that becomes the end of life. Whether we meet that well and with a sense of fullness to a life well lived, or we cripple along for years with a progressive degeneration (a delicious phrase, on a couple of different levels, both political and physical) and impairment of our facilities, still holds as a matter of choice, however badly made. But as every mother who has nursed an infant through the night knows, it almost always gets better in the morning. Human beings are highly resilient creatures, able to meet challenges at a personal level and recover, sometimes almost miraculously, from injury and illness. If we were not, the human race would have died out long ago.
The one plan calls for death panels, the deliberate withholding of cure or mitigating assistance to cope with the effects of degeneration, and screening techniques to reward or deny treatment based not on medical needs, but political expediency of the moment. But in all circumstances, there is the assumption that individuals cannot be depended upon to make intelligent decisions, with the aid of trustworthy medical professionals, on matters concerning their own state of health. This sort of decision is placed in the hands of third parties, be it insurance schemes or a single-payer agency which is an arm of government.
That is a false assumption, one that for which I call BULLSH*T. One’s personal state of health is and always was a totally PERSONAL consideration, much like the choices in entertainment, or foods, or the place of dwelling, or the colors with which one may choose to dress in and surround themselves in their daily activities. None of the government’s business, at any level. And once a person has reached the emancipated level of living, not even subject to approval of friends or family.
Living well is not only the best revenge, it is also the most satisfying and illuminating course of life.
Live well and prosper. Beam me up, Scottie.
I enjoyed reading your great post.
Bump!