Posted on 09/13/2009 9:34:21 AM PDT by Natural Law
The president recently said; “no body should go broke because they got sick”. That didn’t tell the whole story. What he could have, and should have said was that no body should go broke because they got sick and had already blown all of their money on things they had no business buying at their income level.
I grew up in a dirt-poor home that had a policy that if we couldn’t afford it, we didn’t get it. We did always have some kind of health insurance. I have heard the left talk about “means testing” a number of government programs. We should do the same for anyone qualifying for government health care assistance. Let’s see how big the list is of things that the “poor” and uninsured have today that should be a lower priority (and a disqualifier) than a basic commercially available health insurance policy;
1) A cell phone
2) A computer
3) Internet access
4) Cable TV
5) Fast food
6) Manicures
7) Pedicures
8) Tattoosv 9) Piercings
10) Anything with bling
11) Spa treatments of any kind
12) Professional beauty parlor visitsv 13) Drugs
14) Booze
15) MP3 player with downloaded music
16) NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB or Major College attire
17) Concert tickets
18) Night Club or bar visits
19) Designer purses
20) Designer or endorsed sports shoes
21) Digital cameras
22) A 2nd, or 3rd TV
23) Attending a sporting event
24) Going to the movies
25) Car detailing
26) A car if there is an alternative way to get to work or school.
27) 1000 watt car stereo add ons
28) Vacations
29) Coffee you didn’t make
30) A 2nd spouse (if you aren’t providing for the ex and your kids)
31) An affair or “hook-up”
32) Political contributions
33) Gym memberships
A lot of people I know would rather have a fancy $5000 bicycle than put the money aside for a rainy day. It’s spend it now ...
Too many Americans are cockeyed optimists or immature morons or both and you have illustrated the differences between “living it up today” and “planning for an unexpected crisis”.
If we could eat, wear or have sex with health insurance - perhaps there would be a demand for it. We just don’t seem to understand the rationale for paying premiums and not getting something (i.e the catastrophe that you insured against).
That kind of abstract thinking is not taught in public schools. Which is strange, because that is precisely how the IRS works: Pay taxes - or go to jail.
Perhaps Health Insurance companies should have diabolical, threatening commercials like those of Property & Casualty companies that show burning houses and massive car pile-ups.
It’s a conundrum.
Drive through the poorest sections of cities near you and you will notice a satellite dish on top of the roof of every row home.
You are so right. Those of us who place insurance (of all kinds) as a top priority above buying bling will be forced to subsidize those who do not.
But we already do that anyhow with welfare and food stamps. We buy recipients of those social programs items that we can’t afford or put off buying ourselves.
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