It is not with pleasure that I enter this blog today. It is with frustration on the one hand and thanks on the other. My family and I have not lived with an excess of financial success. We have lived rather frugally by most standards but have managed to find money for the things we really wanted to do. One of the main things that has allowed us the freedom to do many of the things we wanted to is our ability to find contentment in places other than those advertised on TV. We have never owned a new car and likely never will. Thankfully, my wife and I both feel like a car is to be a servant to our family, not our master. When I buy a car now, I expect it to run well over the 300,000 mile mark. If it doesn't make it I feel like I have failed to choose wisely and am disappointed. Additionally, I do most of the maintenance myself which has saved us untold thousands over the years. Unfortunately, this approach to car buying leaves us looking at Japanese-made vehicles, not American-made. A few years ago I purchased a Camry with over 200,000 miles on it, for an even thousand dollars and when we gave it away, (still running), it had over 300,000 miles on it. America should be producing the best everything as far as I'm concerned, but we're not. While GM was becoming a manufacturing-based health care provider the Japanese were working hard at developing processes to produce high quality cars. While we were demanding more and more pay for producing lower quality cars, they were taking personal pride in their workmanship. While I don't have specifics in front of me I believe that, by and large, union workers at GM were making more money with better benefits than the vast majority of the people who were buying their cars. I understand the challenges of manufacturing here in the US; many of those challenges are unavoidable. But the big paychecks and huge pension promises made by our biggest companies will see that we are held at a disadvantage for decades.
So this is my frustration. And here is my thanks. Thank you, Japan, for supplying my family and me with reliable and efficient transportation for the last 40 years.
News Flash! Are you sitting down? A startling bit of information just came to my attention that may change the whole discussion of health-care in this country. As it turns out, more people are dying every day who have health insurance than those who are dying who do not.
In fact, statistics are beginning to point to the possibility that even rich people with health insurance are dying on a daily basis. Only time, and a continued study of this emerging trend will bear out if it's true or not, but I think, if it is, it may change the on-going debate in this country. May I suggest, in addition to these revealing statistics, that if people without health insurance would practice good eating habits and otherwise attempt to maintain a healthy lifestyle, that they would live longer than someone with health insurance that does not take care of themselves. It is a proven fact that lifestyle is more of a factor in a person's health than whether they have health insurance or not. I am among those who could live without health insurance. Since my employer requires I accept health insurance offered only on their terms, (that is to say they do not offer any options for those wishing to receive even just a portion of the cost associated with their health insurance in the form of increased compensation),I do have health insurance. And, as long as I am able to afford it, I believe it's a good investment. I just wish I could buy my health insurance myself. In fact, I wish we were all in charge of our own health insurance. Why? Hello "free market". As with anything the government gets involved in our current insurance climate is really mucked up. (did I spell that right?) If I could buy just the insurance I wanted and could "shop" around for doctors and services I believe the costs would come down dramatically. Certainly on a case by case basis the costs would come down. I don't need maternity coverage. Nor do I want chiropractic coverage. I could have purchased a high deductible policy when I was young and put money into a Health Savings Account which could well have grown to a sufficient amount that I could be considered self insured except for those extended hospital stays which my inexpensive, high deductible policy would cover. Instead, I'm trapped in a system that will not allow me to take responsibility for, or, control of, my own health-care. A system that will not allow society to bring the most powerful and effective cost controls known to man to bear on our health-care system. A system whose most distinctive characteristic is to empower the ruling elite which is more and more in the position of giving us our opinion when they want it. In case that last line looks a little funny just think back to a scene from the Godfather.
Your homework for this week is to look into Health Savings Accounts and to start now to plan your escape from our perilous health-care system. If you are too old to pursue this worthy endeavor I am indeed sorry. God help us all.
