Health Care & Lotto

Have you bought a lotto ticket recently? Let's discuss that a little bit later, alright? Let's talk about health care for now. As I watch the debate over President Obama's health care reform initiative, I see polls indicating that 75 to 88 percent of Americans are happy with their health care. That's fine, you can be happy with it. But know this, your employer is not happy with it. Over the last decade, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have increased 119 percent. Employees have seen their share of job-based coverage increase at nearly the same rate during this period jumping from $1,543.00 to $3,354.40. Intuitively, they have to know that their employers will not continue to pay such exorbitant premiums. Those opposed to the President's initiative angrily say that they are happy with their health insurance and don't want the government's hands in their health care. They side, knowingly or otherwise, with the health insurance companies who annually raise their premiums and find new and inventive ways to deny payment of claims. If this stance were not so terribly sad and pathetic, it would be incredibly amusing. These people are in effect, chasing away the barnyard dog, telling him to leave them alone and stay out of their security issues as he attempts to drive off the wolves.

Perhaps a story will illustrate my point more clearly. I knew a fellow who did everything right. He went to school, got himself a degree and a good job and worked hard. When technology made his job obsolete, he went out and took a job that was lower paying and more menial in nature. While he toiled away at his new, less desirable job, he worked to learn the newer technology that had rendered his skills obsolete. Sadly, one day he suffered a calamitous cardiovascular event that left him in a hospital fighting for his life. At the end of the month in which his illness debilitated him, his "good" work-provided health insurance ran out. You see, as an employee, his insurance premiums, much like yours, were always paid 30 days ahead of time. When the month turned and he was not back to work, he was no longer insured. Of course, he was offered COBRA insurance at a prohibitive cost and had to make a decision between having an apartment to return to, or buying COBRA. He burned through his savings maintaining his apartment for the two months that he recuperated in the hospital. So without his work-sponsored insurance and without COBRA, he ended up depending on Medicaid, which was intent on being certain that he had churned through all of his available resources before they would pay for his care. Only a home and a vehicle would be spared. But he had exhausted his savings, and when released from the hospital while still unable to work, he had a pile of co-pays and deductible spurred bills and had lost his apartment. This is what happened to him and he had 2 months worth of savings. Does it sound as though his insurance company was there for him? What these people who are so rabidly opposed to President Obama's initiative fail to see, is that there but for the grace of God go they. Clearly more opposed to the name attached to the plan than they are attached to any legitimate complaints, they are fully prepared to cut off their noses in order to spite their proverbial faces.

If these people are reading this article, they are likely thinking "I won't have any catastrophic health emergency." Between Cancer and cardiovascular disease, you have about a 1% chance of being struck by one of those health disasters. That is a 1 in 100 chance of being struck by cancer or catastrophic cardiovascular disease. So let's revisit that lottery ticket that. Comparatively, your odds of winning that big prize in my state (NY) are 1 in 22,528,737 for every one of those hard-earned dollars you spend on a lottery ticket. So if you believe that you have a chance to become a millionaire. You had better believe that you have a chance to become destitute. But I'll wrap it up now, I'm sure you have some mob to join at your local town hall meeting.

Information sources:

http://www.nylottery.org/ny/nyStore/cgi-bin/ProdSubEV_Cat_401_SubCat_201671_NavRoot_320.htm

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

http://www.cancer.org/downloads/stt/CFF2008Table_pg4.pdf

http://www.businessgrouphealth.org/healthtopics/stroke_prevention.cfm

http://www.triwest.com/beneficiary/newslist.aspx?aud=0&xf=020309_heartattacks

http://www.americanheart.org/downloadable/heart/1200078608862HS_Stats%202008.final.pdf

http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml