Every month when I'm looking over my bills and try to figure out how in the world I spent so much money in just one short month, I notice a bunch of things: first, how much the cost of food is (it's not that a $5 sandwich there or a $30 dinner out is going to kill you, but all the little costs add up including snacks, drinks, buying for other people, etc. like little cuts to the body, it gets pretty hefty and literally costs an arm and a leg). Secondly, vacations can get pretty costly not just because of the flight fare, food, living accommodations, and activities on the vacation, but also because of the time missed from work (if you're an hourly worker like me who doesn't get paid if he doesn't report to work) PLUS the double cost of having one's home either rented out or bought. Third, that I don't even have a mortgage yet that would only increase these massive costs, and Fourth, how many administrative fees I pay that I don't even get much benefit out of that are a total waste of money.
Look, I get it, there are some costs associated with living in general, such as.......food. If I didn't have to eat I probably wouldn't spend the money to eat, but alas we're human beings with a large appetite and a 3 meals per day (roughly) ritual so that money's a fixed cost, and I AM getting some nourishment/enjoyment out of it. And even CA bar fees (for being an attorney), at least I'm getting some benefit from it, of being able to work as an attorney and enjoy my salary. Health insurance costs, however, are psychologically so damaging because once I spend the $250 or so per month, I get nothing out of it unless I go to the hospital. There's a strong, strong chance every month that I'm just giving money away, and for a relatively cheap guy like me, it's particularly irksome. Like I hem and haw sometimes about giving $100 to charity (and that's on the high side), but it's my decision to give, so I feel good about myself and can justify the cost because I feel there's a chance it might be used to help someone else who needs it, but then I'm forced to pay $250 per month for something, it just doesn't feel right. I get that maybe it's being used to help someone else in the system who's suffering from a disease that requires large medical bills and that it's part of the system in the US, much like social security is, but in both instances I have no guarantees that by the time I am old and need the benefits from those payments that those benefits will still be there. Ever since I was 26, when I was forcibly ripped away from the umbrella protection of my parents' health care plan (one of the good things about Obamacare),
The problem with health insurance in the US, as my wonderful girlfriend vents about sometimes, is that not only is it mandatory and expensive and comes out of the citizen's own pocket (unless you get it free from one's employer, which is factored into one's compensation), it also does less than other countries' insurance, which is universal health insurance. Universal health insurance is an unattainable fantasy at this point for the US in how much money that would have to come out of the budget or how much taxpayers would have to pay in taxes to fund that anyway, but at least give more benefits for the plans than just "we'll pay everything over $7,000, so basically major surgeries and transplants only." Oh and one free doctor's visit per year and free flu shot. Thanks (sarcasm). Japan is a country that has lots of insurance, life insurance, etc., but it has a universal health care system. The whole idea of healthcare being part of a "health insurance" system is pretty bizarre to me, healthcare should not be a "catastrophe situation" that requires insurance. I'll have to do more research, but this seems right in the category of one of the big....wait for it...pyramid schemes I always complain about.
Next time, I rant about other hidden fees in America such as "processing fee" for orders, tips paid to waiters sustaining a whole industry of people that America gets away with, parking fees, "city tax," and the massive quantities of money that comes out of my paycheck each week (including Medicare, something called OASDI, and State withholding for god knows what purpose) that DOESN'T EVEN INCLUDE HEALTHCARE Bottom line is I wish I could keep more of my money. My high school English teacher once said, most young people lean liberal/Democratic until they start working and feel differently about their money and earning money (in which case they don't want to get taxed out of everything anymore by big government spending). I now understand why he said that.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
No comments:
Post a Comment