Here I am, on a Saturday night in October, the epitome of entertainment and relaxing time in America, every able-bodied person is out and about doing something they love and making the most of their lives; just here in Durham, NC there were group outings in downtown and Halloween parties for Duke undergrad students; I saw one guy on the street walking around in a pretzel costume. Concerts are going on back in LA, it's a big college football day, the Yankees and Astros are playing Game 6 of the ALCS, and here I am writing about health insurance in my own home because I'm worried about renewing my health insurance now: my old Kaiser Permanente plan is increasing its rates by $90 a month ($90 whole dollars! That's like 7 Netflix subscriptions!) from $267 to $350.
And shame on me for not knowing this, but apparently health insurance doesn't cover you out of state, the only thing it does cover is emergency costs when being out of state. So as a frequent traveler to other states for work, it's recommended that I get "supplemental" health insurance or catastrophe insurance, whatever that means. A nd Kaiser, which is big in California, does not have locations in North Carolina or New York, two of the states I frequently find myself in. So I guess I'll be changing my health insurance next year.
Makes me wonder: what's better protection, the circle of protection I've been blessed with since birth that magically protects me against most illnesses and all injuries, or this flimsy health insurance I pay upwards of $3,000 per year for?
And $3,000 is just for me, it's not even mentioning MJ, who recently had to use her health insurance after suffering her injury.......luckily for us, we recently switched to her college insurance, which is much more comprehensive and covers more things than our old health insurance (the college took one look at our old health insurance and spat it out like an used car auto dealer rejecting a lemon). And even then we're still getting hospital bills for surgery, hospital stay, rehab, etc.........much less and definitely not catastrophic costs that we may have incurred had we had old flimsy insurance, but still costs.
Apparently, though, I'm not even paying that much for health insurance......the average individual healthcare costs $400+! This average is probably skewed by older people and non-healthy people, but still, $400! I'm already wincing and biting my nails (not a good practice, by the way, if you want to stay out of the hospital) over the move from the $200 region to the $300, but $400+ per month, do they at least throw in like a subscription to the Wall St. Journal or Amazon Prime membership or something? It is one of the main reasons I don't scoff at the idea when MJ proposes (as she often does) for us to move to Korea or some other country when we get older. Who knows what healthcare will be like in 30 years when we retire (if we can retire), especially with Trump taking years and plenty of political capital trying to repeal Obamacare, which itself took so much political capital and years to shove through the legislative branch. The congresspeople themselves don't have much personal incentive to pass healthcare legislation when they can choose a gold-level Obamacare policy and receive federal subsidies that cover 72 percent of the cost of the premiums; so they don't pay nothing but they definitely get good coverage for low cost. Meanwhile, here I am at the lowest tier bronze begging for scraps but paying for other people's gold plans. Congresspeople would probably work more efficiently if their healthcare premiums were making them drown as they do to many average Americans......$400 per month is like a huge percentage of one's net income.......(figuring maybe $4000 per month or $5000 month for the average America worker's salary?) it's like a 10% tax added to what's already being taxed.
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have single payer health care reform plans, a noble cause, but a seeming pipe dream if it's going to cost "an eye-popping amount" in taxes ($34 trillion apparently) that would probably be more dead on arrival than an impeachment vote to convict President Trump in the Senate. After finally getting MJ back from the hospital and being able to reflect on her experience (as well as just now receiving some of the bills), it's just crazy how much healthcare costs are, how doctors and hospitals and insurance companies can get away with charging exorbitant rates. Two big no-nos in life apparently: Don't get involved in a lawsuit and don't get sick/injured. It will cost you.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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