[geeks] Discuss this quote...

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

>> Is medical insurance that big of a deal?  Outside of my brief stint
>> at state employment, I've never had my employer provide it.  In fact,
>> I haven't even had insurance for the last two years or so.  I just
>> eat well[0] and take care of myself.  I only get sick enough to miss
>> work every four years or so.
>
> Sure, one day you will need it. Then it will be imposible to buy it
> and you will be faced with a choice of selling EVERYTHING you own to
> pay your medical bills or living (as long as you can) with whatever
> condition you have.

Insurance isn't what's needed then.  Affordable healthcare is, and
insurance providers survive by inhibiting that (many of the largest
regional hospital chains also happen to be owned[0 by HMOs).  My point is
that the insurance companies and healthcare providers are playing a
dirty shell game, and if I can sidestep most of that by providing my own
insurance (in the form of a savings plan and trying to do the right
thing), I feel a degree of moral obligation to do that.

I submit that a person of average health (and luck) and above-average
financial responsibility has no need for health insurance.  They exist
to prop up the health insurance system.  Sticking that $200 - $300 a
month into moderate yield/risk savings will outweigh healthcare costs in
all but some unfortunate folks.

Now, yes, that means not going to the doctor with every sniffle and
getting a prescription for antibiotics as is the current American
custom, but there are good reasons to let the body fight off the
infections that it can, leaving drugs for only the ones it can't.  Bed
rest, hot tea, and a pepper-laden soup did as much for all but the worst
cases of the flu I've had than anything a doctor ever told me to take.

> A friend of mine was perfectly healthy, not overweight, well fed, etc.
> One morning he woke up and noticed he had an odd smell and did not
> feel well after he ate. He had become insulin dependent diabetic.

That's rather a pathological case (and it's possible that I am, too).
Yes, it happens, and yes, it sucks, but it's not all that common.  My
fiancee's dad has been a vegetarian all his life (and vegan for the last
5 years or so) and has a cholesterol problem he can't control, so I'm
well aware that sometimes doing the right things in your diet isn't the
whole ball game, but cases like that are outlying.

> Another interesting satistic would be to ask your local HMO's what
> percentages of their money they spend on what diseases. Type II
> diabetis and it's effects which is often caused by overweight, lack of
> exercise and bad diet consumes more than half for many of them.

Well, I live in Texas.  Given the sheer amount of flab in this state,
I'd be shocked if our annual number of new Type II cases per year per
capita was less than a standard deviation above the national average.


[0] The clinic I visited as a child was independently owned from the time
     it was built until the late 1980s.  After that, it was purchased by
     a large regional healthcare provider.  Immediately thereafter it
     became expensive beyond what could be accounted for by inflation.
     Luckily, though, they had a health plan you could buy-into which
     would put the co-pay back near what a visit cost the year before...
-- 
Jonathan Patschke     )
Elgin, TX            (      "I detest logging filesystems."
USA                   )                    --Linus Torvalds