Thursday, April 12, 2007

Outrageous

In 2006, we spent $10,072 for Medical Insurance, co-pays and Froggy's meds.

To put that in perspective, it's more than 1/4 of our income going to deductibles, insurance and meds.

And...we have Medicare, California Children's Services and Blue Cross.

I can't complain, because Froggy is worth every penny and more, but I think I might cry.

I'm just hoping my fortune cookie was right the other night (and I should not be spending money on Chinese take-out, geeeeesh!), "The star of riches is shining on you." We are rich in so many other ways, but if you could take a moment to imagine us with a winning lottery ticket, or finding the Hope diamond in a sandpile at the park, well, that would be great.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have every right to be outraged. A quarter of your income on healthcare is unaffordable. I have to shake my head, because I just don't get the rationale behind such a healthcare system. It's irrational, inefficient, unfair, and scandalously -- immorally -- expensive.

Here in Switzerland, with a comparatively tiny population base, there are 87 different insurance companies competing for the young healthy demographic, while the cost of health care and health insurance is skyrocketing. There are now over 100,000 people in Switzerland who cannot afford health insurance; not as bad as the rate in the U.S., but shocking here. Yet, 3 weeks ago, the Swiss voted down a single-insurer proposal (it passed in 3 French cantons).

Really, a single-insurer system (the insurer being gov't or non-profit) is the only way to go. People would be shocked to see the cost differences between the single vs multi insurer models. Health care should be a basic right if citizenship; it stries me as immoral to force people into bankruptcy and poverty because they have the misfortune of becoming ill.

While you have insurance, it seems to offer only partial coverage; given that in Frogy's case, these are not "extras" or elective, this seems unfair.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for a lottery win, but the only solution is a complete political revamp (and remember how Hilary crashed and burned with only a modest proposal, not radical like what I am advocating).

I'll keep my fingers crossed for that too.

Mieke said...

Oh. E. Your head must be spinning. It's so hard. Unfair. Outrageous is right.