[Tfug] Down Memory Lane II

[John Gruenenfelder]

On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 08:20:01PM -0800, keith smith wrote:
>
>John,
>
>I'm self-employed and have no insurance because it is prohibitively
>expensive.  Catastrophic insurance for just my wife and I is a minimum of
>$500 a month.  HMO would be about $1200 a month.
>
>I choose to not have insurance.  I pay out of my pocket as I go.  It cost
>less and requires some negotiations.
>------------------------
>
>Keith Smith

Keith,

And more power to you for taking the decision into your own hands.  And how I
do wish that I could do something similar, but it ain't gonna happen anytime
soon, I'm afraid.

I'm young, which is nice (you can probably tell from my statement about the
TI-99/4A).  I also have metastatic cancer, which isn't so nice.  I've been
dealing with it since my first semester at the UA.  As you can imagine, it
changes a lot, especially your outlook on the world of insurance.

You don't gain much from it besides knowing scores of doctors on a first name
basis.  Beyond that, not so much.

The losses side is a bit longer.  While I can easily see myself as a
self-emplyed contract programmer, that's simply out of the question, as is any
job where I must be self insured.  I'd have to find somebody willing to insure
me and then hope I can pay to have my eyeballs reattached after seeing the
premiums.

Realistically, from here until retirement, whenever that is, I'll be working
for some company that offer's group health insurance.  On the upside, that's a
decent pool to work from, but I'm sure you can see how that leaves out a great
many smaller businesses.

Uhh, anyway, all hail Obamacare.
"Taking a small step into the future.*"

* Void where prohibted.  Future not available in Arizona, Texas, and portions
of "The South".


-- 
--John Gruenenfelder    Systems Manager, MKS Imaging Technology, LLC.
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