The Maximalist has a young 20-something acquaintance who bitterly resents paying copays for MD visits and prescriptions. She also believes that deductions being made from her salary for healthcare benefits is excessive and unfair. Clearly our employer should make all this "free", in other words, somebody else should pay for what I think are "necessities".
Can this person afford these copays and premiums? In a word, yes, but she does not see it that way. Our young woman spends plenty of money on travel (she recently got back from a lovely jaunt to Barbados), she dresses well, has a great cell phone and hits the restaurants and clubs every weekend. Somehow, it is the healthcare premiums that are the "unaffordable" bit. Apparently all her income should be spent on "wants" while the "needs" are provided by some nebulous group of others.
I have had similar complaints about the horrid struggles of life with other people too. They resent spending their money on needs, but have no trouble with wants at all. There are retirees who feel the same way. Despite winter homes in Florida and the ability to maintain the four bedroom family home here in the north, they resent like hell having to pay for any part of medical care.
THis is all very tiresome to me. Years ago people recognised that their first and larger home would be sold to help finance their needs as old people. Young people recognised that vacations and fancy electronics were luxuries that were saved for and obtained after necessities were secured. When the Maximalist was young, a cruise or European trip was seen as a very special thing NOT as something you were able to do three times a year.
Our priorities are very wrong.
ALso I'd love to know why people see the services provided by healthcare people as their "right". I think we need to get away from the idea that we should be spending our money ONLY on desires while the shadowy "others" pay our real bills.
Always remember that to someone on the economic food chain, you are the prey. THey want you to provide. As we destroy one group of payers with our wants, we will need to hunt down another economic meal.
Start taking care of yourselves and start realizing that you must take care of your "needs" as well as your laundry list of desires.
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