Another thing that needs to be fixed.
I did my yearly trip to the doctor earlier and other that having gained some pounds over the Winter, he found me fine on cursory examination. I got my blood drawn and got the results: I have not had such good numbers in decades, probably when I was in my late teens. My cholesterol is so low I almost got a prescription for bacon and sausage. My blood sugar was a solid 99 even though I did not fast that morning and every other measurement was right on the middle of the scale or under it.
Eight years ago, I was a 370 pound, two pack a day smoker. After trying for 35 years, I managed to kick the habit and have been smoke free ever since. Four years ago I had ballooned to 420 pounds and was searching online for size 64 pants when I decided it was a stupid way to live. I had to walk with a cane and I was out of breath walking to the mailbox and back and my back was non-stopping in pain. I started to diet and adding just a bit of exercise till 3 years later I had dropped 200 pounds, wear pants size 36 and can do 3.5 miles in the treadmill almost every day before going to work.
As I said, I am healthier than ever and feel great, so why in the reverent f*ck my health insurance is the same as if I had done nothing and thus expensive as shit? What is all the bullshit about “being healthy” if I need to work and shell money out of my ass as if I was running BP in the 200s and shooting insulin like a junkie doing heroin while going to the doctors and seek treatments every three months? How come I do not get a hefty discount for not using medical resources and avoiding getting sick by bad habits and self-abuse?
And how come I have the nasty feeling I am having to pay this much because I am somewhat subsidizing the people who are overusing medical help because they can stop eating six Cheetos with peanut butter and gravy every meal (chased down with a Coke Zero, of course) and smoking 3 packs of American Spirit a day?
If RFK Jr. really wants to leave his mark, he should address this crap.
OK, Rant Off.
Insurance is not there to "pay" for medical care. It is there to protect your fiscal health. Why do you carry homeowners insurance? Because it is prohibitively expensive to rebuild the house after a fire, etc.. Same for auto insurance. So... why is medical insurance expected to pay for every time you see any kind of medical professional?
Simple answer, culture. We, as in everyone in the western world, have been trained to think medical care is somehow a "right" and someone else should pay for it. Medical insurance has ceased to be protection for your fiscal health, and has become a sugar daddy.
Change the culture (easy, right? RIght???) and you will see medical care costs drop.
I could rant on for days about this, but the reality is we, as a society, seem to think that if it involves health in any way, someone else should pay the bill. And, once someone else is paying, you stop caring about the cost.
It isn't always this way. My employer recommends I get a yearly physical, and if I do and submit the results, I can get a discount depending on the numbers.