Health Insurance... Are You Kidding Me?

Uncle Bubba saw an article in the paper that validated what he'd been wondering about for quite a while; is this federalized health insurance really a good thing? The article stated that the cost of health insurance for the city's 38 employees and six elected officials is increasing by 6%. It does not say why there is an increase, that's just one of those mysteries that we all live with and never get a straight answer; but that's not of Bubbie's concern here, that's a discussion for another day. The bottom line is that the city currently pays $430,000 annually for its employee's health insurance or about $9,774 per person. With the increase, they will be paying $10,355 per person. Lord have mercy! Get your head around those numbers. $439,774.00 for 44 people. Also, the city does not pay for any part of an employee's family coverage. So in Uncle Bubba's estimation, Obamacare is very costly and that begs the question; what are we getting for our money? Maybe this is the best answered by people who have experienced using health insurance. Uncle Bubba has heard several common experiences from friends and family.

They don't reach their extremely high deductible. With most of their healthcare needs being minor, or preventative as recommended, users have to pay out of pocket even though they are still paying the required large monthly premiums.

They are receiving major treatment or being operated on and then almost immediately sent home to convalesce. Sure, it's saving the hospitals tons of money, Uncle Bubba calls it factory healthcare; like an assembly line--wheel 'em in and ship 'em out. But God forbid that anyone gets a complication while recovering at home with no professional care. This risky practice is subpar care. It lowers the bar. Is that what we want?

The federal system is an insurance program for catastrophic care, plain and simple. It doesn't improve or assist in the lives of the majority of its users, if anything it brings hardship and unhealthy duress. If you don't believe Uncle Bubba, then talk to the people that work within the system. Ask a Registered Nurse about the quality of care; if no one is listening in they'll tell you the truth.

Lastly, it only functions if all of the healthy people pay in and never use it so that the others can benefit from it; how is that different than when it was private? It isn't except it's poorly run and more expensive thanks to government intervention. We've also lost our freedom of choice, which is what mandates do. In Bubbie's view, it's hard to see why we all just keep paying and paying and never say enough is enough. We should demand better until we get it. Let's get the government out of healthcare.

Honey, I Love You

Uncle Bubba went to the local flea market early in the morning and spied a table with jars of honey poised upon it and a few busybodies buzzing around it. He sidled over to it and listened in on the conversation, the feller selling the honey was also the beekeeper. It was local raw honey and Bubbie tasted a few samples before buying a small jar of gallberry honey. He took his little amber jar home and since it was still early he brewed a cup of hot black coffee and popped a slice of bread into the toaster. He buttered his hot toast and then poured some of the gallberry honey on it and sat at the kitchen table savoring the aromas. Tiny bubbles surrounded the ebony sheen in his bone-white coffee cup. The toast lightly crunches as he bites into the sweet and buttery concoction. Then a floral bouquet blows up in his mouth as the fresh honey's full body of flavor releases itself and Bubbie's senses that he's tasting sweet flowers, actual sweet flowers.

When one experiences something similar, using honey as an example, in it's purest form it is remarkable. As Bubbie's mind was swirling with delight he couldn't help but think of the plants and bees that had to all come together to make something so complex and so simple. How can anyone experience that and doubt that there is a God, one that truly loves us? What other purposes can there be to have such a creation that just so happens to be edible and so good for us? Think, from bee to beekeeper, to Bubbie. It's so simple and that transaction is lost in the aisles of a supermarket. With distracting rows and shelves of fancy labels and choices, we fail to see God in it; the bee, the plant. In Bubbie's view, when we recognize how the universe works together for our benefit we can hear God say, "Honey, I love you."

For The Record

Uncle Bubba wants to go on the record in this political climate. "Remember that my life is but breath, and though my voice may go out and press against the wind my love of God's creation, humanity, compels me to speak." Admittedly, we have a president that has lived his life in the public eye because he's a rich dude and during the 70s and 80s, fame was misogynistic, coke snortin' revelry. No excuses, no defense, just sayin' that Presidents Trump's skeletons are not hiding in any closets. Then why are we wasting so much time and money trying to find in the dark what stands in the light? Now think about this... why can't the swamp be drained? Because Congress can't sacrifice a single one of their own to appease us, their constituents, because the rats will start squealing and they know where all the bodies are buried. So they keep rattling the bones of Trump to keep the spotlight off of their own frightening skeletons.

Secondly, do y'all really think that any congressmen or senator is anything more than a paid actor? They don't care about what they grandstand on, they are paid to be a mouthpiece. Do you think that at the end of the day when they lay their head on their pillow that they are stressed about immigration, tax reform, your healthcare and exorbitant associated costs, and etc? Uncle Bubba reckons that they only think about how to say what they're paid to say versus the content of their own heart.

One more thing, speaking of paid actors, all of these "news" anchors and political pundits are nothing more than paid spokesmen and spokeswomen, performers who have sold out for their own fame and fortune. Sure, they speak passionately for their side of the argument but come on... think about it. Without the TV camera and money, what would they really care about?

Cynical? Damn straight. That's because Bubbie has common sense--a brain. He uses his mind in the understanding that there is more than one side to any story. In Bubbie's view, whether it be Congress and the Federal government as a whole or the media, they cannot talk of being truthful, unbiased, or non-partisan because as observed by C. S. Lewis from the essay, “The Poison of Subjectivism", ”Unless the measuring rod is independent of the things measured, we can do no measuring."  We'd better see things for what they truly are and get actively rooting out the muck and find that drain for the swamp.