Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

If I had all the money that I've paid to various HC providers over the
years, I'm sure I could retire today. Alas, my late, great husband seemed to
have some of his worst crises while we were between insurance. It wasn't,
however, the crises that well and truly laid us low financially; it was the
drug costs. 

Yes, James & Denise, I know if you live a healthful life (and, incidentally,
avoid killer genes), you can do well. OTOH, if you have a seriously
compromised heart, you can only do well so long as you take your meds. These
meds are huge advances over what our grandparents had, but they cost a lot.
In Jim's case, they were around $1000 a month. He triaged what he bought --
so if we couldn't afford everything, he at least got what he needed so he
could walk around and do stuff without constant angina.

Truly, we and the Chinese are not so far apart. It's come down to what you
are willing to trade off. I'm now in the fortunate position of being a
single person with no dependents. Should I get too sick -- I'm quite healthy
now -- to carry on, I can disband the homestead and put myself down (just as
long as I do it before I can't :) )

Our current world situation -- with high tech and effective health care
available, but at prices that most people can't afford without insurance,
and insurance spotty, at the best -- leaves the large majority of humans at
the mercy of public policy.

Marie