Market Farming

[Pat Meadows <pat AT meadows.pair.com>]

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 10:28:38 -0400, you wrote:

>I have been farming full time for thirty years, when I started at 19 I
>paid something like $200 a year for health insurance. Today at 50 Im
>about to pay $5300 a year. I never made a claim and often wonder how
>rich I would be if I never had the insurance in the first place. Then I
>think of the cost of one major illness putting me in the poor house. Its
>not a plesant thought.
>Whenever I get a customer who complains that my produce is too
>expensive, I just think of that $1350 quarterly payment I have to make
>and say to the customer "tough"...Bob

*Please* remember these problems when you vote.

My husband is one of the 41 million-plus Americans who are
now totally without health insurance.  We paid for it as
long as we could, and we just can't do it anymore.  We now
risk losing our home should he incur expensive medical
bills.

We are the only developed country in the world (AFAIK)
without a national health care plan for all citizens.  

Countries *with* a national health care plan for all include
Canada, Mexico, the UK, Australia, Denmark, Germany, France,
Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Norway,
Spain, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, Hungary, Korea, and many many
others (see:
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/international_health_systems.php?page=4)

Pat