Market Farming

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

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 12:38:59 -0400, you wrote:

>It seems my husband and I are rare birds not only do both of us farm 
>full time but we do not carry health insurance nor see any need for it. 
>it is a huge expense based on the possibility that one day you may get a 
>catastrophic illness. 

I'm glad you and your husband enjoy good health, and I hope
you always do.

What you're leaving out of the picture you depict above is a
chronic, but not catastrophic, illness.  

Examples would be rheumatoid arthritis, lupus (which can be
catastrophic sometimes, but not usually), chronic pain
caused by inoperable back problems, diabetes, and a whole
host of others (many of them auto-immune diseases).  Note
that the cause of auto-immune diseases is not known to
medicine, so it's hard to prevent them.  

We both have chronic illnesses - not catastrophic in the
sense of hospitalization, surgery, etc.  

But our out-of-pocket medical expenses have been running
about $9000/year.  

This included *one person's* medical insurance as long as we
could pay it (one of us is on Medicare), and co-payments for
drugs, doctor visits, and various tests, plus the amount I
paid for Medicare ($58/month now).  

$9000/year.  No hospitalizations included in that.  No
surgery included in it.  No major dental expenses included
in it (thank God) - just annual checkups and cleanings, and
maybe a small cavity here or there.  (I've had major dental
work in the past, but it was while we had dental insurance.)

Pat