This post is a ranting post.
In sunday school yesterday we talked about the allegory of the olive trees in Jacob 5. The teacher asked us if we had any particular subjects that we related to that were easy for us to learn lessons from. Mine is food. So here is an allegory of my own.
Humor me, and let's pretend we live in a world where your grocery shopping experience is as follows:
You and your family need food for the week, so you walk in to the grocery store, where you are met by an employee who knows all about groceries. He got his degree in grocery shopping, and he informs you that he will be leading you through your shopping experience today. As you go up and down the aisles, he will throw things in your cart that he believes will benefit your family. This being your first shopping experience, you trust his opinion. Nothing in the store has a price tag. When you inquire about the price, the shopping attendant simply tells you that they will send you a bill later. So you check out, go home, and feed your family. Months go by, and finally you receive the grocery bill. It's $1000. What!?!? You had no idea the groceries would cost that much. If you would have known, you definitely would have gone to another grocery store, or made different purchases. And since your family has already eaten all the food, you can't return it. So you call the grocery store, telling them that you can't afford the bill. They refer you to the financial assistance department, who requests your financial info, such as your pay stubs and bank account statements. After review, they inform you that you do not qualify. Not because you make a ton of money, but because you have money in your savings account. In fact, they tell you, if you made the same amount, but just didn't save any of it, they would pay your grocery bill every week for the rest of your life. Tough bananas. (pun intended.)
I don't think any of us would tolerate a grocery system like this.
But go to the doctor, and suddenly this is exactly what you get. (*Disclaimer, I would not dare suggest that receiving health care is comparable to grocery shopping, or that socialized medicine is a better alternative; I'm simply trying to make a point.)
Our most recent doctor's visit bill was astronomical due to Alaina getting her first round of immunizations. Turns out our insurance won't cover childhood vaccinations (seriously? who doesn't cover that? and there are people complaining about having to pay for birth control. puh-lease, people.) So I called the financial assistance dept., and they turned us down because we have money in our savings account. They said I should have just gone to the health department for the shots, because they are only $5. Funny, because the Indiana health dept. recently changed their policy, and will only charge $5 for people without ANY insurance. If you have insurance, they will still bill your insurance like the doctor's office. So basically our health care system rewards people who don't save money and who don't have insurance. This is so frustrating, because in trying to become self-reliant, we can't afford to live. It's so tempting to just lie to the health dept., and tell them you are uninsured.
Anyway, in my opinion there need to be some serious changes to health care policies, so people are informed of the cost of procedures prior to having them. If they don't like the cost, they have the opportunity to go somewhere else for services. I just thought of like twelve other things about our health care system/economy/government that frustrate me, so I'll end this post now before things get out of hand.
