What I have yet to hear in the healthcare “debate”

I was browsing blogs and news articles the other day regarding the issue of Obamacare and came across an interesting comment: How many people who “cant afford” healthcare have cable?

Since reading this I could not stop thinking about the lifestyle of those who cannot afford to purchase healthcare, so I decided to run some numbers.

Using eHealthinsurance.com I was able to perform a simple search for a married couple, both 35 and smokers. 58 results appeared starting at $142 a month – not bad for smokers! Non smoker plans started at $124 a month. This search was performed locally in Washington State, Kitsap County.

Similar searches:

Kansas - $155 smoker, $115 non-smoker

Atlanta - $134 smoker, $98 non-smoker

NYC - $340 smoker, $340 non smoker

Boise - $131 smoker, $118 non-smoker

In my job, with a group plan, I pay $40 a week for coverage, including my wife and child – I used to pay $80 a week (and liked that plan better). So for my family, I pay about $160 a month for non-smokers. Affordable, very affordable.

Let’s take the average of the four randomly selected cities above, and assume a national average of $190 a month for smokers and $167.75 a month for non smokers. That rounds out to about $2200 annually for smokers, $2000 for a non smoking family of two – standard coverage with deductibles, etc.

Assuming a smoking family, combined, sucks down one pack a day (that is 10 cigs each a day, not a far stretch), they will spend $35 a week on smokes costing $5 a pack – or $1820 a year on cigarettes. Just $400 less than a full insurance package annually! Assume that the smokers also have standard rates on Comcast for TV, Phone, and Internet. The price of smokes plus the amenities is $3476 annually, or $1196 MORE than a health insurance plan.

Non smokers with the amenities still have a $357 annual gap to fill – but that cup of coffee, even home brewed, averaging $5 a week is $260 annually… assuming you splurge on a starbucks coffee on average of 1.5 times a week – BAM, health insurance is paid for if you give it up.

What is my point?

My point is that the problem is not a lack of private health insurance, or the cost of private health insurance.

Rather, it is a sense of entitlement. People feel that they DESERVE cable TV, or Internet, or Digital Voice phone. They feel they DESERVE to smoke, or drink a beer a day (another $500 a year). Entitlement Mentality is plaguing our nation.

While these individuals and families who are unable to buy insurance are spending thousands of dollars a year on “niceties” they are also shouting that they DESERVE certain things for free from the government.

I learned at a young age that It is not my RIGHT to have an allowance… I never got one. And when I begged for the almighty dollar from my father, it was usually in return for some labor or chore swapping. I never expected that I would be given anything for free… no handouts. What my father worked to earn, I was not entitled to it.

Similarly, what I earn, self made despots who blow their money on extras and who are clearly living beyond their means, are not entitled to. I value my life’s energy too much to give it away on someone who doesn’t share the same value for their life.

So, the conclusion is simple, the government already provides ample coverage for those who TRULY cannot afford insurance by any other means… there is no need to continue to redistribute wealth so that those “without” can live a lifestyle that does not fit their income bracket… once they are returned to an appropriate lifestyle, there will be motivation to reach the next rung on the ladder. For those who are unmotivated, don’t crawl into my wallet!

"Nation of Cowards" - AG Holder's Racism Sickens Me

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," The words of our Attorney General, who sums up his statement roughly as the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives, claiming that we live in "race-protected cocoons."

Where, oh, where do I start.

Let's start with the NAACP - the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. A racist organization aimed at the advancement of a certain...

No... let's start by discussing the disgusting word, "RACE".

What "race" am I? I have light toned skin, but an ancestry of European, Cherokee, Iroquois, Blackfoot, Chickasaw, Mohawk, Huron, and my research may have revealed African lineage as well... so, Mr Holder - label me! Because I "look white" to you, you must assume that I am "White" or "Caucasian" - but how am I Caucasian when my ancestors are not from the Caucus Region of Western Asia? How do you define me by my "whiteness".

THE CONCEPT OF RACE IS ARTIFICIAL.

I belong to the HUMAN RACE. Skin color does not define me. HOWEVER, social status and my achievements and accomplishments, despite my hardships, DOES define me. And it defines the people with whom I choose to associate.

My neighbors are predominantly light toned skin, not that I care one bit... but what we ALL have in common is a lifestyle that we choose to live - middle class, suburb, family raising and safe type neighborhood. We have block parties, house parties, and barbecues - all "skin colors" are invited... we are a community - a family.

Holder's comments, which are ignorantly applauded by the NAACP, are "racist" hate-filled comments, showing general contempt for upper and middle class light-tones, who he feels are creating some slum in which darker tones are forced to live.

If you want to talk about segregation, talk about it in a manner of something which anyone gives a damn about - not skin tone, rather social status and level of achievement. Keep your ignorance to yourself... I don't need the lecture of stupidity.

I choose not to "hang out on the weekends" in inner city slums, high crime rate areas, and generally avoid locations where drug use and violence are statistically higher... and I do so, not based on race, rather, based on self preservation.

I suggest that those "locked" in a lower social status do what I did (as an impoverished welfare child from a broken home, who lived many times on the streets, etc)... GET OVER YOURSELF. Be the change you want to see, as Gandhi said. Break the cycle... get out of the slums... stop using drugs, stop drinking alcohol, leave the abusive family member, go to school, educate yourself, dress business appropriate and work your way up progressively better jobs, buy a house in the country or suburbs, and BAM - there you have it... the American dream fulfilled.

What Holder and Obama are propagating is that darker toned individuals, largely those living in lower social classes, are being held under the thumb by cowards afraid to "let them into their society".

The door is open... YOU JUST HAVE TO WORK FOR IT... you cannot expect that Obama or Holder, or anyone for that matter, is going to GIVE it to you - it takes hard work, courage, and TIME to make a change in your life. You have to stop blaming, and start doing...

Racist organizations like the NAACP, The Congressional Black Caucus, The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Ku Klux Klan, etc - you are all of the same ilk... racist in nature, dividing people from people based on skin tone.

I do not have "white guilt". I am not ashamed of my skin tone. I embrace my heritage. I fight for my ancestral culture - ALL cultures. I am no coward, and I am not afraid to tell you to your face, AG Holder, that you are an ignorant racist who is not capable of seeing beyond your own skin tone, and the fact that you encourage others to use theirs as an excuse SICKENS ME.

I tell you what I would tell any racist or bigot associated with the NAACP, the KKK, La RAZA, CAIR, etc: GO TO HELL!