MEDICARE
Yesterday's post generated a comment "you lost me at Medicare." Universal health care then dominated a few comments. I mentioned that although I'm supposed to go on Medicare, I've chosen not to because I don't want my health care determined by the government. We just went through terrible times as a country due to the government telling us how to respond to an alleged health situation.
So let me tell you a story. I have a friend who was going through a terrible, debilitating auto-immune problem and went to many American doctors but couldn't get ahead of it. She was young, 40. In her sleuthing, she found a clinic in Spain that specialized in this malady.
Her health underwriter paid her plane ticket to go there, a week's stay, plus the plane ticket and hotel stay for a friend to go with her, and the plane tickets home. She is thriving now. Would Medicare do that?
You may be wondering right now "what kind of health underwriter would do that?" It's not technically an insurance company, but a "health share" outfit named Samaritan Ministries. That's who Teresa and I have been with ever since Obamacare kicked us out of our conventional Anthem high deduction plan.
Yes, for most of our lives we had an Anthem policy with a $20,000 deductible. We started at $5,000, then when we had more in savings we went to a $10,000 and eventually went to a $20,000 deductible. That dropped our premiums down to an affordable level. Then in a one-two punch, Anthem canceled the high deductible but by that time we were financially well enough to swallow the premium increase. Then Obamacare raised our premiums another 40 percent overnight, pricing us completely out of the private market.
When they say "health care for all" they're definitely forgetting about me. I have no idea how many other people lost their private insurance in Obamacare. We searched for an alternative and found Samaritan Ministries. They seemed the most open to alternative therapies and the story above bears it out. In fact, Samaritan Ministries highlights a growing list of doctors around the country who are disengaging from the insurance system completely and going rogue. "Private pay" may be the best alternative.
It's a similar mindset to farmers who finally quit trying to comply with ridiculous food regulations and opt out. Which is why I'm looking forward to our upcoming Rogue Food Conference in Dallas Nov. 9.
I'm growing weary of people who say they don't want government and system intrusion in their lives, who say they want to disentangle from Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum, but they still sign up for Medicare, have Alexa in their homes, buy their kids iPhones, patronize Starbucks, join social media, and vote for government nannies. Come on, America, where's our contrariness? Where's our 1776 rogue mentality to defy the king, the redcoats, and create liberty like the world has never seen before? For all our weaknesses and shortcomings, the American experiments provided more opportunity for more people than any culture in history.
But to disentangle, to defund the dysfunction, it starts with me. With you. With each of us digging deep within our souls to go rogue. To defy the norm. To challenge the mainstream narrative. To stand and not belly up to the trough of stolen handouts. Let's grow gardens instead of grants. Let's build compost instead of chemicals. Let's get together personally instead of virtually. Let's defy rather than defer. Let's stand instead of bow. Let's speak truth, not trivia.
In the last two years, what is one thing in which you've defied the norm as you've struggled to disentangle from the system?