Social Security, Health Insurance and Other Rip-Offs

While watching the State of the Union address last night, I became suddenly aware that I have not focused nearly enough lately on the issues that really affect my life. How I feel about the government is related to one thing and one thing only, my bank account.

I have worked at the same job for the past 7 years. I have contributed to the retirement plan at this establishment for as long as they have had one in place. We used to have retirement through the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. It was a really good plan and like all retirement plans, the more money you had to put into it, the better overall plan it turned out to be. At the time I was enrolled, I contributed a certain amount, my employer contributed a percentage of my salary and the NC Baptist State Convention matched my contribution. In addition to the retirement plan, I also had a $100,000 life insurance policy.

However, a couple of years ago the church decided to split completely with the SBC. (Well, sort of--I'll explain in a minute.) They pulled the retirement from the Annuity Board and placed it with Guidestone (a program offered by the Coooperative Baptist Fellowship). The new plan is wonderful if you make a lot of money, but pretty sorry if you can't afford to contribute 7% of your salary. It has no life insurance with it. It has no matching contributions.

We were told at the time that the switch was made that the plans were comparable. Which they are, if you can afford to make them that way. I can't. So what kind of retirement will I have if I continue to work here?

The answer to that is, a lot better than if I depend on Social Security to provide my retirement. In fact, I believe with all of my heart that the contribution I have been making to Social Security every year since I began working (now going on 14 years) will be lost to the ages. I will never see any of that money. At this rate, my parents won't even see any of it.

Social Security sets it up this way. I make the money. They take the money. They pay it to someone who is retired. They pretend that someday someone will do the same for me. But it's impossible for them to promise me that. So instead of allowing me to have my money to invest as I please they take it from me and give it someone who does not have young children to support, someone who is not trying desperately to pay off hospital bills, and make car payments so that I can get to work.

And another thing. . .

Remember when I said that this church pulled out of the SBC? Well, they did. In every area, every way EXCEPT that they offer the cheapest health insurance plan they could find. So our retirement is through the CBF. Our health insurance is through the Annuity Board of the SBC. We used to have a really good health insurance plan. 80/20 hospitalization, $20 co-pay at the Dr.'s, $40 for specialists, $150 for ER visits. Two years ago, we switched to a plan with a $2000 deductible, $100 deductible for prescriptions, and just all around lousy benefits otherwise.

For awhile I was actually crazy enough to have our kids on this plan. But I shopped around and got a plan that was actually cheaper with better benefits on my own. Lewis has no health insurance. Up until last year he had an even better plan than mine. But he changed jobs and the new company does not have this benefit. He could pay it out of pocket but we can't afford it.

In December, Lewis was seen in our local ER due to a kidney infection (incidently, caused by a kidney stone that he passed about a month ago). Total cost of the three hours he spent there--$1268. The patient representative called me last week to set up payment arrangements. She informed me that we got at discount because we didn't have him insured. Did you catch that? We got a discount. Wooooo-hooo! No small discount, mind you. It was nearly $600.

Wait a minute--they can knock $600 off his medical bill just because he doesn't have insurance. That's $600 that they don't need to charge ANYBODY--not the insurance companies, not the self-payers, and certainly not medicaid.

First off, health care is ridiculously expensive. Can anyone tell me what was worth $400 an hour that they did for my husband at the ER? They took no x-rays. They kept us waiting for over an hour and a half before he even saw a doctor. They did blood work and they gave him i.v. drugs. Nothing they did looked like rocket-surgery to me. If that amount of work is worth that price, I am really in the wrong business.

Add into all of this the soaring gasoline prices and the cost of good child care and you can see why couples like my husband and I are in a constant struggle to make ends meet. So little of what we make ever actually falls into our hands and that is very discouraging.

Wouldn't it be nice, if every politician could know, just once, the worry that comes with having to live paycheck to paycheck? I think that would make a big difference in the policies we have now.

I sincerely hope that the President will be able to enact the programs he discussed last night. I hope that Social Security, Health Care and about a thousand other things will be reviewed, discussed and changed to the benefit of the American people during the next year. But my fear is that a Democratic party that claims they seek bi-partisanship, will railroad every possible solution just because they don't like the "Dubya."

Where do we come out in all this?

A Visit with a Soldier

Last weekend Jim was home. Jim is my husband's cousin who is currently serving in the National Guard. Since August, he has been in Iraq, working on the wrecker crew, keeping the roads clear.

He actually lives about two hours north of us, but he took time out during this short leave to visit with my in-laws. It was good to see him and his family.

Jim and I have always picked on each other. We have these little verbal wars that usually are a lot of fun (for me) because I'm used to having to fight this kind of battle. My oldest brother made very sure that I would never let a little teasing get the best of me--mostly through constant exposure. However, I get the feeling that Jim never quite developed thick enough skin to handle a good burn. He plays along, but a couple of years ago I started realizing that Jim really thinks I don't like him.

That's not true at all. Jim is the kind of lovable red-neck you can't help but like. He's done some pretty stupid things in his time, but he's also a good father and a loyal and patriotic soldier. He's been through a lot during his young life and I have a lot of respect for him.

For one thing, I grew up in a loving two-parent home. Jim's mom left when he was a small child and his father re-married a woman who really doesn't like kids. As a result, Jim ended up spending his teen years living in a variety of homes. He lived with my in-laws for awhile, with his grandmother, and in an odd twist, with my sister-in-law's parents. He's had it rough. But at the same time, he's also been raised with a "Poor-Jim" kind of attitude. He thinks that if you don't subscribe to the "Poor-Jim" philosophy and thereby handle him gently, that you must hate him. I have thereby made a promise to myself to lay off the insults when he is around. Now, if I just had something to talk to him about.

Thankfully, he brought pictures with him. He was showing us some of the wrecks he's cleaned up and what it's like over there. One picture was of a Mountain Dew truck. He said that the soldiers were all mad over that one. Evidently, they didn't get Mountain Dew for a couple of weeks after that. One picture was an overturned truck that appeared to have been hauling some kind of concrete pillar. The pillar was huge. He kept saying that the explosive used to blow up that truck must have been massive just to move that heavy concrete like it did. He had pictures of Iraqi children. He says that they come to the gates everyday begging for candy or money. He said if you don't give them something, they often curse you. He explained that the police in that part of the world don't believe in police brutality. If you get on their nerves, they just shoot you. It was all very interesting.

Lewis asked him if he thought that they were making any progress over there. His answer was, "Yes, and no." I think that's probably about the most accurate thing I've heard said about this whole mess.

I believe in the war effort. I believe that we are doing some good over there. But I also believe that there are people there that will never be reached. They will never accept the changes that we are trying to implement. Some of them will cling to an old way of life, not because it was better, but because it is familiar. Time is the only thing that will prove to them what freedom really means. Let us hope that we are willing to give enough time to make that happen.