I Knew I Said I Wouldn't Go There, But I Lied

In the early eighties, my father was in the middle of amping up his construction company. At the time, cash flow was good but some things, like insurance, just kind of fell to the wayside. When money is tight and you're self-employed, the last thing you can afford to do is pay for consistent healthcare coverage.

Circa 26 years ago, before we all started eating whole grain everything, before we all started popping vitamins as if our species is just not capable of surviving without them, and before people started preoccupying themselves with becoming centenarians, health insurance was considered a "just in case" plan.

Food, shelter, those kinds of things, WELL, they just seemed more important.

So of course, as dictated by Murphy's Law, my Mama got pregnant with me during a time when they didn't have healthcare coverage. Luckily for my Dad, he was making money and he knew that paying out of pocket for the duration of the pregnancy was his only option.

To this day my Dad calls me the "most expensive baby".

How much was the total of all the checkups, the ultrasounds, the birth, etc? about $10,000.

That was in 1983.

And my Mom didn't even get anesthesia.

How much would that cost today?

Somewhere between $9,000, with no complications and no anesthesia, to $17,000. A birth WITH complications, whoa boy, we're talking a possible total cost of $25,000 (if not more). And if you even think about having twins, you are f*cked. Just walk your tired, prego feet straight from the hospital down to bankruptcy court.

And bless anyone who has a child with health issues. I can not even begin to fathom.

Does childbirth come with a low interest payment plan?

So where is this all coming from? Well, I've told you before I read a lot, and I do, I read A LOT:

Read this.

I'm not going to weigh in on my views regarding the Obama plan, BUT, from a rational point of view... I think it would be ideal if we could readjust people to have realisitic views on healthcare coverage. We don't all need to live to be 120, people. But! we ALL deserve to live a healthy life while we're here and without fear that living that life will drain us of our finances.

That's all I have to say.

OK, now that I've gone on my tirade, let's talk about something else. Like for example, how cute our puppy is:

Or how funny it is that Harry's only real goal in life at the moment is to make MJ his friend.

And the fact that she wants absolutely nothing to do with him.

Remember this MJ?

And you thought me dressing you up was as bad as it could get...

...then we brought HIM home.