10-05-2013, 08:21 AM
Rainyjim,
When asking you to "not cast the first stone", I most definitely wasn't trying to shut you up. I DID, however, detect more than a little self-righteousness from your original post (as well as others), thus, my assumption that you had probably never been through a life-changing debt hole of illness or injury. I drew a parallel with my friend, because I suspect she/her family had/has many parallels with your lifestyle - eat well and exercise, as you've said, obviously goes only so far when the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, even when you are a raw/vegan Punatic.
Despite being eternally outraged by the high cost of care in this country and stories of people being turned away at the ER, I would still like to have health insurance. I felt pretty defensive (my problem, not yours) when you said getting insurance is being afraid. It's not fear that guides me, it's knowing I will need care for some of the things I'd like to do in the future (have a baby, see my naturopath regularly, get my possibly-cancerous moles checked out). When you are a poor grad student living in a converted garage, eating oats and beans, there's only so much money to be managed wisely, as you also advised in your original post.
When asking you to "not cast the first stone", I most definitely wasn't trying to shut you up. I DID, however, detect more than a little self-righteousness from your original post (as well as others), thus, my assumption that you had probably never been through a life-changing debt hole of illness or injury. I drew a parallel with my friend, because I suspect she/her family had/has many parallels with your lifestyle - eat well and exercise, as you've said, obviously goes only so far when the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, even when you are a raw/vegan Punatic.
Despite being eternally outraged by the high cost of care in this country and stories of people being turned away at the ER, I would still like to have health insurance. I felt pretty defensive (my problem, not yours) when you said getting insurance is being afraid. It's not fear that guides me, it's knowing I will need care for some of the things I'd like to do in the future (have a baby, see my naturopath regularly, get my possibly-cancerous moles checked out). When you are a poor grad student living in a converted garage, eating oats and beans, there's only so much money to be managed wisely, as you also advised in your original post.