It is quite common here in the States to see vehicles - mini vans being the classic - with bumper stickers like this:
It is a harmless bit of parental bragging, but I assume it must be a bit rankling to parents of special needs children and I know it is to parents of children who have been goofing around and not working to their abilities.
Our kids are now all "up and out" and I am considering getting a bumper sticker that looks like this:
PROUD PARENT OF
A KID WHO HAS A JOB WITH BENEFITS
Because in our modern society that has become the gold standard of success. Kid has a job. Kid is not working on an unpaid internship. Job is not flipping burgers, they actually value him/her enough to offer health insurance.
As a goal in life getting a job with benefits is a much greater accomplishment than almost any academic achievement. We have as a society allowed prolonged adolescence to become the norm. "Children" no longer have to be in school to stay on mom and dad's insurance plan, they just have to stay under 28 for as long as feasible. (Oh, I admit this is usually approximately 28 years).
So I am happy to report that two of our three offspring have attained the treasured status of officially "grown up" people who have gainful employ with benefits. The third is well on the way.
And the advantages financially to removing two of our three kids from the family's rather pricey health insurance policy?
Nothing. A couple who have one child and a fecund reality TV family with eight pay the same amount.
Crazy, isn't it. In a huge, massively complex health care system where there are probably 20 different charges for different ways to put bandages on an injury it has not proven possible to grasp the evidently simple concept that purchasing health care for three people costs less than doing so for five.
Another example of how Capitalism and the financing of Health Care are fundamentally incompatible in our current system. This is the exact analog of going to the store and finding that the only size of pants they sell is XXL. Wear 'em or go buck naked.
As a goal in life getting a job with benefits is a much greater accomplishment than almost any academic achievement. We have as a society allowed prolonged adolescence to become the norm. "Children" no longer have to be in school to stay on mom and dad's insurance plan, they just have to stay under 28 for as long as feasible. (Oh, I admit this is usually approximately 28 years).
So I am happy to report that two of our three offspring have attained the treasured status of officially "grown up" people who have gainful employ with benefits. The third is well on the way.
And the advantages financially to removing two of our three kids from the family's rather pricey health insurance policy?
Nothing. A couple who have one child and a fecund reality TV family with eight pay the same amount.
Crazy, isn't it. In a huge, massively complex health care system where there are probably 20 different charges for different ways to put bandages on an injury it has not proven possible to grasp the evidently simple concept that purchasing health care for three people costs less than doing so for five.
Another example of how Capitalism and the financing of Health Care are fundamentally incompatible in our current system. This is the exact analog of going to the store and finding that the only size of pants they sell is XXL. Wear 'em or go buck naked.
1 comment:
You have every right to proudly display that new bumper sticker. I fear our hard working self employed sons and their wives will never have benefits other than the ones they can barely afford to buy themselves. The ACA has made I health care available but it's definitely not very affordable for many. I agree about your insurance not offering a lower premium for a smaller family group. They hold all the cards.
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