Un-Liberaled Woman

Lots of people like to say how it’s not fair that many in this country go broke because they can’t afford healthcare. Trying To Grok brought up the interesting point on Facebook the other day about how people who argue for healthcare reform and demagogue about “greedy healthcare execs” don’t seem to care people spend their own money frivolously instead of saving for things like their health.

To the average American it seems to be a higher priority to get the latest iPod or have the most TV channels possible than it is for them to save for their future, including healthcare costs.  And when they don’t prepare for these types of guaranteed future expenses (because EVERYONE GETS OLD!) we’re now blaming private industry and demanding that government, not ourselves, fix the situation. How does that make any sense? Are there ways we can afford healthcare even without insurance? Sure there is. Just look around your living room.

Currently there are around 125 million cable TV subscribers in the US. So the majority of Americans want their MTV.  Around 250 million have health insurance currently to put it in perspective. So about 2/3 of people with health insurance may also have cable TV (although I’m sure there are lots of people w/o insurance who also have themselves a fancy smancy satellite dish).

Well, is cable TV more important to us than our health? What if you could pay for your health – would you need the government to come in and fix healthcare?

Let’s take a look -

$150 – What an average cable TV package costs around (this can probably range from subscriber, to market to what channels you get, but for the argument’s sake we’ll go with this. And mind you, most cable packages cost this when you go for those 200+ channels. You may start out for two months at $50, but then the bill goes up. For instance, Dish Network states their middle-of-the-road package is around $100/mo)

12 months in a year – You typically are billed cable monthly (@$150/mo, that equates $1800 a year)

50 years – Let’s say from age 22 to age 72 you have cable TV every day

If you add that up to what it would cost you to have cable TV most of your adult life, guess what you’d have in the bank if you saved that money instead:

$90,000!!!!

Yes, Ninety-freakin’-thousand-dollars…Chaaaa-ching @#$@$!#!#! I’m riiiiich, biyatch! (well, not really…I just like saying that phrase. Sue me.) Even if the cable TV package cost $50 a month you’d save $30,000 over the course of 50 years. And I’m not even factoring in compounding interest which would make these savings even larger.

Let’s see what giving up your episode of watching the useless twats, on The Hills and amateur porn stars with reality shows on E!, now gets you: (via MSN Money)

Gastric-bypass surgery has an average list price of $35,552 in the West and $59,500 in the South.

You’re going to pay a lot more in Kansas for a defibrillator implant. Costs range from $96,028 in the Midwest to $78,832 in the Northeast.

For a low-cost vasectomy, you might want to head West, where the average list price is $682, compared with $872 in the Midwest.

The average list price to deliver a baby, without complications, is $6,700 in western states compared with $12,400 in the Northeast.

Click this link to get even more reports on the average prices of emergency surgeries and outpatient surgeries. I’m sure it’s out there but so far the most expensive ones I’ve seen are around $50k, still leaving you with $40k from your cable TV savings.

So the next time you hear somebody mindlessly complaining about how people are uninsured (which FYI – isn’t really the problem of the healthcare industry) or that they can’t afford healthcare, do this: Ask them if they’re willing to go without cable TV and their Dancing With the HasBeens to save someone’s life. Cause people are dying in the streets right? Exactly. My guess is that bleeding heart liberal won’t be able to put their money where their mouth is. And I’m sure that’s a bet where the odds are in your favor.

Exit question: Cable TV is just one material item where healthcare is forsaken as a lower priority. What other things are out there – how about DVD collections (because you know some people are their own private Blockbuster)? What about wardrobes? What about going out to eat? What about the massive purchases of luxury cars or the limos those bleeding heart liberals like to spend their time in? Get it – limo liberal. Hardy-Har-Har. But just think all things we put as a priority over our health but then say we can’t afford to pay for it. Even just your average latte, around $5/day.