Michigan State U. Position still open

[Susan Kline]

At 11:43 AM 8/5/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>This is on topic because this discussion is about how piano technicians 
>are held hostage by our health care system.

I "just say no." Yes, I can hear you from here -- all the reasons you MUST 
be insured!

Is anyone else old enough to remember when no one had health insurance, and 
we didn't miss it? It's not as if insurance could keep you from getting 
sick -- all it does is pay out money when you are sick.

Has anyone noticed how many doctor-caused diseases and medical problems are 
out there? How many times does going to a doctor give someone a false sense 
of security, when really all they got was a palliative, allowing the 
disease process to continue unchecked?

Well, those are my rationalizations, anyway, but I have done without health 
insurance since I left Canada in 1980. So far, I'm still alive and kicking. 
If I break a tooth, I get it fixed. I went to a naturopath and got a few 
blood tests once, and a bone scan. Six years ago, I had 113% of a normal 
young person's bone density. I stopped worrying about osteoporosis, and see 
no reason to get tested again. Other than that, I've let doctors do their 
thing, but without my assistance.

I think that the whole system is about to collapse of its own weight. As 
soon as most people decided that health insurance was indispensable, the 
prices of services multiplied. It's the insurance which is making 
everything so unaffordable. I particularly dislike insuring customary and 
routine services, such as routine dental work. Insurance should be for the 
unfortunate and unpredictable disasters which happen to a few people, but 
not everyone. For instance, houses are insured against fire. The few that 
burn are paid for by the premiums from the many which do not.  With health 
insurance, everyone is going to use the services to a greater or lesser 
degree, so they are subsidizing a huge infrastructure to insure for a 
predictable loss.

I think that health insurance should be for catastrophic losses, only; but 
I see no hope that the general public will go along with that.

Susan Kline