Rebuilding Rob

Special thanks once again to rojie for today’s prompt. if you haven’t done so already definitely check out her blog justrojie.com

What has your experiences taught you about the healthcare system?

I haven’t really had a lot of the healthcare experiences that other people have had, but based on my own experience alone, I can tell you that healthcare is the biggest racket in the United States today.

Some of my international readers might be surprised to learn that we don’t have universal healthcare here in America. I mean, we do have programs like Medicare and Medicaid available, but the average American has to hope that they get healthcare benefits through their employers. Even then, it’s taken straight out of your paycheck.

I hear a lot of people say that healthcare in the United States isn’t really about curing anything, but rather it’s designed to keep you sick. I don’t know how true that is, but keeping sick people sick would certainly be a great way to keep the money machine rolling.

You see this illusion of quality pop up everywhere, too. We have this deep-seated belief here in the United States that if we pay heavily into something out of pocket, it is automatically assumed to be better than something “free” or heavily covered. But the math rarely matches the myth. When my ex-wife and I had Kid 1, we both had insurance from the same school district, and his birth ended up costing us about $1,000 out of pocket. On the other hand, when Kid 2 was born, his mother had coverage through the state—and because of that, we paid zero. To top it off, the facilities we had when Kid 2 was born were arguably better than the ones we got with Kid 1.

Right now, I’m getting a daily reminder of how chaotic the system is because I currently don’t have dental insurance. And it happened entirely through a typing error of my own—or so I’m told.

A few years back when I got my current job at the alternative school, apparently I never opted in to dental care when I was setting up my healthcare benefits. I’m assuming this was some sort of user error that happened on the website while I was navigating the menus for the year. (In fact, if there was anything I would actually choose to skip on coverage, it would probably be vision, not teeth.) So right now, I’m paying for my dental care completely out-of-pocket, and it is not cheap. Open enrollment won’t begin again until October, which is when I can finally make sure I click the right box.

It’s crazy because I genuinely think this was a computer glitch of some kind. I’m willing to bet I clicked that little radio button to add the dental care package I wanted. But if you’ve ever used the internet before—and judging by the fact that you’re reading this right now, you probably have—you know how connectivity issues or sluggish loading screens pop up at the worst possible times. So I guess I’m trying to blame my lack of dental coverage on a browser hiccup.

But it makes you step back and think: what does it say about our healthcare system here in the United States if a multi-trillion-dollar industry can’t even reliably save a guy from a dropped database click? If the machinery can’t handle a simple open-enrollment radio button, what hope do we really have?

Rebuilding a life takes grit, consistency, and a lot of ‘Option C’ thinking. Having crossed the 1,000-day milestone, I’m now charting the territory beyond. The mission remains the same: No glitz. Just the work. New to the blog? Start your journey here to see the blueprint and the ‘Tricorder’ perspective behind the rebuild.

Today’s post is inspired by the WordPress Daily Prompt. While I’ve taken the topic in my own direction for the Road beyond 1,000 Days, you can find more responses to today’s prompt HERE.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like 👍, comment and subscribe below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media and check out my recent posts!

• Rob Reads: Heteroflexible, Explained
• The Price of a Click: Surviving the American Healthcare Racket
• My Own Undiscovered Country
• Everything I Needed to Know About Uncertainty , I Learned From Benjamin Sisko
• Becoming The Old Man 

AI art created by Google Gemini

The article “The Price of a Click: Surviving the American Healthcare Racket” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob