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 Post subject: Re: Culture Crisis or "I shouldn't have to pay my way".
PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:03 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:05 pm
Posts: 177
Location: Searcy, Arkansas
LisaTX wrote:
I reiterate what I said above.


The part about the relative cost? I would have to disagree. Here's why:
1) In Arkansas, they have non-medicaid health insurance options available for self-employed individuals and small businesses and costing as little as $25/month. http://www.arhealthnetworks.com/index.php The concept of health insurance being completely unaffordable is somewhat misleading.
2) If you are talking about a new vehicle versus health insurance, there is no comparison. A new vehicle would either cost thousands of dollars upfront or hundreds of dollars a month. See point one.
3) If you are talking about an iPhone versus healthcare, I would still have to disagree. An iPhone paid for with cash would cost as much as insurance for a year. An iPhone paid for with a reduced cost and data package contract would require a total monthly contract at least twice what was cited in point 1 above.
4) The folks who are on medicaid are frequently (not always) on TANF or SNAP or whatever else we are calling the government food aid program so that there is less of a stigma associated with it. It is a false assertion that they would be eating bread or scraps or garbage to afford healthcare.

LisaTX wrote:
I might make a comment about how my kid's cousins all have nicer clothes then my kids because they're on welfare and that may be true and not fair, but does that make it right for me to disobey a commandment?

I am curious: Which commandment is being disobeyed by folks who say something along these lines?


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 Post subject: Re: Culture Crisis or "I shouldn't have to pay my way".
PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:22 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 2:58 pm
Posts: 1095
I choose not to have healthcare at this time in life. Why? Because it does not cover the doctor I choose to use when I need healthcare. We pay out of pocket for medical needs and I do not want anyone telling me who I have to see, where I have to go, and that I have to pay for healthcare. It will be double payments for me if I have to, as it still will not cover who I choose to go to.

As for students on scholarships... I paid my way through college. I had grants, I earned a scholarship, and I took loans out. I know that some on scholarship don't seem to/don't appreciate what they have. I know that some, myself included, feared losing our scholarships so we worked hard to do what was needed to keep them. I saw a huge majority of those dropping out/not finishing/becoming professional students while I was in college and they were the ones whose parents were paying for it. They had no pesonal ownership of their time in college. Many were there because Mom and Dad said they had to, or it was the norm, so it was just the next step of the path of growing up. Some went to class, did fine in classes but had no sense of direction so they just kept going year after year because Mom and Dad were making it possible.

There are so many variables that it is hard to know the "why" behind any of these things. Statistics can be made to show anything any group wants them to as well. I guess in the end, we need to be sure that we are doing what we need to each day of our lives so that we can stand ready to answer for our choices. We need to be good examples so that our children, and anyone who is influenced by us, have something worthwhile to follow.


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 Post subject: Re: Culture Crisis or "I shouldn't have to pay my way".
PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:15 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 3:05 pm
Posts: 3524
Location: Central TX
I reiterate everything I said above. I guess we need to move to your state if insurance is so cheap there!

The commandment I mentioned is the one that says not to covet what someone else has and I was applying that to my specific situation, not everyone. I was saying that, for me, when I scrutinize the way someone is living and say they have this and I can't have that, that's envy. May not be the case for everyone, but I realized that about myself. I realized it's not my place to look at someone else's life and say they shouldn't have this and they shouldn't have that. It's not my business who has a new car and who doesn't, period. It's kind of sick that people actually monitor that. Are we a nation of nosy snobs now, or what? People need to mind their own business. Our tax money is going to the government and the government is misusing it. Everyone knows that. Our tax money going towards abortion angers me more than anything else. Regardless of how that money is distributed, it would still be going to the government and would not be ours and it would probably be going to some other stupid program. Maybe people should be complaining to the gov. and if these programs are taken away, then people will be forced to be more responsible, but this is what the gov. wants, people to be dependent on them.

But I was addressing the whole attitude we have towards other people. Sinners do what sinners do. Should we be surprised? Those material things they have aren't bringing them joy and we have the real joy, so instead of sitting around whining that sinners are sinning, maybe we should try to share what real joy is with them and give them some hope and then they will be more productive and proactive. That probably has to be done on a personal basis, though.

_________________
Mom to Christian (13), Saphira (10), Xavier (5), and Adrian (2).


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 Post subject: Re: Culture Crisis or "I shouldn't have to pay my way".
PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:43 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:22 pm
Posts: 8837
I agree that there are really too many factors to consider to judge fairly. We were once so poor that we were living on potatoes to eat. We were so poor because of bad decisions and some bad unforeseeable circumstances combined. At this specific time we were buying a house (cheaper than renting and gotten into easily because of the homeowners and dh's Veteran's something or other), had horses (that dh worked off by training horses), and had a new Cherokee Jeep! We looked well off but on paper we were way down there. People in our church accused dh of selling drugs because we didn't make enuf $ to have the things we had. That hurt.

Our car was repossessed and we finally got on solid ground thru some financial counseling and me getting a job. This was a difficult time in our lives. Dh was going thru some kind of self-absorption where he didn't even see our needs. He was eating at friend's houses when he did things for them. He blamed ME for not having food on the table. Now, we *could* have gotten food stamps and there were probably plenty of other opportunities we could have used but I was ignorant of them and he was too proud.

My parents would buy the kids clothes to start school and school supplies. I still fit in my nice clothes from when dh worked 3 jobs (which is when we got the Jeep). We "looked" like we had money.

Whew. Glad those days are long gone!


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