Insurance Woes.

It's fucked up to me that insurance is set up the way it is here in the U. S. A. All insurance is a scam, a fucking scam that is required by law. But, I'm focusing more on health insurance and health care. I just laid down $85 damn dollars for a doctor to tell me my daughter has ,what I think is strep, and give her antibiotics. Then, I'll have to go across the street to the pharmacy t and drop another $20-30 on the prescription. (Yup, strep throat and $65 for medicine.)

Now before we get too far into this and I get people saying this that or the other about I should have insurance. I did, got denied recently by Soonercare because I make too much money. Yet, if I buy insurance through my job the cheapest is over $500 a month, a goddamn month. My biggest check from work has be about $1300 for a month, but I average about a grand a month. Oh, I should get a higher paying job? I chased drilling rigs from 1994 to 2011. Made damn good money, and got out as this last boom was just hitting its stride. Yet, look where the oilfield's at now. Thousands out of work with more getting laid off daily. You only hear about it when a company lays of hundreds at a time. You don't hear about when twenty roughnecks get told they don't have a job because the rig doesn't another hole to go to. You don't hear about when a hand goes in sicker than a dog, because he can't miss a day, because there ain't anyone to cover his job and he'd probably lose his job even if they did. My job is stable, for now. And, on top of that my hourly pay is still considered "good" pay. 

$10/hr is considered good pay where I'm from, so I'll break it down using that. If a person is making $10/hr works 40 hrs/wk, that amounts to $400/wk. For four weeks that comes to $1600 or $20800 a year, which would average to a little over $1700 a month. After income tax at 15% you get about $1475. Then you're left with about $500 a month, after your house payment and utilities, to pay for fuel, phone and insurance. Through my work, insurance averages over $500 a month for one person. Now, my insurance is paid for, but to add my kid it's over $500 a month for health, dental, vision and life. Yet, I'm denied state insurance because I make too much money. 

My kid has strep throat, I knew this when I left the house for the doctors office this morning. But, that knowledge didn't save me the $85 for the appointment to get a prescription for it. Nor, did it save me the $65 for the medicine. And, it damn sure ain't going to cover the pay I lost by having to take off work to take her to the doctor and get her medicine. So, now I ask, why the fuck did I have to shell out a day's pay to the doctor, for him to look at my kid, say "yup you got strep" and call in a prescription for it. From the time we arrived till the time we left was less than a half hour. Shit, if I was making half that an hour, I wouldn't be worried about money or paying for insurance. Also, why the hell does insurance cost $500 a damn month. I understand it's incaseshit, but at an even $500 that's $6000 a year. For basically nothing. Just in case I may need to see a doctor or have surgery, of which you still have a copay, and deductibles, and then even if you meet your yearly deductible you still have to pay a good chunk of money to cover what insurance doesn't.

It's bullshit.