wearmanyhats

When I was in my early twenties, I was outraged by an article I caught in a magazine.  Apparently, a study had been conducted- research costing the American taxpayer $2 million dollars- to find out why cats purr.  The result, as any toddler could have explained, is that cats purr because they are happy!  Although I suppose the research itself had merit, I resented taxpayers footing the bill. 

Needless to say, I’m not a big one to use taxpayer’s money on research.  But I think  the government needs to find out how many people lost their homes in the past ten years because of health care costs.

There are two major reasons why I believe that study would be helpful to society in general.  First, many believe that the majority of people who defaulted were trying to keep up with the Joneses.  Right now the average American looks like a bunch of over pampered fools with no sense of restraint.  It’s bad for our global image, and it’s bad for the generation following us.  They need to learn from our mistakes, and I would hope the American people have more in them that that!

However, what if a significant number of people who defaulted were really sufferering from overwhelming medical bills?   That should tell the government about the importance of figuring out this health care crisis first before the bleeding home mortgages can stop. 

I consider myself a moderate.  But a conversation I had with a dear conservative friend the other day really hit home for me. 

“I want to be responsible for my own health care costs,” she said firmly.  “I believe I should pay my own way.”

“That’s fine for you,” I answered.  “You make a fantastic living. I’d love to pay my own way, too, and we don’t make a bad living.  But what about people out there who work hard all of their lives, then get cancer, and it wipes out their savings?  Now at 59 years old they are to support themselves….how?”  I could see her become physically uncomfortable.  “Furthermore, you have insurance.  I can’t afford health insurance. We are both working, but it is too expensive for us.  We can cover the kids, but that’s it.  If I get cancer, I will have to die.  There is no way I have enough money for treatment. And I don’t want my family to be destitute.”

She didn’t know what to say.  What can you say about that?  The truth is, many people will mortgage their homes to the hilt to cover such treatments for loved ones.  They’d rather lose their homes than a family member. And hospitals are in no position to do more than send attack dogs after people who can not pay. My friend and I may disagree about this subject, but standing around telling everyone that you need to pay your own way when you can’t do it, doesn’t solve the problem.

Recently I rented a property to someone that the bank called “high risk.”  I asked her about why they had lost their home.  It was medical bills. She had become ill, and couldn’t afford to pay any of what was needed.  These are the folks the government never understands, never finds out how health care has affected them.  And it is time people get a view of the larger picture.

These are the reasons why I am saying that the government needs to find out why people foreclosed on their homes.  We need to know for sure if it was just greed or necessity that led to all of these foreclosures.  Then when people give a reason for the high foreclosure rate that led to this financial crisis on Wall Street, we’ll know the true culprit.

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