God Inspired Constitution: Don't mess with it.

In honor of Constitution day, September 17^th, 2011, I feel it is my duty to review the origins of the Constitution of the United States and clear up some myths. As we all know the Constitution, written by our founding fathers, was inspired by God. It was based on Judeo-Christian principles and the original intent and writing should be adhered to forever more.

The Constitution, because it was inspired by God and written down makes the founding fathers prophets for all the ages. Truly great prophets always wrote down their inspiration, if not the actual words, of God. History has recognized men such as Moses, Mohamed and Joseph Smith as true prophets. No one would dare try to amend any of their writings. Jesus could have been a major prophet but he did not write anything down, he left it to others. The New Testament has been translated and amended so many times you don’t know what to believe.

But who has tried to amend the 10 commandments given to Moses? They are perfect, inspired by God, written by Moses. Similarly, the Koran, dictated to Mohamed in visions, and the book of Mormon, translated by Joseph Smith, are all written documents inspired by God. Consequently, the founding fathers, collectively, are prophets and their words in the Constitution, as revered by the Tea Party, should not be tampered with.

Before the Constitution was fully ratified by all the states in 1790, people started suggesting amendments in 1789. The first 10 amendment, the bill of rights, I won’t quibble with too much because they allow me to keep a loaded hand gun under my pillow and write this blog. But the other amendments are clearly outside the original intent of the founding fathers.

Let’s review some of the more egregious amendments that have corrupted the ‘inspired by God’ Constitution of the United States of America.

Amendment 13: Abolition of Slavery. The founding fathers owned slaves. Had they wanted slavery abolished they would have included it in the original language. Proposed in January 31, 1865 and ratified December 6 1865, the 13^th amendment was clearly rushed through the process. The original constitution took over 12 years to be completely ratified by all 13 states.

Amendment 16: Income Tax. The constitution may have been inspired by God but it did not bestow the power of God upon Congress. This 1913 amendment runs so far afield from original intent to keep the U.S. government impoverished it is silly. Congress was obviously suffering the effects of a vice that 18^th amendment sought to rectify.

Amendment 18: Prohibition of Liquor. Finally in 1919, after the crazy 16^th amendment was passed, the 18^th outlawed alcoholic beverages. Even though the Congress must have been composed of a bunch of alcoholics to pass the 16^th, the founding fathers routinely drank and manufactured fermented and distilled spirits. Who would try to eliminate the only source of possibly uncontaminated fluids for the body? Alcohol kills all those nasty bugs that cause dysentery and cholera found in the drinking water. Fortunately, God intervened, sobered up Congress and Amendment 18 was repealed with the 21^st amendment. Hallelujah.

Amendment 19: Equal Suffrage. Perhaps the very inception point of the decline of western civilization in American as we know it: giving women the right to vote in 1920. There is no reference in the Declaration of Independence or Constitution about women. How many times must I write this, “If the founding fathers would have wanted women to vote they would have said so in the original document.” My only explanation for this clear violation of ‘original intent’ was that Congress was hoping if they gave women the right to vote they in turn would vote to repeal 18^th Amendment on the prohibition of liquor. The alcoholics clearly made a deal with the devil and we are living with it today.

I could continue delineating the obfuscation of original intent but what is the point. All the amendments to the Constitution are an attempt to thwart the will of God.  Please do not vote for anyone that is not in direct apostolic succession of the original intent of the Constitution. There is hope for America if you will vote for a white land owning man: Ron Paul or Rick Perry (Sorry Michele Bachman, you are not the original intent. It is only this class that can identify with the founding fathers and perhaps return us the road prosperous road we left in 1791 when we ratified the first amendment to our God inspired Constitution of the United States of America. God Bless and goodnight.

Deductible Dilemma

Nothing causes as much consternation when reviewing health insurance quotes as the size of the deductible. Do you choose a high deductible to reduce your premium or select a low deductible to reduce your exposure to unexpected high medical costs?

The deductible within any insurance policy serves a couple of purposes. First, you are shouldering some of the exposure to hospital and medical expenses before the insurer gets involved. Second, being responsible for even $1000 will give you pause in certain circumstances about the type and level of medical care you should seek. In other words, you have a vested interest in selecting the most efficient and effective care for your dollars. The hope is that you will be a better health care consumer and save the insurance company money in the long run.

Our concern for the size of the deductible dissolves when we are faced with a serious illness, particularly if it is your child. At that point, we are willing to mortgage the house and get a third job to pay the medical bills. We are just happy we have a deductible backstop and the medical care will be provided.

On the other hand, the biggest needle in the back is getting hit with lots of little invoices for the treatment of a seemingly benign condition that racks up tremendous expenses on your part. At which point you wonderful, ‘Why in the heck do I have health insurance, it doesn’t cover anything?’

The very real fact is that the people that can least afford a high deductible, those with little savings for a rainy day, are the folks that are forced into high deductible plans because the premiums are lower. The best strategy is too leverage all the benefits of the insurance to prevent injuries and illnesses from getting out of control. This includes using the no charge preventive office visits, taking advantage of any copay office visits, avoid the emergency room for urgent care and correspond with doctors or nurses via e-mail to avoid office visits.

There is no easy formula for determining the size of the deductible you select. It is based on experience, comfort level, budgets and expectations. In the final analysis, having some sort of deductible is better than having nothing and at all.

I have attempted to create categories of health insurance (economy, mid-size and luxury) on my website tab comparisons. This might be of help to determine deductibles and benefitss.

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Where's the pill to cure plantar fasciitis?

Where’s the pill to cure plantar fasciitis? I have had the PF pain for weeks now and I am sick of it. It hurts a little when I run, but it really stings when I walk. They have a pill to cure heartburn, acid reflux, cholesterol, high blood pressure and on and on. So when are they going to develop a pill for my foot pain.

Doctors have told us that if we want to avoid heartburn we had to stop eating greasy, fried, spicy food and alcohol; all the nutritional stuff. Or, you can take a pill, eat what you want and thumb your nose at nature and the human body. Well, I gave up all the tasty food so I could sleep at night without heartburn. Doctors also say that the cure for plantar fasciitis is to rest and stop running.

I am tired of giving up things because the doctors tell me too. Because of the searing PF I experience when walk, I should be granted handicapped status. I should be allowed to park in the handicap zone when I shop at Wal Mart or Winco. Plus, I should get one of those scooters to use in the store to shop. Actually, I should be eligible for a scooter just so I can get in to see my clients. (The empathy factor might just increase my sales!)

This foot pain is killing me but I am not going to stop running. I will live with the pain. Let my stupid foot fall off. I don’t care. I am will not give up any more of my life because the stupid drug companies can’t develop a pill to cure my PF.

http://www.insuremekevin.com/health--life-thoughts.html

Individual Mandate Solution

One of the most disliked provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), aka Obama Care, is the individual mandate. In 2014 all individuals and families must purchase acceptable health insurance or face a penalty. I did not like it when my mother made me eat my vegetables and I really chafe under government mandates.

From my recollection, it was the insurance companies who lobbied for the individual mandate. In order to offer certain benefits within a specific cost range, the health insurance providers need to be assured of a significantly large enough pool of healthy people to spread the risk and expense.

One of the big drivers of medical expenses, and in turn health insurance premiums, is the tremendous amount of uncollected debt owed to hospitals and doctors for emergency room care. In California alone, hospitals shouldered more than $5 billion for uncompensated care in 2003¹ . In addition, it has been estimated by The American Hospital Association that hospitals lost $36.5 billion in uncompensated care due to underpayments for service by Medicaid in 2009².

But I have a solution. Instead of a mandate; Every person who wishes not to purchase health insurance, or get subsidized health insurance, should pledge to America that if they are treated for an accident or illness in a hospital they will faithfully pay off the debt incurred for the treatment and will not declare bankruptcy to have the debt discharged.

Part of the rational for health insurance is to protect your assets from unexpected and potentially catastrophic medical bills. The side benefit is that the hospitals and doctors that provide the treatment are paid. If all of us pledge to pay off our medical bills, regardless of our situation or circumstances, there should be little reason to keep the individual mandate in force.

So, let us all send in our pledge cards to Congress today and I am sure they will listen to the voice of the people and repeal the mandate. And I also pledge to eat my vegetables.

1. http://www.fixourhealthcare.ca.gov/index.php/facts/more/6771/
2. (http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2011/05/09/public-coverage-programs-solving-the-enrollment-dilemma/

Up and At It: Hope

I just finished volunteering on my first project for Up and At It, a non-profit focusing on job-readiness skills for people residing in transitional living communities, http://www.upandatit.org/. The 3 day project includes self-esteem build up, resume’ writing skills, job interview role play, defining their success stories in life, business attire clothing, hair salon makeover and, on this occasion, an actual interview with personal from Wal Mart.

My main tasks were helping participants write their résumé’s and get it up loaded to Monster.com. With this blog post, it is not my goal to either ennoble the participants or myself. We all face challenges to one degree or another. A healthy community calls upon all of us to share our talents, skills and resources with our neighbors. It is the collective ‘floating of all the boats’ that makes our communities more sound and productive.

However, it was hard not to notice the significant change in the participant’s demeanor and attitude by the end of the 3^rd day. They were beaming with self-confidence and hope that they had taken one more step towards self-sufficiency for themselves and their families. For me, the operative word is hope. None of the 13+ volunteers can promise any of the 20 participants that they will land a job tomorrow. We cannot guarantee that prosperity is right around the corner.

What we can and did provide was hope. Because the future is unpredictable, even the wealthiest among us must have hope that through their honest hard work they will be rewarded in the future. Without hope, it is hard to get ‘Up and At It’ each morning of each day.

Massage Therapy for the Brain?

Massage therapy is great for an achy body, but what about an achy brain? This week I met with Chad Hunter the massage therapist in my business referral group. Ostensibly, these one-on-one meetings are to learn more about each other’s business and how to increase referrals to one another. Often times, you also talk about friends, family, successes, challenges and your failures.

To be perfectly honest, I really didn’t think Chad and I had that much in common. But a good conversation proved me wrong. How? We are both guys working hard to keep the family strong, tending to friends and busting our butts to grow our businesses. All of us guys put forth a solid veneer of strength, prosperity and invincibility. However, veneers are paper-thin and over time they can develop splits and cracks. Some of my splits are big enough to drive a truck through.

Damaged veneers can be repaired. I have found the best restoration to be good honest conversations with like-minded people. I learned that Chad and I have very similar dreams and challenges for our families and businesses. Like any small business person we face the same struggles of effective marketing, bookkeeping, dealing with ‘special’ clients, paying bills and let’s not even get into extended family matters.

Chad’s motto is ‘Come in broken, come out fixed.’ The day we met, Chad did not lay a hand, elbow or foot on me. But through the art of good conversation he helped me put a very challenging week behind me. Massage therapy for the brain: good conversation with a new friend.

Can I make to 65?

This week I have had an unusually high number of calls from people that can’t afford or can’t qualify for health insurance. I have virtually nothing to sell these folks to help them out. The mantra of most of the older folks is, “If I can only make to age 65”.  Medicare: affordable guarantee issue health insurance at age 65. When you are 64 years and 354 days old you are paying $800/month for health insurance. The next day when you are 65, the price drops to about $120. Go figure.

But before Medicare kicks in, these folks have to deal with reality and attempt to manage age and illness related conditions. There area variety of medical, dental, and prescription drug discount cards and programs that agents are willing to sell to the uninsured. However, most of the time there is very little savings when you account for the monthly subscription premiums, fees, and exclusions. Consequently, I have decided not to sell any of the discount cards because I don’t see the value to the client in most instances.

Even though my product bag is empty I still like to meet with these folks. There are lots of resources and avenues for the uninsured. Partnership for Prescription Assistance helps match folks with pharmaceutical companies to get their prescriptions at a reduced amount or free for a year. The Healthy Families program in California offers child only policies for less than $21 per month or less. California’s pre-existing condition insurance plan, PCIP, can be affordable for some folks that can’t qualify in the regular individual and family market. There is also Dr. Shomir Banerjee who makes house calls to for private pay.

None of these resource, and others that I am documenting on my website, are a substitute for health insurance. But until many of these folks hit 65, it is about making the best of a bad situation.