Old Post #7-Who Needs Insurance?

Not me. That's who. Here's the thing. I'm a healthy 34-year-old. I am employed as an awake overnight counselor at Woods Surround Us, a group home for abused and neglected teenagers located in Cascade Village in Berlin, NH. 'Woods' is kind of a tough love, scared straight deal. Kids come here who can't make it at regular group homes, where they have more freedom to go to school off-site, get a job in the community, play sports, etc. At Woods, you live in tents near the main office building. You get up early, cook, eat and bathe, tend the vegetable and flower gardens and generally work the land until you collapse at bedtime. Roughing it. After a few months of life at Woods, residents return to where they're from to try and make it again, hopefully with a better perspective on their issues and a desire to succeed ( and not return to living outside! )What I do on my job is check on the kids at night, make sure they're sleeping, help them with their tents in rough weather, give out medications or handle crises as they come up-anything from some boy sneaking up on the girls' tent pretending he's a bear and wreaking havoc to a sleepwalker we had once who tumbled into a dying campfire. ( The first aid kit was locked in the inside supply closet. I had to douse poor Shaniqua's charred ankle with 2 half-empty bags of Marshmallows and my co-worker Larry's water bottle! )Any-hoo, I work 30 hours a week, just under the amount I need to qualify for health insurance at Woods. I have been asked a couple times by Administration if I'd like to graduate to a full-time 40-hour week. I'd like the benefits, but I'd hate to take a 1st or 2nd shift instead of the 3rd shift I'm on now. I like the kids at Woods Surround Us much better when they're asleep. All the swearing and attempted smoking and sex between 12:00am and 6:00am is enough-it's 10 times worse during the day when they're actually awake! No. Thank. You.My wife Sandy and I are young and healthy. We exercise a lot, eat healthy and take daily vitamins. We don't smoke and rarely drink. ( Do Shirley Temples count? ) We have some savings in the bank for the occasional doctor visit or overnight trip to Canada. And we have a plan-Maybe try for a baby in a few years and change our jobs around so that one of us has family health insurance through work AND one of us is always with the baby for the 1st few years until he or she starts school. In the meantime, I'd rather get paid more to live a half-decent life. Employers want to pay you less to insure you more or at all, and hey, we have bills, people! Rent, a car payment, cable tv. ..I hear a lot of talk about how the government wants to take over health care. But my Uncle Joe says that in France, a woman has to wait up to 7 months just to get tested to see if she's pregnant-Now that's cutting it close! And in England, I hear if you ask for a check-up in the fall for Seasonal Affective Disorder or S.A.D. ( my cousin Dan's girlfriend Zoe has it ) , with all the back-up's in socialized medicine across the pond, you might not get in to see a doctor until spring, and sure, you may be just starting to come around, but that's after having a real crappy winter.So I'm open to feedback. But I think America should really approach this topic very carefully!