Friday, May 04, 2007

Right Livelihood

My family, like many other American families, is currently being ground under by the brutal and dehumanizing force that is the health insurance industry. Negotiating over the phone with those employed by this dishonest industry reminds me of the extent to which one who is by nature good can have their humanity subsumed by the Powers, Walter Wink's term for the spiritual (and generally demonic) aspect of corporate structures. The whole situation brings to mind the words of wisdom my Dad gave me as I left home to start my own life.

Bear in mind, as you read these words, that as an attorney, my father is a member of a similarly reviled profession, and so generally refuses to sit in judgment on how people choose to make their living:

As I walked out the door my father, who may have gone the last decade without so much as touching me, put his arm around me, looked deep into my eyes, and, voice trembling with the sort of emotion that he generally suppresses, said to me,

I want you to know you'll always be my son...
Unless you go to work for an insurance company.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

*collapses laughing*

Sorry, Chris, but I gotta go with your dad on this one. Though it would be kind of fun to listen in on you discussing the ethos of wellness or whatever with a disgruntled customer. ;)

(Just funnin' ya)

BruceA said...

I hear you. My family is struggling with health insurance hassles, too. The only solution, I think, is for the U.S. to create a universal health care system and eliminate this corrupt industry.

Anonymous said...

brucea - yeah, that'll give us a really nice health care system. Like the rest of the gov't run programs. Maybe we can pay doctors as much as we pay teacher's - although there are exceptions - we may get the same quality.

I work with gov't people all day and I see what kind of attitude *most of them have and the work ethic they have. I wouldn't dare let them operate or care for anyone I love.

And yes...I'm getting ripped too. I work for myself and have to afford personal coverage for my wife and myself (and hopefully a child one day soon). So, I'm not speaking as someone who's company is paying for insurance.

Sandalstraps said...

For a more thorough and nuanced discussion of the merits of a universal single-payer health care system (along with some other thoughts on the health of health care) see this post, which, Brian Beech, I'm sure you'll take issue with.

Thanks are due to all three commenters so far, who are keeping this blog alive despite my inability to properly attend to it until finals are over at the end of next week.

Thoughts From Jeff said...

I would love to chat with you about health insurance.

We are currently getting smacked by the industry and it may be killing my wife ...