WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED This is the true memoir of one US Air Force navigator’s journey from the schoolhouses of Air Training Command to the nuclear alerts of the Cold War to combat in a 35-year-old anachronism called the B-52. It is a first-hand account of life during the last days of Strategic Air Command, the early days of Air Combat Command and the ensuing military drawdown of the 1990s. From peacetime training exercises across the globe to combat operations in Desert Storm, Jim Clonts takes the reader inside the cockpit where life and death are seconds apart. Often comical, sometimes heart-pounding, other times tragic, WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED takes you into the world of military aviation, a crucible where warriors learn the true nature of character, conscience and mortality.

Friends of Liberty VOL 18
by Jim Clonts, 2009

08/04/2009

Unrealistic Expectations

My station wagon needs a brake job that will cost me $600. I know from experience it will need one about every four years, just as I know it will need a set of tires every 45,000 miles at a cost of roughly $400. I know my dog and two cats will need rabies shots every few years and a trip to the vet every other year or so at about $100 per visit, per animal. I know my roof is halfway through it's twenty year life and it'll cost me $6000-8000 to replace it when it does reach the end of its life. These are not unforeseen expenses.

I carry auto insurance in the event of an unforeseen catastrophic crash, but I don't expect it to cover a brake job. I carry home owners' insurance to protect me against the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity should my house burn down or be destroyed in a tornado, but I have no expectation it should cover a new paint job when the old starts to peel. Likewise, it would seem reasonable to assume health insurance should cover the catastrophic, unforeseen illness, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and the like.

Today, the debate is not about health insurance, it's about pre-paid healthcare. Americans believe the inevitable trip to family doctor should be covered by insurance. I know every member of my family will need to see a doctor perhaps once a year, maybe every other year, at $100-$200 per visit. This is also foreseeable and not unexpected. It's just another aspect of life.

Recently, I had a complete physical, my first in ten years. My insurance deductible is $1500, so the expectation is that I won't be reimbursed, yet I had it done anyway. The doctor suggested I get a heart scan as a preventive measure. This scan takes a three dimensional photo of the heart, looking for blockages in the arteries. The procedure cost $125 and is not covered by insurance. I did it anyway and paid out of pocket. It was my choice. As it turned out, I got a clean bill of health, though if there had been a problem it would have been well worth the $300 or so I spent in total. I knew going in insurance wasn't going to cover any of this, but it was my choice to have it done anyway and it was at a reasonable cost. After all, it cost half of what my brake job is going to cost and one sixth of the refrigerator I bought a few years ago.

Why is it that Americans are willing make car payments of hundreds of dollars each month (for up to 60 months), but expect insurance to cover the $150 office visit for the common ear or respiratory infection? If health insurance was truly insurance against the catastrophic, it wouldn't cost nearly as much as it does. Can you imagine how much auto insurance would cost if it included all repairs, oil changes and replacement of wear items for the life of the car? Would the Obama Administration insist on a public auto care option?

Make no mistake, friends. Healthcare is not what this is about. I leave it to you to tell the group exactly what it is about. Friends of Liberty, sound off...

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