Rejecting health insurance at work

Working against one’s self interest is alive and limping.

From time to time, I enroll people in core and voluntary benefits.

Recently, a fair number of people did not want health insurance. These were working-class natives and immigrants.

People are mad about insurance costs.

People do send money to their families in other countries and feel strapped for cash.

People may return to their countries of birth for elective surgeries.

Over here, a nurse practitioner prescribes meds, attends to a range of physical maladies, and may put a sprained arm in a sling. She or he may offer a reduced fee that is based on the patient’s income.

However, a nurse practitioner in a rural area will not care for you if you wrap your car around a tree.

That’s the job of expensive surgeons who operate at expensive hospitals.

Oh the scrunched-up faces at the enrollment table.

Oh the gamble.

Oh the bankrupting, looming catastrophe!