Reply to "America's Health Care System"

Not that long ago, when I bought a car or a house I paid 20% down. This meant I had “skin in the game”. I took care of the house. I made money, eventually bought another, better house at 20% down.

About 4 years ago I built a new house. The house we were living in I had invested over $40k in improvements too numerous to go over. The house was in damn good shape.

The person who bought my old house was able to buy it no money down and got $12k back to do with as he pleased.

Right off the bat I would drive by and cars were parked in the front yard. After 6 months, grass was dead, many of the shrubs were dead and much of the fence was knocked over. A year latter the house was empty and the occupants evacuated.

I talked to a neighbor. The occupants defaulted on the loan so they decided to trash the house. They have no “skin in the game”. There is no deposit for them to worry about. Windows were busted out, walls were torn up, brand new counters were destroyed, new carpet was ruined. The house was intentionally left open and was rained to where water filled the basement.

The health department was called 2x for things like a trash barrel of fresh meat left in the garage. The city finally condemned it and forced the bank to fix it up and sell it. Repairs included ripping out the dry wall, repairing mold, replacing windows, new cabinets, appliances, flooring, and more.

We decided to buy a car last year. We bought a Toyata Rav. We have no other loans but with the stock market down, we decided to leave or money invested and bought the car on loan. Despite what is said, interest rates are damn cheap and loans were easy to get either through bank or car dealer.

NOW they do not require or even ask for money down. Instead they almost demand insurance. Insurance if you can’t pay, insurance if you loose your job, etc. All this to protect the bank; all this which did the same job as 20% down. INSTEAD, this adds 20% to the overall price of the car. Much to their disliking we did not take any of them.

You can see where this all is headed. No skin in the game. I have a car with no money down. If I can not make payments, why wouldn’t I trash it? I wouldn’t of course but there is a large percentage who think that way.

Who pays for all this which people trash? YOU, ME!!!

I work my ass off. I work not just to provide for my family but for healthcare. I work so we can all be taken care of. It is a perk of the job. If we (and we are) give out free health care, a HUGE number of people will not only live off the system but find no reason to work or contribute to society. NO SKIN IN THE GAME!

We are heading in the wrong direction and we have lost our way!!!