This morning, I hauled my aging tractor, of a brand no one has ever heard of, forty miles away down country roads no one ever uses to a town no one reading this blog has ever been to.
The old mechanical mule has a severe case of arthritis. It’s so bad the poor thing can’t raise its three hind legs. It can barely raise its aged and scarred forearms. And that’s not all. Uncontrolled and embarrassing beyond imagination, bodily leakage requires constant infusion by harried nurses ready to quit the profession. “Quick! Another transfusion please!”
As I pulled up to the intensive care unit miles from anywhere that you can’t get to from there a young man in no hurry sauntered over. “Looks like you have a Farm Beast the kind we’ve never seen before” he said. “What’s the matter with it?
He wasn’t smiling. No bedside manners, not a good sign.
I gave him a quick rundown on the symptoms. “Lets see what the problem is” he said as he began his inspection.
“Hmmmmmmmm, looks like it needs some intensive care” as he probed here and there. “What’s your budget?”
“What’s my budget? I responded. “What does that have to do with fixing Old Faithful?”
“Some people want things they can’t afford but think they can” he explained “People have only so much money. Depending on their budget I can usually work out a solution based on that. Make sense Mister?”
Such is the case with employer sponsored health insurance. “How much is in your budget Sir, I’ll build a solution around that.”
Years ago I met with a small rural county somewhere in nowhere. They had no group insurance because they could no longer afford it. “What’s your budget?” I asked the County Judge.” $150,000″ he replied.
So we built a plan costing the county $150,000 in partnership with a small rural hospital.
It will be interesting to see what $200 will do for Old Faithful. Will the mechanical beast rise again? Hope remains eternal.
