Hello C3 Family!

Weekly Rant - My Healthcare Story

I promised to never sell you on anything that I did not personally believe in. I also promised to never take money or perks for promoting anything on this newsletter or my site. While you read the below "rant" just remember I get nothing from any company mentioned.

I was on a "good" health insurance plan when I worked for the NBA, or so I was told. However, when my first child was born 5 weeks early the nurses had to take her to the NICU to help her breath for the first few days of her life. This ended up recking my family financially. My daughter, Graciela, was fine and the nurses and doctors were amazing, but the bill we got hit with even after our insurance went into effect killed us.

So, I started researching better ways. I learned about health share ministries like Zion Health which is open to everyone and Samaritan Ministries which is specifically Christian. I learned that these organizations covered pregnancy and maternity far better than traditional health insurances. I also learned that they covered just about everything better than traditional health insurance, with the exception of pre-existing conditions like diabetes and cancer. But that whole pre-existing condition topic is a struggle for even the biggest insurance providers. 

These health share ministries had endless pros...

• Monthly Shares were cheaper than my monthly premiums.
• The initial unshareable amounts were cheaper than my deductibles.
• Pregnancy and maternity costs were given very close attention.
• You became part of a community giving and receiving directly from other members of the community.
• Hospitals typically cut your bill in half or more once you tell them you are not on traditional insurance. Middlemen always drive up the costs of everything.
• My wife and I got cards, flowers and beautiful notes when we experienced our two miscarriages. Which was needed and healing.

The Cons were really just the fear that comes along with trying something new and different.

AND GET THIS

While working for my local Diocese I have been able to negotiate a higher salary because of all the money I saved them on the backend. My monthly premiums for the diocese health insurance plan would be slightly lower than my monthly shares on the health share ministry but if I were to go on the employer insurance plan, I would cost my employer 10's of thousands of dollars per year and my coverage would be worse. However, if I stay on the health share ministry and have my employer raise my salary by just a couple thousand then I can save my employer close to $30K keep my better coverage and best of all not feed the beast!!

When people ask me how I could think the economic life would continue if we got rid of lending at interest and the secondary markets, I often mention my experience with health share ministries. Middlemen and brokers drive up the price of everything. They have to do this to survive. If we eliminate such jobs, then things become more attainable because prices go down and people are forced into productive endeavors.

Top Stories

• Nvidia is threatening Apple as the "Most Valuable Company" on the market. The S&P 500 and the Dow reached all-time highs keeping speculators giddy throughout October thus far. Though Tuesday was a big stumbling block.

• NASA thinks one of Jupiter's moons could harbor life deep below a thick layer of ice. A SpaceX rocket, that cost $5.2 billion should reach the moon to flyby scans in 2031.

• A group calling themselves "Jewish Voices for Peace" broke into a fenced off area of the New York Stock Exchange and handcuffed themselves to railings all in a...get this...Pro-Palestine demonstration. We live in a world where words mean nothing. A "Jewish" group is pro-Palestinian here in the states because ....well I guess they want more Jewish people to be murdered and raped to death.

• FEMA has paused aide in North Carolina because some guy threatened a FEMA agent at a gas station. Please give to Samaritans Purse who actually has boots on the ground in North Carolina helping those affected by the storm. Samaritan’s Purse International Disaster Relief — International Relief (samaritanspurse.org)

• The Nobel prize in economics, a $1m prize, was just awarded to three economists for their research showing that democracy has been more economically productive for its populations than autocratic government systems. So, yes, we just paid out $1m and a very fancy award to people so they can tell us what we already know. At least it will be a good statistical data point for those arguments with your socialist uncle. Some people have criticized the findings by stating China has a booming economy. Someone should ask those people to explain the real estate market in China (It is so bad that China is cutting its red tape and flooding the market with money so people will actually entertain the idea of buying a home).

• The Joker movie continues its historic flop, but another clown movie, the horror flick Terrifier 3 was at the top of the box office. Horror flicks with lots of gore and jump scares seem to be a low budget win at the box office over the past decade. Gore and jump scares are the easiest way to elicit an intense emotion at the movie theaters and sense we are a population that likes things easy, horror flicks will keep winning at the box office.

• Google announced that it will start using nuclear power to power AI. A sentence far too dense to unpack in one short blurb. 

• The Polls have Kamala Harris in the lead over Donald Trump, but the betting apps are giving Trump the edge. Which are correct, the polls or the betting apps? I guess we will find out in a month.

• Major Banks and Finance Institutions are beating forecasts in their trading units. The winners of the year thus far include Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, CitiGroup, and JPMorgan Chase.

• Canada will soon allow assisted suicide for people suffering from mental illness. This is depraved and pure evil, but why would a country want to kill off its inhabitants? $$$$!!! It is cheaper to kill them then to treat them. That is what socialized medicine gets you.