Reply #7: your elegant post shows

[newblewtoo]

You are so right, when we ship the jobs overseas the money goes with them. But note even those with a pension are not safe from the endless costs of private insurance.

Medicaid could be an option for Ron Andrews. The retired design engineer figured he would have insurance for life, and budgeted accordingly. Now, after losing his benefits through Delphi in March, he figures he can afford about one more month of insurance.

Mr. Andrews, 58, has diabetes, and his wife, Louise, treats her acute asthma with prescription medications. The best plan he could find costs him $840 a month, slightly more than the mortgage on his split-level house in Saginaw. Because of their pre-existing conditions, he says they would have to pay more for new coverage.

With a $2,400-a-month pension and a few thousand dollars in savings, he figures he could try to find someone to pay $8,500 or so for his small sailboat. Beyond that, he's afraid he may not be able to afford his house payments.

This example alone should convince any sane person that the system needs to be corrected, sooner rather than later.