THE RESULT OF "FREE" HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

For those that have not heard of Workamping, it is a lifestyle that includes living in an RV and working. An RV can be anything from a van to a two million dollar motor home. Working does not have to be for pay. There are Workampers working as volunteer campground hosts for no pay, those working fulltime or more hours at Amazon usually during their Christmas rush, and anything in between. A person could even qualify as a Workamper by living in an RV at the same location fulltime working the same fulltime permanent job year round. Although, this is not the typical scenario. We live the typical Workamping lifestyle of moving around the country and working different jobs. We have many people who are obviously envious of this lifestyle and wish they could do it, or just quit their job and travel. What keeps people from doing this? I will tell you what the predominant reason most, if not all people give for not living this dream. However, I bet you could make a pretty good guess. That’s right, it’s health insurance. One of the most asked questions on Facebook pages dedicated to Workamping and fulltime RVing is, ”what do you all do for health insurance.” My fiancé and I were team truck drivers for a couple of years before we were made aware of company policy that said we only needed to be out on the road for 150 days to be considered as fulltime and eligible for health insurance, vacation time, etc. There are 365 days in a year. So, being on the road 150 days would leave 215 days. I told her that we could drive one month and then be off one month making roughly 180 days on the road and roughly 185 days off. This would give us 30 days more than needed for fulltime status. This was the start of our adventure toward fulltime RVing and Workamping. One hurdle was the fact that the company did not want a team truck sitting idle for 30 days at a time. It was up to us to find another team willing to try this “experiment.” We placed an “ad” on the company email system and put flyers up at every company operating center we went to. I think after some time we may have finally gotten two responses. One of these was very promising. It was from a team that had many irons in the fire so to speak including owning several properties in the area they lived in, which was somewhat close to us. After meeting them and submitting our plan to our boss we were basically told to make up our own schedule and run with it. Run we did. In July of that year we took our first full month off while the other team drove the truck. During that month we were on a mission to find an RV to buy. We had already decided on a motor home and had actually been looking for a while. We finally found a motor home we liked and bought it for $20,000. We had both already started renting out our homes by this time, since it was ridiculous to keep them empty for two to four day stays every couple of weeks to a month when we were off. So, now began our journey of driving the truck one month and living and traveling in the motor home the next month, unless we stayed with relatives. While still retaining our full benefits, including health insurance. Now we had the bug and started hearing about fulltime RV living and Workamping. However, like all those others, our question was how could we make this lifestyle a reality and still have health insurance. Two years after getting the RV we applied for two of the biggest Workamper employers we had heard of and got hired by both of them. One of those jobs would have us working the sugarbeet harvest in October and then going to an Amazon facility and working until Christmas Eve. We thought, OK that will take us until the end of the year and get us a start on this adventure. We were on our month off in September and were in North Dakota for orientation in the middle of September when we emailed our resignation to the trucking company.

Now, I gave all of that background information in order to tell you that the final part of the beginning of that journey would not have occurred had it not been for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. I did some research on the ACA website and found that I should be able to get absolutely free health insurance under the act as long as I kept my income at or near the poverty level of roughly $12,000 a year. Now free in this context is a misnomer, as it was only free to me because I was not paying for it. It was far from free, as the federal government was paying the insurance company several hundred dollars in premiums on my behalf, which has gone up substantially every year since the first year. This was not money I was reimbursed. It was money that never came out of my pocket. Every month the federal government sent the premium to the insurance company. I was and am not a fan of “Obamacare.” Just like most “welfare” programs it takes away people’s incentives to work. I am a prime example. I had a good paying job with good benefits that I quit in order to live an unconventional life because under “Obamacare” I could still have health insurance. No questions asked. I could quit my job with no reason and no consequences and get free to me healthcare paid for by the federal government and other taxpayers. Just like any other “welfare” program. I do not agree with the many welfare programs we have that make people lazy and unproductive. However, there are way too many people using them to do just that, be lazy and unproductive members of society. So, since I pay taxes my thought is, until we get smart and get rid of “welfare” why shouldn’t I get some of it. Now, when the hundreds or thousands of people who have asked “what do you all do for health insurance,” start getting it for free with no questions asked, what do you think will happen to our economy and our country? Not only that but what about the millions who haven’t asked the question, but would love to retire or just quit their job. Ask yourself, ask your co-workers, ask your neighbor, ask anyone what their biggest reason for continuing to work is and the answer you will get more times than not is health insurance.  So again, I ask you what will happen to this country when everyone is given “FREE” healthcare. Remember, if the government is paying for it, it is only free to the one who is getting it. Another of my rants is minimum wage. Instead of a ridiculously high minimum wage, healthcare should be incorporated into a so-called minimum wage. All employers will be required to supply healthcare to their employees but there will be no more minimum wage law. Therefore you are free to work for as much or as little as you want but you get healthcare, which as I said is the main reason why most people continue to work anyway. This reminds me of someone that used to work for me. I was a manager at a security company. One of my accounts was the lowest paying one the company had at minimum wage at that time of $6.65 per hour. This company just refused to increase what they were paying us so we could pay the security officers more. My contact at the company said they were getting what they were paying for and they did not require much. I had two officers at this account. One of them was making exactly what he deserved, since he was found sleeping several times and did not represent the company very well in his uniform. The other officer always looked sharp and was always alert and attentive. I tried many times to get him to move to a better paying post, even one supplying health insurance which almost none of them did. He always refused. He didn’t have to work hard at this post and he also worked part time at a grocery chain that gave health insurance to even their part time employees which was what he was. The thing that too many people don’t seem to realize is that no matter how high the minimum wage is, someone will still be making it and they will still be poor and at the poverty level making minimum wage. Ambition and the will to make your life better is the only thing that will ever change that.