Are Children Really Expensive?

Here is an article on people not having children due to the bad economy.
In the article they have this “Children are really expensive,”

But are children really expensive?  I once worked with a single mother (she had a very low income BTW) who said “children are cheap. If you have $20 left over at the end of a week you have enough money to have a child.” I believe her. I think that most children are very cheap to have and raise, some are very expensive, those with health or behavioral problems but you can spend as much or as little as you want on an average child. The extra money we spend on them yields very little. 

As the article notes down a little lower it is risky to have a child but still people should be told that an average child is cheap.

More on High Deductible Health Insurance

Stuart Buck's post on not insuring for small health expenses got me thinking again about why people have low deductible insurance and why one of the arguments against high deductible insurance is weaker than it seems. 

The incentive alignment in health insurance is bad so why do people choose to use insurance for health expenses that they can afford. (I have a $10,000 deductible health insurance plan, partly because I want to minimize fighting with insurance companies.) one might argue that we have low deductible insurance because the deduction is better if health spending is done through an employer but that begs the question of why people would support such a tax situation.

My current explanation for why low deductible health insurance still dominates is that it gives people peace of mind, one less thing to worry about. Also when healthcare spending was just 5% of GDP it was a nice way for companies (or Governments) to that they cared.

It worked OK while health spending was below 10% of GDP but that peace of mind has become too expensive now that health spending is 18% of GDP. At 18% of GDP, we need individuals to make more of the spending decisions directly. The trade offs between spending on health care and other things can be very different for people. At 18% of GDP it is not even a sure think spending that much on healthcare increase health more that say buying a newer safer car or a gym membership or opting to work a lower paid but safer job. 

One of the arguments that people will make against very high deductible insuracen is that when one is  sick it is difficult to shop for price and that shopping for price is very difficult in health care but,  the health care industry is not that as bad as people think in this regard because patients can have GP's who do very little of the expensive care themselves who can seek the best options on behalf of their patients.  So even if the patient is too upset by the sickness to make the decisions himself they can have an advocate acting on their behalf.

I have had situations where Doctors have found much cheaper options for us after we have explained how much we will pay with our $10,000 deductible health insurance plan.

If Your Mind could be Transplanted

If Your Mind could be Transplanted into the either into Warren Buffet's body or into the body of a poor black teen which would choose?  you of course get Warren's money if you choose him but you get his age too.

That seems like an easy one to answer but how about this:  A well built but poor young back man or Warren Buffet's pudgy son?