Wish to god there was a way that McCain loses his health care insurance. nt

[matt819]

10. You see, it's a little different for rich people

According to the intertubes, McCain's net worth is $21 million, and his wife's net work some years ago was $100 million or so. Insurance doesn't matter to these people. They can pay cash.

A little arithmetic. If his recent medical issues cost $250,000, that's 2/10 of 1 percent of their net worth. I'll assume that some of that net worth is liquid.

Now for a comparison to what that might mean for you. Let's say your net worth is $100,000 - some cash in the bank, maybe a small IRA, equity in your house. That same 2/10 of 1 percent comes to about $200. So your $200 expenditure is equivalent to their $250,000 expenditure. Insurance? Sure, nice to have if you're rich, but essentially meaningless.

Now let's continue my arithmetic exercise. Let's say their net worth increases by 1% - capital gains, dividends, income, whatever. In a year they now have an additional $1.2 million. So their annual increase in net worth would cover that medical bill 5 times over.

Yes, the rich are different.