NPR has an interesting article on a Rabbi who is seeking a young wife in order to lower the cost of his health insurance:

When Rabbi Craig Ezring’s annual health insurance costs soared 38 percent this year to a whopping $18,636, he did more than just complain.

He went looking for a young wife.

For several years, the Boca Raton, Fla., rabbi had been getting coverage through a small corporation he formed with his wife. When she died four years ago, he thought the cost of his insurance coverage would drop. Instead it rose.

That’s partly because Ezring, 56, had a heart bypass surgery a couple of years ago. Nonetheless, he said he’s still quite healthy, and does ballroom and Latin dancing twice a week.

When he got his latest health insurance bill in August, Ezing said he almost had a heart attack.

An insurance broker told him his small business insurance rate is based on the age of the owner of the company. So, Ezring posted on his blog that he was looking for a younger woman who wouldn’t mind marrying him to help him get cheaper coverage.

I have hear of many reasons for getting married, but in the 21st century, as people deal with the cost of health insurance, maybe the Rabbi’s reason to get married is as good as any.

This brings me to a paraphrase of  Song of Solomon 8:7:

“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned, except when health insurance becomes unaffordable.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary