I recently became a Christian Scientist. It was the only health plan I could afford.

The line is structured as a deadpan joke that pivots on the double meaning of “Christian Scientist” as both a religious affiliation and, in popular perception, a substitute for conventional medical care. By calling it “the only health plan I could afford,” the speaker satirizes the economics of healthcare—suggesting that financial barriers can push people toward ideologically framed or non-medical alternatives. The humor depends on incongruity: a spiritual commitment is recast as a budget insurance choice. Beneath the punchline is social critique about access, cost, and the ways people rationalize coping strategies when formal systems feel unaffordable.