The antidote to anxiety and worry has arrived at our house in the form of a slightly used Maine Coon Cat named Smokey! Smokey has spent the last six weeks, or so, in the La Plata County Humane Society shelter, where a lot of the staff fell in love with him. He arrived at the shelter from mysterious origins and, suffice it to say, had been pretty beaten up, either by his time on his own or who knows. In any case, his wounds required tending and a couple of weeks of antibiotics, which, along with a respiratory infection that followed, kept him alive and well, so to speak, long enough for us to find out about him!
Last Thursday, Dan, who had seen Smokey's photo in the Durango High School newspaper, The Diablo, that morning, broached the subject of adoption midway through a glass of wine at our favorite hangout, The Office Spiritorium, at the Strater Hotel. Good timing. We both got pretty worked up thinking about Smokey and called the Humane Society minutes before they closed for the day. The next morning, we arrived at the shelter minutes after they opened. Smokey, it turned out, was in quarantine for ten days because he had bitten an unwary visitor who stuck a finger in his cage. So one more misadventure to keep him around long enough for us to adopt him! Yesterday was the last day of quarantine. We showed up at exactly 5:15 (he had to serve every minute of his sentence) to pick him up! Wednesday, Dan picked up the worldly goods that any self-respecting cat must possess and so we were ready at home.
Smokey took over the place as soon as he walked in the door, no doubt detecting 4 1/2 year old scents left over from his predecessor and near clone, Ernie the Sailing Cat. As of this morning, Smokey has consumed a can and a half of wet food, used the litter box at least once and had a good night's sleep. He is, as I write, napping in the guest room chair.
I posted earlier on Facebook that our evening last night, in front of the fire and football game, was cozier and dinner (frozen pizza) more delicious because of the new addition to our family. (Imagine what a baby is going to do in the next few days!!!)
Friday, November 9, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Warning: Rant Ahead
Well, doing part of my workout has in no way calmed me down. Wish it had. The breeze from every step I take is fanning my anger like bellows to the refiner's fire. What's gotten to me? Well, dear readership of 0, okay, perhaps one, I'll go ahead and share. Maybe it will help me. I was in the 1% for a time and for some reason, perhaps because of less than creative accounting guidance (read: honest), paid one hell of a lot in taxes. Not bragging, just stating a fact. So why am I going on about this? Because I am horribly pissed with the lies spewing out of Romney's mouth and the failure of my party to address the real problems that have lead to this pathetic time in our country's history. (Oh, as an aside, I have to wonder why anyone who supports Romney would think that he won't lie to YOU, too?? Just askin'. I mean, he might be FOR women's rights, etc., for all we know, not to mention health coverage for EVERYONE. I mean, isn't there some history here?)
Because of those taxes paid, we more than deserve any income that we are now getting from Social Security, and with Medicare less than a month off, we are grateful for the benefits that come from a society that cares about PEOPLE. Or did, at one point. No one should have to pay the kind of monthly payment for medical insurance that we were paying WITH a ginormous deductible. That kind of insurance cost adds up to tens of thousands of dollars a year! More than some people make. By the way, we were consuming something like $500/year... We did the math a while back and decided to assume the risk, given the proximity of a certain birthday. The countdown to December 1st is ongoing. The advent of for-profit health insurance companies is certainly part of the problem. Shareholders should have no say in the kinds of decisions that health providers are required to make, or at least recommend. After all we do have laws that prevent the practice of medicine by the unlicensed. The bottom line should be the welfare of people, not the receipt of dividends. (Yes, I know that lawyers are also to blame, right? I mean, there shouldn't be checks and balances, like recourse for mal-practice, huh?)
Getting real, my dad's last six days of life cost $60,000. How many of you could handle that without some sort of help from your uncle? Multiply that out by a few more days' lingering on life-support. One family we know has already exceeded the $2,000,000 mark because of acute myelitc leukemia suffered by their daughter at age 33, who fortunately, or unfortunately because of an additional disability, qualified for MediCal, but try EVER to get regular insurance for that gal again, which is all kinds of incentive for a major job search now that she's on the mend, yes? So, do you give up and commit suicide by neglect: failing to treat an illness so that your family can continue to be fed and housed on its own nickel, or do you go into bankruptcy for lack of adequate/affordable coverage. What good does it do to live in a nation that has the most advanced medical care in the world if opting to receive it is economically unfeasible. Just a few of the questions bothering me at the moment. Does anyone know what the economic effect of bankruptcy on taxpayers is???? Why is this not addressed in political debates. I cannot imagine and I have a pretty darn good brain.
How about all those visits to the emergency room for non-emergencies. An article this week in our paper pointed out that treating a sore throat in the emergency room costs $500 vs. $175 in a private doctor's office. Well, in Durango, for instance, Medicaid recipients can ONLY be treated in the ER. What kind of sense does that make? Anyone, anyone????????? And guess what, this is a community where the average working person is earning somewhere in the range that qualifies for Medicaid. Sad. I'm talking nurses and teachers, here, folks. Not bums or welfare moms, of which we don't have too many in our town, mainly because the average house rents for something like $2000 per month because the college doesn't house its students after year 1.
How many of you can afford $24,000/year in rent and another $14,000, say, at a minimum, in health insurance????? Just asking??? Oh, btw, this is after-tax money I'm talkin' about here. Back in the day, when Blue Cross/Blue Shield was a not-for-profit in Ohio, coverage for a family of four was something like $360/month. You could pick your own doc, go to the dermatologist without having to go first to the primary care doc for a referral ($$$), and there was no such thing as a co-pay. Plus, this was in the town that the Saudi princes chose to provide their health care... No one complained about paperwork and no doctor-to-be forswore the profession because he or she couldn't be guaranteed to earn $$$ bigtime.
Something is wrong here and the market system is NOT going to fix it. Is anyone listening??? Heck, the market system was doing great back in the aforementioned "day."
So what happened? Well, empirical evidence points to eight years of a Republican presidency and two wars. Nuff said. But, unfortunately, the Democrats are afraid to bring this up.
Oh and before I forget. My other rant: I have witnessed unbelievably unkind, rude and racist behavior on the part of the Republican constituency. (A big word, I know, for people who think the world began 5000 years ago... but that's another story I won't go into here.) It's open season on Obama and some otherwise good people have let down their guard. It reminds me of Nazi Germany. Sorry folks, but I've studied my history, even if some people have not. "It's okay because the other guy is doing it, too." Well, they have another thing coming. They are showing their true colors and I hope they can make amends and get on a better human, not to mention, Christian (but don't get me going here) track, for their own sake.
Thanks for reading, and my condolences for putting up with me. Was hoping to avoid stroking out, cuz we sure can't afford that!!
Because of those taxes paid, we more than deserve any income that we are now getting from Social Security, and with Medicare less than a month off, we are grateful for the benefits that come from a society that cares about PEOPLE. Or did, at one point. No one should have to pay the kind of monthly payment for medical insurance that we were paying WITH a ginormous deductible. That kind of insurance cost adds up to tens of thousands of dollars a year! More than some people make. By the way, we were consuming something like $500/year... We did the math a while back and decided to assume the risk, given the proximity of a certain birthday. The countdown to December 1st is ongoing. The advent of for-profit health insurance companies is certainly part of the problem. Shareholders should have no say in the kinds of decisions that health providers are required to make, or at least recommend. After all we do have laws that prevent the practice of medicine by the unlicensed. The bottom line should be the welfare of people, not the receipt of dividends. (Yes, I know that lawyers are also to blame, right? I mean, there shouldn't be checks and balances, like recourse for mal-practice, huh?)
Getting real, my dad's last six days of life cost $60,000. How many of you could handle that without some sort of help from your uncle? Multiply that out by a few more days' lingering on life-support. One family we know has already exceeded the $2,000,000 mark because of acute myelitc leukemia suffered by their daughter at age 33, who fortunately, or unfortunately because of an additional disability, qualified for MediCal, but try EVER to get regular insurance for that gal again, which is all kinds of incentive for a major job search now that she's on the mend, yes? So, do you give up and commit suicide by neglect: failing to treat an illness so that your family can continue to be fed and housed on its own nickel, or do you go into bankruptcy for lack of adequate/affordable coverage. What good does it do to live in a nation that has the most advanced medical care in the world if opting to receive it is economically unfeasible. Just a few of the questions bothering me at the moment. Does anyone know what the economic effect of bankruptcy on taxpayers is???? Why is this not addressed in political debates. I cannot imagine and I have a pretty darn good brain.
How about all those visits to the emergency room for non-emergencies. An article this week in our paper pointed out that treating a sore throat in the emergency room costs $500 vs. $175 in a private doctor's office. Well, in Durango, for instance, Medicaid recipients can ONLY be treated in the ER. What kind of sense does that make? Anyone, anyone????????? And guess what, this is a community where the average working person is earning somewhere in the range that qualifies for Medicaid. Sad. I'm talking nurses and teachers, here, folks. Not bums or welfare moms, of which we don't have too many in our town, mainly because the average house rents for something like $2000 per month because the college doesn't house its students after year 1.
How many of you can afford $24,000/year in rent and another $14,000, say, at a minimum, in health insurance????? Just asking??? Oh, btw, this is after-tax money I'm talkin' about here. Back in the day, when Blue Cross/Blue Shield was a not-for-profit in Ohio, coverage for a family of four was something like $360/month. You could pick your own doc, go to the dermatologist without having to go first to the primary care doc for a referral ($$$), and there was no such thing as a co-pay. Plus, this was in the town that the Saudi princes chose to provide their health care... No one complained about paperwork and no doctor-to-be forswore the profession because he or she couldn't be guaranteed to earn $$$ bigtime.
Something is wrong here and the market system is NOT going to fix it. Is anyone listening??? Heck, the market system was doing great back in the aforementioned "day."
So what happened? Well, empirical evidence points to eight years of a Republican presidency and two wars. Nuff said. But, unfortunately, the Democrats are afraid to bring this up.
Oh and before I forget. My other rant: I have witnessed unbelievably unkind, rude and racist behavior on the part of the Republican constituency. (A big word, I know, for people who think the world began 5000 years ago... but that's another story I won't go into here.) It's open season on Obama and some otherwise good people have let down their guard. It reminds me of Nazi Germany. Sorry folks, but I've studied my history, even if some people have not. "It's okay because the other guy is doing it, too." Well, they have another thing coming. They are showing their true colors and I hope they can make amends and get on a better human, not to mention, Christian (but don't get me going here) track, for their own sake.
Thanks for reading, and my condolences for putting up with me. Was hoping to avoid stroking out, cuz we sure can't afford that!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)