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I get a great view if its sunny: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NXoEAHzxvRrZncKw6
But sun is a rare sight in the winter. In summer, it’s much more appealing though, and I see many animals come by. I also get really nice views when heavy fog forms on cooler nights with PNW flow and the next morning it’s only 60 F and looks like Astoria, Oregon : https://photos.app.goo.gl/Hb3vKY6kpM3rUUXv5
Quote:
Originally Posted by homina12
The snowy scene is gorgeous.
I have even better snowy scene pictures from a few years back. It’s nice until you go outside and then it feels like you are going to die after a few minutes: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wNiVRgZZjEU3cZs56
My former employer waited 'til the eleventh hour to sign on the dotted line for insurance plan(s) for 2021. Rates skyrocketed (surprise, surprise), so off to the insurance marketplace I and several of my former coworkers went since COBRA went from kind of affordable (ish) to no-way-that-I'm-paying-that-high.
It's been years since I've used my medical benefits (and I've *always* had employer-sponsored health care benefits, so shopping for health insurance is new to me), but there's no way that I'm game to roll without bennies or sub-par coverage. It's just not worth the risk of being penny-wise, but pound-foolish when it comes to insurance, imo.
It's a crap shoot as to what I'll be earning next year, but worst case scenario, there will be a reckoning when paying taxes for 2021 if I end up earning more than what I'm projecting as next year's income.
Last edited by Formerly Known As Twenty; 12-15-2020 at 12:28 PM..
I used to be uncertain about the idea of "Medicare for all" or Universal Healthcare....I'm no longer on the fence about it.
Turns out all the scary talk of people in other countries waiting for procedures and dying in line, not being able to see doctors or get care, was propaganda invented to protect the private insurance industry in the US, a former PR guy even admitted it. More to the point, since the boom of social media I know have friends all over the world online, who tell me what health care is like in their countries. They cannot believe the horrors of how American healthcare is.
I recently checked my own page on my insurance company's website, and did some math of my own...
Premiums I paid for my family this year: $2,791.97
Between what I've already paid out of pocket for coinsurance and copays, and what I'll have paid before the end of the year: over $7,000
Prescription copays: about $500
Amount my insurance company paid, charged by providers: over $35,000
What makes me most upset about it, is how costly it is to have mental health problems and to try and get help. A suicidal individual who reaches out can expect to be carted off to the ER and put on a hold and all of that will stick them with a bill for around $2,000 when it's said and done, which someone in my son's situation can't afford. So now you have this struggling person, who may already have trouble holding a job and making ends meet, let's pile some more financial hardship on there for good measure.
And people are like, "just get him on Medicaid, if he's poor." Bullcrap. Any notion how restrictive that is to get if you're a single young male with no children? They do NOT make it easy, if it's even possible. And navigating the paperwork and the process can be way beyond what a mentally ill person can manage.
I'm just glad he's covered on my plan until he's 26, and has any coverage at all, even if it still leaves us with big bills to pay sometimes. Better than nothing.
And the ACA, as far as I know, was never really enough...I looked into that once, and the options out there on the "marketplace" were anything but affordable.
This whole thing is awful. I do not like the wishy washy, "you can keep your insurance if you like it" because if we had a proper nationalized system, no one would want to go back to private insurance. Nobody likes being ripped off, and that's what this is. And the only way that a nationalized program works, is by pooling the risk. Ultimately, it's just people thinking that we can have more faith in big business than we can in big government, when we know for fact that big business will happily squeeze us for everything they can. Don't know if we will get better results from Uncle Sam, but seems it might be time to try. Either that, or the lawmakers need to regulate the insurance and healthcare industry somehow.
Turns out all the scary talk of people in other countries waiting for procedures and dying in line, not being able to see doctors or get care, was propaganda invented to protect the private insurance industry in the US, a former PR guy even admitted it. More to the point, since the boom of social media I know have friends all over the world online, who tell me what health care is like in their countries. They cannot believe the horrors of how American healthcare is.
I can speak from a perspective in Ontario Canada. I have an OHIP card (Ontario Health Insurance Plan), and it's issued for free, although it needs to be renewed every 5 years and a new photo provided. If I'm not feeling well, I can go to any clinic or hospital and walk in the door armed with my valid health card, to see a dr. If it's something like I think I might have a sinus infection, I would go to the walk in clinic near my house. It doesn't even matter if I have a regular doctor if I need to see someone that day and my dr. isn't available. If it's something more severe, I would go to a local hospital, which is not always optimal because depending on your condition and the number of people, you could be waiting a long time, depending on the severity of your condition. Doesn't cost a thing (other than our taxes pay for it). The prescription for my sinus infection is not covered so this is where either a group plan through your work, or your own private policy would cover it, otherwise it's out of pocket. Prescriptions, glasses, massage, chiro, that sort of thing is not covered by OHIP.
There's a hospital 10 minutes from my house but my only visits to it were with my mom, when she was very unwell and diagnosed with a brain tumour. She was then transferred to major city hospital that night and had brain surgery a couple of days later (diagnosis Friday night, surgery Monday morning). She spent a few days there and then transferred to our local hospital for another few weeks. She then had radiation and chemo at big city hospital for multiple weeks. She was home for a while and then ended up hospitalized for several months where she then passed away. Hospital bed was covered through group insurance through my dad's employer. This was over a span of 9 months and her only out of pocket was one $45 ambulance ride from our local hospital to home, and copays for prescriptions for the chemo pills.
My family mostly live in the US and as many times as they've tried to explain their processes, I still can't wrap my head around it.
I don't hear anyone ever complain that our tax dollars cover everyone's health care. Of all the things my taxes go to that bothers me, health coverage for every Canadian is dead last on my list.
I can speak from a perspective in Ontario Canada. I have an OHIP card (Ontario Health Insurance Plan), and it's issued for free, although it needs to be renewed every 5 years and a new photo provided. If I'm not feeling well, I can go to any clinic or hospital and walk in the door armed with my valid health card, to see a dr. If it's something like I think I might have a sinus infection, I would go to the walk in clinic near my house. It doesn't even matter if I have a regular doctor if I need to see someone that day and my dr. isn't available. If it's something more severe, I would go to a local hospital, which is not always optimal because depending on your condition and the number of people, you could be waiting a long time, depending on the severity of your condition. Doesn't cost a thing (other than our taxes pay for it). The prescription for my sinus infection is not covered so this is where either a group plan through your work, or your own private policy would cover it, otherwise it's out of pocket. Prescriptions, glasses, massage, chiro, that sort of thing is not covered by OHIP.
There's a hospital 10 minutes from my house but my only visits to it were with my mom, when she was very unwell and diagnosed with a brain tumour. She was then transferred to major city hospital that night and had brain surgery a couple of days later (diagnosis Friday night, surgery Monday morning). She spent a few days there and then transferred to our local hospital for another few weeks. She then had radiation and chemo at big city hospital for multiple weeks. She was home for a while and then ended up hospitalized for several months where she then passed away. Hospital bed was covered through group insurance through my dad's employer. This was over a span of 9 months and her only out of pocket was one $45 ambulance ride from our local hospital to home, and copays for prescriptions for the chemo pills.
My family mostly live in the US and as many times as they've tried to explain their processes, I still can't wrap my head around it.
I don't hear anyone ever complain that our tax dollars cover everyone's health care. Of all the things my taxes go to that bothers me, health coverage for every Canadian is dead last on my list.
Here, we can wait in the emergency room for many hours at the hospital, too, depending on the severity of our condition.
And your Mom's situation would wipe out the savings and bankrupt a family. Likely even if she had insurance, especially if she was covered under her plan tied to her employment, and she was so sick she had to stop working.
Of course, we do have Medicaid and Medicare, one for the poor (if we qualify, which it's hard to do) and one for the elderly past a certain age. I had medicaid when I was young and poor and pregnant, a "single mother" (I had to not tell them that the father lived with me, because that would have disqualified me and my baby, even though we truly were desperately poor and could not get by without the help.) That was probably the best coverage I ever had. Instead of providers having a confusing array of "in network" and "out of network" and copays, coinsurance and deductibles, it was either a doctor takes medicaid or they do not, and if they do (most did) then the service was entirely free to me.
I honestly think that most everyday Americans get fussy because we like to judge others and blame people for their own hardship, so folks can't abide the idea of paying for health care for a fat person or a smoker or someone who might have somehow caused their ill health...and then there is abortion and birth control, and prenatal and birth costs for unmarried mothers who should what, I guess be stoned to death for daring to have sex out of wedlock, I don't even know anymore.
I want to love my country, but health care is one of the areas in which it can get more than a bit hard to love.
Oh aye, don't get me wrong, I'm a lot less patient than I used to be, and I'm not going to engage as stubbornly as I once did.
I said my piece, now I am just reporting and ignoring...though I haven't seen him in a bit, so maybe the mods were able to put the kibosh on his sock-puppeteering antics.
He started a thread yesterday, but it was short lived.
My former employer waited 'til the eleventh hour to sign on the dotted line for insurance plan(s) for 2021. Rates skyrocketed (surprise, surprise), so off to the insurance marketplace I and several of my former coworkers went since COBRA went from kind of affordable (ish) to no-way-that-I'm-paying-that-high.
It's been years since I've used my medical benefits (and I've *always* had employer-sponsored health care benefits, so shopping for health insurance is new to me), but there's no way that I'm game to roll without bennies or sub-par coverage. It's just not worth the risk of being penny-wise, but pound-foolish when it comes to insurance, imo.
It's a crap shoot as to what I'll be earning next year, but worst case scenario, there will be a reckoning when paying taxes for 2021 if I end up earning more than what I'm projecting as next year's income.
I’m happy that my employer has a good plan. As long as I have a job I’m good. I’ve saved up enough to pay for insurance for a year in the event I get laid off. But I am really hoping that does not happen.
Luckily I’m in controls software development which goes in basically all types of vehicles being designed or updated today, so it’s not too hard for me to find a new job since it’s mostly programming work.
I don't hear anyone ever complain that our tax dollars cover everyone's health care. Of all the things my taxes go to that bothers me, health coverage for every Canadian is dead last on my list.
There's a quote that I like that's been wrongly attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes: "I like paying my taxes, with them I buy civilization."
It's alarming how many GoFundMe's pop up to help people in dire post-healthcare situations. When my BIL was in an accident, his friends started one, and were very generous. My sister's been using that pool for therapy and treatment that wasnt covered by insurance. And even with insurance, she had to negotiate out of hospital bills that came to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,936 posts, read 36,995,252 times
Reputation: 40635
Quote:
Originally Posted by fleetiebelle
There's a quote that I like that's been wrongly attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes: "I like paying my taxes, with them I buy civilization."
It's alarming how many GoFundMe's pop up to help people in dire post-healthcare situations. When my BIL was in an accident, his friends started one, and were very generous. My sister's been using that pool for therapy and treatment that wasnt covered by insurance. And even with insurance, she had to negotiate out of hospital bills that came to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A mutual friend, who did have insurance (mandated in Massachusetts), died last week. She couldn't afford the copays, and didn't go to the hospital. She was already in so much medical debt from over the years, she didn't want to take on more. Mids 40s. Appalling. I have friends withs six figures of medical debt they will never, ever be able to repay. Chronic conditions mostly, usually genetic. No fault of their own. They're all scr*wed. Even with a bankruptcy, they'll just start piling it up again. I give capitalism in healthcare a big middle finger often. I'm fortunate that I'm rather healthy, but I'd gladly pay more to end this charade... not that we'd need to. We already pay more per capita in this country for not everyone to be covered and the end results to be of less quality.
A mutual friend, who did have insurance (mandated in Massachusetts), died last week. She couldn't afford the copays, and didn't go to the hospital. She was already in so much medical debt from over the years, she didn't want to take on more. Mids 40s. Appalling. I have friends withs six figures of medical debt they will never, ever be able to repay. Chronic conditions mostly, usually genetic. No fault of their own. They're all scr*wed. Even with a bankruptcy, they'll just start piling it up again. I give capitalism in healthcare a big middle finger often. I'm fortunate that I'm rather healthy, but I'd gladly pay more to end this charade... not that we'd need to. We already pay more per capita in this country for not everyone to be covered and the end results to be of less quality.
Yeah, that's the crazy part...if my taxes even had to go up, they probably would not increase to the point that it would be more than what I pay in premiums alone... To say nothing of the rest of my out of pocket costs.
And everyone would be fully covered for everything that matters, no "well it's out of network, so..." That would be amazing. But the only politicians who support this are considered a radical socialist far left fringe here.
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