@adhdeanasl @ReticentTurnip they were mistergendered.
Please tell us how we did.
it’s beginning to feel a bit Mad Max here in Pinellas County.
i was ultimately able to find gas, though. people queued politely.
A gas station with “Out of Gas” signs hung on every pump.
it’s cancel culture that controls the weather you see. https://www.ncf.edu/event/socratic-stage-a-discussion-on-crime-in-the-21st-century/
does FEMA have to resources to manage a recovery simultaneously of Western NC / East TN and the much more populous Tampa Bay metro area?
“but how will the complete destruction of my community affect the election?”
how many major disasters before political establishments in the South East concede the urgency of global warming?
“Will Milton author ‘Paradise Lost’ for Floridians?”
so now Milton is sending a new circle of hell our way.
"Under a democratic system, we cannot know what policy will be in three months, three years, or three decades time, but we can have confidence in how it will be decided. Recognizing the inherent uncertainty of the future, this view of stability is one that bakes in change." #LeahDowney https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-politics-of-stability/
@kentwillard i really support your getting a colonoscopy! it can be life saving, to catch it early if there’s something untoward! hopefully, wherever you are and whatever insurance you are on is better than Florida and my insurance. colonoscopies for screening are supposed to be free under ACA!
i’ll fuss (have begun fussing, to little avail), will hopefully get our paid-for colonoscopies at least (for me and my wife). if not, we’ll probably end up medical tourists somewhere.
“The core ideas of neoliberalism were obviously simplifications, but they were powerful simplifications, apparently explaining a lot with a little. They told politicians and business leaders what they ought focus on, and what they could reasonably ignore. It turned out that a lot of those things ought not to have been ignored!” @henryfarrell https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/seeing-like-a-matt
@John @phillmv when we lived in CA, we spent some time on Kaiser. my wife didn’t vibe with the physician she would see, so ultimately we switched out. it was fine from my perspective. but i almost never touch the health care system, i hate it with a deep fiery passion. i did visit Kaiser maybe twice in our several years with them, and had no complaints. there is nothing like Kaiser in FL.
@phillmv @John my very crappy insurance, for a family of three, is $1184 US per month. some unpredictable fraction of that gets covered by a subsidy, depending on what my income proves to be and the phases of the moon. that’s with a very narrow network of providers, a $7500 deductible (payable before insurance begins to reimburse), and up to $9400 payable out-of-pocket in a calendar year. 3/
i've decided to move to the counterfactual. i'd love to find you there.
@mister914 it’s in remission, i think. it’ll be back, i hope. i’ll probably be dead then, but maybe for my kid, if he chooses to suffer life in the United States rather than move elsewhere.
@John it’s supposed to be covered, and so free to the end-patient, under any plan, by law. they are hinting at “hospital fees” as an uncovered portion, i think. i’ll go through the “conversation”, argue with them. maybe i’ll even win. going through it feels like a fate worse than death.
@louis @realcaseyrollins Yeah. Actually my remaining deductible is only $7347 / out-of-pocket max $9247, so it can’t actually be correct that I’d be responsible for $10K+. But they compute their “good faith estimates” procedure by procedure, so they don’t see that.
It’s only actually a third-party payer if it’s fully covered — as it should be — as preventative care. Obviously that’s not what they are doing.
One thing I find difficult about US politics is I am expected to say things like “ACA is not perfect, but it’s better than what came before!” when I hate ACA so much. 1/
I’m almost 54 years old. I’ve never had a colonoscopy. Preventative care is supposed to be covered by my ACA marketplace insurance. I go to an in-network gastroenterologist. He proposes a colonoscopy and an EGD. All diagnostic, preventative. I am not sick. 2/
Two days later I get “good faith estimate” letters saying my responsibility beyond what insurance would cover would be $10,044. Of which the very standard colonoscopy, which my insurer frequently chirpily reminds me I should have, is $2600. 3/
I’ve started the inevitable “dialogue” with the insurer. But I think I’d rather just die. /fin
if Helene was caused by a Chinese hoax, how should we respond?