Politics

[AJ Peacock]

You're getting married? Congratulations! I guess there's hope for me yet.

Thanks, yes. My wife of 32 years passed away in 2020. My fiance's husband passed in 2018 (both cancer). It'll be a good second chapter for us both.

AJ

 

[Ontario Hunter]

@deewayne2003 a similar tactic to your option B related to Rx.

Go into CVS or Walgreens and say "I don't have insurance, how much is X drug?". They have to tell you. Next, check if there is a coupon on GoodRx. Next, ask the pharmacist "how much is it with my XYZ health insurance?".

This is how the insurance companies F'd us. The pharmacist is PROHIBITED from telling you if your pills are cheaper without insurance than with insurance. They get fired if they break that rule. Often times, the drug is actually cheaper without insurance, and about 50% of the time its cheaper w/o insurance plus a GoodRx digital coupon.

When we were having kids we found the same thing to be true for delivery. My insurance out of pocket was going to be $8000. I called the hospital and said I have no insurance, they had a pre-pay option that came to $3200.

Yeah. Several years ago I had to drop into a small town Washington state ER due to chest pains. After a few tests and maybe an hour, they handed me a bill for $5K. Well crap, I'm just a student with no insurance trying to finish research for graduate thesis. Oh ... in that case the bill dropped to $1500 and they gave me an application to fill out for a relief organization that eventually paid the whole thing. I forgot about that. I'm gonna cut the charity outfit a $2K cheque tomorrow ... if it still exists.

Same thing here. I'm in the hospital semi-private room after surgery. Finance gal comes around. "Who's your insurer?" I don't have insurance. Obviously I'm retired. "So are they going to move me to cheaper bed?". No, of course not. Go back to sleep.

In the old days in US I often would pretend I didn't have insurance when filling a prescription and then suddenly remember I did before it was rung up. Usually the pharmacist just voided the transaction and started over at insurer rate. Oh, dentists are famous for gouging insurance companies. And insurance companies know but usually don't care ... unless practitioner gets carried away (or doesn't kick back enough $$$ under the table).

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Thanks, yes. My wife of 32 years passed away in 2020. My fiance's husband passed in 2018 (both cancer). It'll be a good second chapter for us both.

AJ

All the best to you! My wife passed sixteen years ago. I haven't seriously been looking to start over. I wasn't when I met her (seven years after divorce) and guess I figured something would just fall in my lap again. Oh well. When are you tying the knot? Honeymoon on safari?

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Air Force B-52 bomber crashes shortly after takeoff in California

A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base June 15, military officials said.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Ontario Hunter]

My chiropractor clued me into the “cash discount” option; he told me we can run your insurance or pay cash; if you pay cash in full we can offer you a substantial discount that we can’t offer with a payment plan.

I have a friend who is 100% uninsured cash payer, goes to every check up with his wife that’s on Obama care and just asks the doctor……
“Can I the same tests done and pay you cash?”

While I fully admit that insurance is a racket, I also notice I can’t go into a doctors office without being pummeled with efforts to sell me every elective bullshit they can think of.

Dentists are the worst….. $300 electric tooth brushes, $300 for a mouth piece that I can buy for $5 at any sporting goods store; not to mention the $20K for porcelain veneers!

My dentist, and her dad before her, are very good about saving patients money. She tells me I should use Waterpick and electric toothbrush but then tells me to buy them at Walmart. She got fed up with the crown-making lab gouging so set up her own lab on the second floor. She says the best part now is if the crown doesn't fit (very rare) she doesn't have to fight with the lab about who's responsible.

 

[Brent in Az]

A sad ending for that B-52 crew.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

A neighbor of mine is a retired B52 guy. He thinks this plane was doing tests with the new radar system upgrade. However, the reason for the crash might have nothing to do with this.

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4356905/b-52-stratofortress-completes-ferry-flight-after-radar-modification/

 

[Tanks]

You sound like a buddy of mine who is a retired anesthesiologist when somebody mentioned their surgery a the anesthesiologist was billed at $1075 per hour and he blasted out…….

“Just because that’s on the bill doesn’t mean that’s what the doctor got paid!”

The room went quiet as everyone looked around like WTF? Until the silence was broken by our friend who is a civil engineer……..

“Awwww poor baby, does the insurance company beat you down to $500 hour? I mean no wonder you only built a 9,000sqft house!”

Prior to getting hip replacement I was getting Cortisone shots every few months. Outpatient but with anesthesia. I saw the insurance payment. They paid the anesthesiologist $35 total. I apologized next time I saw her at the tennis club, she was a member. She made almost nothing for her time.

 

[Brent in Az]

Australia's wealthiest person, Gina Reinhart, bought a $1 Billion dollar share in Space X record breaking market debut

 

[AJ Peacock]

All the best to you! My wife passed sixteen years ago. I haven't seriously been looking to start over. I wasn't when I met her (seven years after divorce) and guess I figured something would just fall in my lap again. Oh well. When are you tying the knot? Honeymoon on safari?

Sometime in 2029, after she turns 60 (widows benefits). We were considering Argentina and maybe some bird hunting while there, but it's all up in the air right now.

AJ

 

[cwpayton]

Elon's Space X gains put him over the top

And to think he left Kalifornia ,they could have taxed a bunch

 

[cwpayton]

A prime example of the ridiculously overpriced healthcare costs in the U.S.A
You can get the same procedure at a world class international hospital in Thailand for $25,000 or less.

Actually I think India is the preferd overseas med center, most are USA trained and then go home without all the med. establishment restrictions and Gov. oversite we have . plus they include your rehab at a resort.

 

[Tbitty]

I read an article somewhere online that said the folks behind this acknowledge it has no chance. Their goal is to begin to normalize such language so that future measures have a chance to pass.

Sounds about right

 

[cwpayton]

You know how you can tell a leftist from a classical liberal?

A classical liberal cherishes the first amendment. As such, they recognize that Musk's purchase of Twitter restored free speech in America and in so doing, forced his competitors to compete in a free-speech arena rather than go bankrupt.

A leftist hates Musk because free speech destroys their arguments that only function in a curated echo chamber unopposed.

As to SpaceX, I'd remind everyone that Musk got rich in that endeavor by doing what NASA said was impossible. So impossible they said, no private individual should be allowed to "try" to create and launch reusable space craft. The result was incompetent government was dead-wrong. NASA had a 75 year head-start on space logistics and yet their cost to launch a KG into space is between $40,000-$700,000 USD. Musk can send a KG into space for $1400-$3000 USD. Musk will do more to change the world than NASA because he has bent the cost curve to make all logistics cost-effective for the first time.

Give it ten years of further exponential efficiency through reuse and you're going to see Musk's rockets launching to opposite corners of the globe in minutes with emergency military logistics at around half the speed of light.

The applications of affordable logistics are truly endless. This was the same short-sightedness people had with Jeff Bezos' Amazon. The morons thought he was trying to compete with Barnes & Noble for the cheapest paperbacks, he was actually building the most efficient logistics company on planet earth.

History rhymes and leftists whine. Nonetheless these billionaires are changing the world for the material benefit of everyone.

It is hard to fathom that June 25th will be the 150th of Custers defeat at Little big horn, horse mounted Calvary ,Firing single shot Springfields . Engaging AN enemy some of whom only had bows only 2 life spands ago.

 

[cwpayton]

As it should be .

 

[cwpayton]

I have a good friend who lives in Oregon. He says most of the local conversation (Bend OR area) is that it has almost no chance of actually going anywhere. I've heard, can't remember if it was from him or elsewhere, that the language on the petition is extremely vague/misleading to the people they collect signatures from. It's titled something along the lines of the "Peace Act" to make the title appealing, but no one takes the time to read what it actually supports.

As you say, frightening that there are so many loonies and/or incompetent people out there to sign this in the first place.

Never underestimate the power of election ballots after midnite, the same bill will stop alot of ranching, like castarating a calf, ' inhumane".

 

[BlueFlyer]

The ceasefire deal shows one country's influence and it isn't the US or Iran

Chinese, Russian and Iranian officials met about a day before the deal was publicly announced, with experts saying it proves Beijing and Moscow helped shape the agreement.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Big_Easy]

So Congress is to blame, and your solution is to increase taxes on the wealthy and businesses, so Congress can allocate the funds?

I mean there's a difference between congressional micro-managing a complex technical program with pork barrel allocations, and reducing our annual deficit with tax increases on the rich.

 

[Big_Easy]

Oregonians have been working on a petition to ban ALL hunting and fishing in their State.

To get on the ballot, they needed 117,000 signatures. It’s already passed 125,000 signatures and growing.

Think about that for a second, 125,000 lunatics so far and climbing in a State with a total population of only ~4m people.

Of course it will fail on final vote, but the fact it so easily got on the ballot is shocking.

It's just political peacocking by folks that want to push an agenda. And of those 125K signatures, how many actually read the proposed ballot language?.....very few.

 

[Newboomer]

My diabetes Rx’s are all 50%+ cheaper paying out of pocket than filling with insurance
And as mentioned a catscan or mri is much cheaper cash pay then insurance

I get my meds from Expresscripts and the cost is always $14.00 for a 90 day supply. I have them on auto refill and auto pay. They forgot to refill one once so I had my doctor call it into Walgreens. The cost was 97 cents for a 90 day supply. Gues what I'm going to do as my meds run out.
With medicare and tricare my health issues are fully covered. No out of pocket except for chiropractic. Small copay..