Mama Carol

Did I misunderstand that the stock market has fallen lately? Oh yeah, I found it. They did break a five day losing streak today. Well, that's good news!!! There for a minute I thought I had imagined all of it.

Not sure exactly what she does but she's been fed up with the bureaucracy and ineptitude for years. And she is the kind of person who likes to have things ready when they are supposed to be ready and it pisses her off that others don't have the same work ethic. Boy, do you have a point!!

Classic scare tactic.

You mean the part about farm loans might not be processed? Or the one about the national parks might close? If those are "non-essential" shut them down and don't bring them back up until they are essential to the running of the country. And running of the country in the black, not the red.

I have an online friend who had to wait for several years to see a specialist. She only had something that would get worse with time and very likely could have been fatal. You'd think a place as big as Calgary would have more than one specialist for that particular specialty. But because he was the only one and they were scheduling appointments out in the future, she had to wait for years. Took a year or more to get the primary care to get around to doing the referral. Why do I keep hearing the words "Ameriplan"? Not the "discount" plan they sell now but a true HMO. Some of the older

Single payer health insurance, as well as Obamacare, ensure that everyone has HEALTH INSURANCE. It does absolutely nothing to ensure that everyone has HEALTH CARE. Good or bad. Huge difference between health INSURANCE and health CARE. You can have wonderful insurance (I'm thinking Coventry) but if nobody accepts it, you don't get health care or you end up paying premiums for insurance you can't use and then have to pay for the health care to boot. Or you can have great insurance but little or no income to afford the co-pays and deductibles, what good is the insurance? It rea

I didn't define the words essential and non-essential. The government has decided which employees are essential and which are not. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the supervisor or manager can't do squat without the ones below them. That's why "essential" and "non-essential" need to be replaced with more accurate terms like "supervisory" and "non-supervisory" or "manager" and "non-manager". It's kind of funny that the people above, and below, my sister can't do their jobs until she does hers. She compiles information that others below her need to do their reports, which actually

essential: adjective; absolutely necessary; extremely important. nonessential: adjective: Having little or no importance; not essential. So why do we have nonessential jobs in government? Is it so the "essential" workers, i.e, the bosses who are in charge, can do nothing? Maybe if the government shuts down, my sister can FINALLY retire. She's not in charge. She's just the one who does the work. And to DallasRed, my sister is one of the people who makes sure that travel check gets sent.

EXACTLY!! If they aren't essential, why are they there? We can do without the people to sit at the booth and collect $5 for you to go to a national park. We have a great national park near here and until about two months ago we didn't realize it was a place you had to pay to use. There's a teeny-tiny collection box outside the really nice booth. There are restrooms but in five years we've never been there when one was open. Huge parts of the park are closed off and have been for five years (or however long ago 2008 was). There are never any rangers there. The only way we would eve

I am the same exact way. I could not care less about what anyone thinks of me. I'm way beyond high school drama.

If only essential personnel are going to do the essential jobs, why would we notice any difference? Why would we have non-essential personnel doing non-essential work?

Makes sense. Really. Only an idiot would think that more government, particularly a branch of government that is already inept and inefficient, would be the solution to a problem. Any problem. And yes, the solution is not political nor does it have a party affiliation.

I've reached my quota for the day so I'll just do this: Is it JUST coincidence that in 2009, the year Obamacare passed, that the largest lobby was pharmaceuticals and health products (i.e., Pfizer, Eli Lilly, etc). Or that the fourth largest lobby that year was insurance (i.e., Blue Cross, Prudential, etc). Not only do the Democrats (and the Republicans) not give a damn about you or me, they will do what is detrimental for us if the lobbyists ply them with enough booze and broads. It's one thing to use a lobbyist to help you get a new firetruck for Cornhole, Kansas. It's e

I can believe it, too. I've dealt with the government (specifically the IRS) since the mid 1980s. I can definitely believe it.

I found one source that said $6500 for a family of four. That's for the bronze plan with a max out of pocket for a family of four of $12,500. Those plans are only for people under 30. For the silver plan, same family but over 30, deductible would be $6000 plus $400 for prescriptions. Same max out of pocket. It really depends on age, income, number in family, state, moon phase, star alignment, time of day, tides. In all seriousness, it varies so much depending upon age (whether or not you're a smoker) and your income, it is enough to give me a headache just looking at the gobbly-

Using the calculator from Kaiser Family Foundation: Income: $50,000 a year Dallas Parents, ages 40 and 35, both smokers Two children, none are smokers Unsubsidized premium: $8867 a year or $739 a month Subsidized premium: $3365 or $280 a month. Maximum out of pocket: $10,400 So, you're looking at $13,765 a year for health care insurance and max out of pocket. That indeed is more than $1000 a month. OK, let's look at some numbers. If you earn $50,000 a year that is $4167 a month before taxes or approximately $2975 after taxes. With that $2975 you're supposed

I completely agree with that!!!

The's the "Silver Plan" on the exchange.

When you have no income at all, it's more than rhetoric. I've been thankful that both of us have skills that, at least in the past, allowed us to get a job without much problem. Kind of scary to see the hubby drive up in the middle of the morning with the tool box on the back of the truck knowing that means he no longer has a job and you still have three kids to feed and a mortgage to pay. That was back in the days when you could quit a job in the morning and have another one before quitting time in the afternoon. We never had long term no-income-at-all though we had long term little-incom

Nah, she's talking about me. Ironically, I have not one single jealous bone in my body. Jealousy is a pointless emotion. The last time I was remotely jealous of anyone or what they had was a girl by the name of Andrea back in 1975. She had the heart of the guy I was madly in love with. After that, I haven't had time for jealousy. I know who I am, what I like, where I want to be (right here where I am) and why bother with jealousy? Ain't nobody got something I want. I have more than enough for myself. I find RM to be humorous. She brightens up my day. I love seeing what she'll

Does Clinton count? FYI, I don't vote by party. I vote for the candidate. I don't care what letter is after their name. Why would I feel better about them just because I voted for them?

The name of that agency: this space intentionally left blank.

Mark my words, ALL insurance companies will make record profits for 2014. It is a marketing and sales bonanza for them.

You're forgetting two more determining factors in what you pay. Your age and whether or not you smoke.

I'm amazed that anyone would believe that "Congress, which is owned by corporations, including health insurance companies", would pass something that was good for the people.