Disjointed Thoughts

#1.
Yesterday Morgan and I were driving home from Nauvoo after a Temple trip.  During the conversation I mentioned that I bought 10 candy bars on Wednesday because they were on sale.

His first reply to me was, "I wish you would have saved me one."

I had to tell him that I had not eaten any of the candy bars. I bought them so we could use them for Easter. But I did think that it was funny he thought I managed to eat 10 candy bars from Wednesday to Saturday without him seeing any evidence.  (A gallon of ice cream: Yes. Candy bars: No.)


#2.
I have heard people talking, and spoofs, about Marco Rubio's "Water-gate" and the whole thing seems really, really silly.  If you are more insulated than I, here is the jist. Senator Rubio (a rising Republican star) was speaking to the news giving his State of the Union recap, or response. In the middle of a sentence he made an awkward lean over the table to get a quick drink of water.

I don't really know how someone taking a drink of water is newsworthy.  Does anyone else? Yes, it was a bit awkward, but it isn't exactly unusual. Now his campaign has sent out water bottles to donors as a way to spin a positive effect of this whole issue.

Why is it even an issue?  Is there so little going on in the world that you have to make fun of someone for getting a drink of water?


#3.
Time Magazine's Article "The Bitter Pill."
Saturday I read Morgan TIME magazine's feature article on health care. It took the entire ride down to Nauvoo and the entire ride back to Waterloo, practically. It was gianormous. It was good that I read it to him then, because I probably would have given up if I were reading it on my own at home.

The article talked about the differences in what hospitals charge for services, what they get paid, and what it actually cost. An example would be a single generic Tylenol charge for $1.50 when you can buy a bottle of 50 for 1.50.

The whole time we were reading this article we wondered what the author's point was. He sure made me want to be on Medicare or Medicaid because then I wouldn't have to pay hardly anything, and even the  government got a lot better deal than regular insurance carriers.

Medical costs have been on our mind because of my nose surgery last October. The hospital charged us $1,800.00 for the use of the surgery room for 30 minutes. Regarding that, I said  that it is no wonder to me that people go to doctor's in motels because the room fee is going to be a lot less.

One thing I did learn is that hospitals view the bill at the 'starting point for negotiations.'  So, the next time we have big bills we will try to negotiate with them more and see if we can't lower our bill a little bit. I don't really know if it will work. After all, the medical field basically has a monopoly on their services. 

When I was getting ready to give birth to Noelle one of the reasons I chose to go naturally was because I did not want to pay the bill for the epidural.  I look back on those bills and wonder if I should just take my own pain pills from home to take during the hospital so I don't have the $2.00 charges.

Our premiums already went up about 60% after Obamacare passed and it looks like they may go even higher in 2014 when everything from that law goes into effect. I hope that there may be better options with the insurance exchange (like finding decent dental coverage) but I don't have a lot of hope.  All I can do is pray that my family doesn't get sick and we don't need their services.