$626.43

I have excellent health insurance, it pays 100% after a $4500 deductible. That means my scripts yesterday cost $626.43 out of pocket. I figure my chemo will max me out this month. It's nice to have insurance, and it's nice I have an HSA to save money for this, but everyone in the country would be better off with single payer. I'd rather a larger paycheck deduction than to see my neighbors go without care, but then, I'm a Democrat.


And yes, I thik this is a major issue for the Primaries.

Bernie can lose New Hampshire and still win: McCarthy lost New Hampshire in 1968 but still forced

Johnson off the ticket:

"Despite the growing opposition to Johnson's policies in Vietnam, no prominent Democratic candidate was prepared to run against a sitting President of his own party. Even Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, an outspoken critic of Johnson's policies with a large base of support, refused to run against Johnson in the primaries. Only Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota proved willing to openly challenge Johnson. Running as an anti-war candidate in the New Hampshire primary, McCarthy hoped to pressure the Democrats into publicly opposing the Vietnam War. Normally, an incumbent president faces little formidable opposition within his own party. However, McCarthy, although he was trailing badly in the national polls, decided to pour most of his resources into New Hampshire, the first state to hold a primary election. He was boosted by thousands of young college students, who shaved their beards and cut their hair to be "Clean for Gene." These students rang doorbells and worked hard in New Hampshire for McCarthy. On March 12, McCarthy won 42% of the primary vote to Johnson's 49%, an extremely strong showing for such a challenger, and one which gave McCarthy's campaign legitimacy and momentum. Senator Kennedy announced his candidacy four days later, on March 16."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_1968

I don't know how pushing the primaries forward may change this; I don't know if other candidates can enter their names at this point. But there are a lot of super-delegates out there watching, and endorsement or not, their first vote at the Convention may be a game changer.

The charge: Sanders' Single Payer plan will raise taxes on the Middle Class

The problem: define Middle Class.

As near as I can make out, people making as much as a joint income of $250,000 will see lower overall costs. If your health care costs drop more than your taxes go up, that's a win.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jan/13/how-much-would-bernie-sanders-health-care-plan-cos/

Unless you're renting in San Francisco or Manhattan, $250,000 a year means you're way past Middle Class.

Can I get some pity here? I didn't know there was a debate last night

until this morning.

The new cat is in a closed off bathroom, hiding behind the toilet

He turned up at a friend's house when the snow came, so we think someone dumped him. Very friendly, he'll sit in your lap and purr. He's a tom, about 4 or 5 years old.

Help! Too much red pepper in the chili!

About Jane Sanders -

1. It's hard to make a scandal out of something that takes more than a few words to explain. I've tried to figure out what the scandal is, but my eyes glaze over halfway through any explanations.

2. Whitewater; or people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

People here (Oswego Co, NY) are going to break from the tension -

This year is the 50th anniversary of the 1966 blizzard that literally had people tunneling out of their houses. Streets had to be opened with pay loaders.

So - this winter is starting out like that one.

So - the Weather Bureau is dealing with climate change - the models aren't quite right because Lake Ontario is so warm, etc.

So - I expected a foot of snow overnight with blowing and drifting today.

I'm sitting here looking at green grass and bright sunshine.

Come to think of it - this area is generally clouded in and overcast from November to March.

Does anyone know how the Oregon stand-off is playing to the

general public as opposed to here on DU? It occurred to me that they are becoming the face of the gun lobby.

When will hospitals wake up and really change how they operate the ER?

The series ER started its run in 1994 based on a script written in 1974.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ER_%28TV_series%29

Yet you could walk into any real ER today and see that the only substantial change is a lot of people spending a lot of time putting data into computers instead of interacting with patients. (At least, I hope that's what they're doing. Could be checking Facebook)

Every time a story of incompetent ER doctors appears,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141305981

people step up with their own horror stories. I could add my own, but that would distract from the elephant in the room. If ERs were run so poorly back in 1974 that they were chaotic and people felt overworked, why are we running them the same way today?