Food for thought -

If you aren't reading theferrett, do. Do it now.

One for the guys....

And one for the girls....

The topic? Middle school bullying.

He's having trouble getting through the comments on the latter post.

Food for thought -

If you aren't reading theferrett, do. Do it now.

One for the guys....

And one for the girls....

The topic? Middle school bullying.

He's having trouble getting through the comments on the latter post.

Food for thought -

If you aren't reading theferrett, do. Do it now.

One for the guys....

And one for the girls....

The topic? Middle school bullying.

He's having trouble getting through the comments on the latter post.

Bankruptcy -

One of things that is really beginning to annoy me, is the constant amount of STOOPID misinformation being used to try to scare people into progressive positions.

I say try, because it's not working.

I was thinking factcheck.org had jumped the shark - a bunch of Louisiana Democrats had asked them very nicely to reconsider their statement that 'the type of private Social Security accounts being proposed by President Bush would yield very little profit to the securities industry, contrary to persistent claims of a potentially huge "windfall" to Wall Street.'

What we have discovered is that the model for Bush's accounts -- the Federal Thrift Savings Plan for federal workers -- actually paid securities firms a net total of only 16 cents for every $10,000 in workers accounts. The TSP had refused to make that information public -- until now. It shows that fees actually being paid to Wall Street are hundreds of times smaller than some critics had assumed.

But then I noted - The TSP had refused to make that information public -- until now. I'm not happy about this in particular - 'For that reason and others we find that ads run in Louisiana by the liberal Democratic group Campaign for America's Future are grossly misleading. The group is accusing Republican Rep. James McCrery, who is chairman of the Social Security subcommittee and a supporter of Bush's private accounts, of "corruption" for accepting campaign donations from Wall Street, which it falsely claims will "profit most" from private accounts.'

Don't discuss the fact that any of these actions might mean the elimination of Social Security through insolvency - no, just go make someone look bad - EBIL - and make it look like a case of graft gone wild.

Anyone should really be more worried about the TSP coming forth with information it wouldn't disclose before. What else is not being said? HELLO.

*facepalms*

And then there's this whole bankruptcy thing. The biggest news that I can actually get information on is the 'no bankruptcy for you if you were sued for killing someone at a clinic that performs a specific type of medical procedure' - which really, to my mind, shouldn't have gotten so much attention. If you get sued, you shouldn't be able to claim to be bankrupt and ask for protection. I mean, really. Go to jail if you can't pay. Go be someone's prison bitch - you'll find the money then. Just disappear from society - that's a deterrent.

But I keep hearing about needing bankruptcy protection for medical costs.

This, I can speak to from experience. Listen closely.

You can, under the current law, claim insolvency under bankruptcy law - if you are truly so far into the hole there is no hope of you ever coming out. For whatever reason. However. Once you claim, that's it for twelve years. Get yourself back in again, and there is no help for you - no matter the reason.

That's why Cliff spent the last years of his life in the downstairs portion of a townhouse, less than 600 SF big. That's why I continued to work, and worked two jobs at times. That's why I depended on favors as if they were money. That's why I spent as much on insurance every month as the rest of the utilities combined. That's why. I consulted a credit counselor early on - and avoided bankruptcy. But it wasn't a comfortable life. If we declared while he was still alive, we wouldn't be able to do it again. And the medical bills continue after a bankruptcy. Believe me.

Asking for protection in a bankruptcy for debts incurred for medical expenses - to me - particularly when the medical expenses are ongoing - is not a solution. Never was, and anyone who thinks it was is kidding themselves.

You get tax breaks for extreme medical expenses every year. That's the largest 'break' you'll get.

You have medical expenses? You're going to have to budget for them. And no, current CW does not believe you're entitled to any kind of sympathy, monetary or otherwise.

But...that's been the case for a long time now, all the glurge over children's charities and the disabled nothwithstanding. NPR was doing a piece this morning about the 'miracle league' for children who were 'not blessed with wholeness in body or mind' who got to play baseball. *snarks* What a nice guy. Problem is, he's not accepted AS the CW, which is the problem.

Bankruptcy with regard to medical expenses. Let me offer my take on what happens under the current law.

I can't tell you how many facilities have closed their doors because they went bankrupt - because they couldn't get paid for providing services.

The ambulance companies around here just keep repainting the vehicles with new business names - they just keep cycling through as somebody else takes the business in a foreclosure, and finds themselves there in a few years. THEY CAN'T GET PAID.

And the costs? The guy who didn't pay his bill, just had the figure added to the next one who could. Private pay without insurance is always the highest level on the books - because the insurance companies at least negotiate what they *will* pay and are legally obligated to do so, chapter and verse by contract. (Negotiated contracts - what a concept...don't tell anyone, but the labor movement gave us that little gem.) Insurance companies do pay - even if it isn't enough to cover the costs of providing care, in some cases. So what's been happening?

Anyone who worked medical during the seventies can tell you. Medicare began to be cut back. Medicare stopped paying as well as it did - and everything else began to follow suit. Medi-Cal in California today pays - but often pays so slowly, nobody can wait for their money to stay in business.

These are the mechanisms we, as a country, can use to improve the situation. We won't. We don't want to pay for something we can't use ourselves, and I can't blame them. Until we provide medical care to everyone - we won't willingly provide it to anyone.

And frankly, if someone has any hope of paying their medical bills - they should. I did.

However, if we want to do something about this - the bankruptcy code is not the place to do it. It's too late at that point - and just compounds the problem.

We have to get the bills paid. The lifestyle of a chronically-ill citizen in today's America is one a lot of people would sell their souls to avoid - and often do. They leave the country, the more fortunate ones, if they can live on SSI/SSD in a foreign country with socialized medicine.

You wonder why at times I'm so generous. I'm paying it forward, guys. I survived by the skin of my teeth and a lot of favors. That's reality.

But I never - EVER - thought any of the caregivers should take it on the chin because I decided I could get out of paying them. That's stealing.


..

So don't fucking tell me the new bankruptcy law is going to make it impossible for the medically compromised to get relief.

It was never there in the first place.

People come to a progressive stance when it makes sense. When you try to lie to them to make them come to 'your side' and they find out - you've lost any chance of being trusted or believed again.

Nope. Not a Democrat. No fucking way.

Bankruptcy -

One of things that is really beginning to annoy me, is the constant amount of STOOPID misinformation being used to try to scare people into progressive positions.

I say try, because it's not working.

I was thinking factcheck.org had jumped the shark - a bunch of Louisiana Democrats had asked them very nicely to reconsider their statement that 'the type of private Social Security accounts being proposed by President Bush would yield very little profit to the securities industry, contrary to persistent claims of a potentially huge "windfall" to Wall Street.'

What we have discovered is that the model for Bush's accounts -- the Federal Thrift Savings Plan for federal workers -- actually paid securities firms a net total of only 16 cents for every $10,000 in workers accounts. The TSP had refused to make that information public -- until now. It shows that fees actually being paid to Wall Street are hundreds of times smaller than some critics had assumed.

But then I noted - The TSP had refused to make that information public -- until now. I'm not happy about this in particular - 'For that reason and others we find that ads run in Louisiana by the liberal Democratic group Campaign for America's Future are grossly misleading. The group is accusing Republican Rep. James McCrery, who is chairman of the Social Security subcommittee and a supporter of Bush's private accounts, of "corruption" for accepting campaign donations from Wall Street, which it falsely claims will "profit most" from private accounts.'

Don't discuss the fact that any of these actions might mean the elimination of Social Security through insolvency - no, just go make someone look bad - EBIL - and make it look like a case of graft gone wild.

Anyone should really be more worried about the TSP coming forth with information it wouldn't disclose before. What else is not being said? HELLO.

*facepalms*

And then there's this whole bankruptcy thing. The biggest news that I can actually get information on is the 'no bankruptcy for you if you were sued for killing someone at a clinic that performs a specific type of medical procedure' - which really, to my mind, shouldn't have gotten so much attention. If you get sued, you shouldn't be able to claim to be bankrupt and ask for protection. I mean, really. Go to jail if you can't pay. Go be someone's prison bitch - you'll find the money then. Just disappear from society - that's a deterrent.

But I keep hearing about needing bankruptcy protection for medical costs.

This, I can speak to from experience. Listen closely.

You can, under the current law, claim insolvency under bankruptcy law - if you are truly so far into the hole there is no hope of you ever coming out. For whatever reason. However. Once you claim, that's it for twelve years. Get yourself back in again, and there is no help for you - no matter the reason.

That's why Cliff spent the last years of his life in the downstairs portion of a townhouse, less than 600 SF big. That's why I continued to work, and worked two jobs at times. That's why I depended on favors as if they were money. That's why I spent as much on insurance every month as the rest of the utilities combined. That's why. I consulted a credit counselor early on - and avoided bankruptcy. But it wasn't a comfortable life. If we declared while he was still alive, we wouldn't be able to do it again. And the medical bills continue after a bankruptcy. Believe me.

Asking for protection in a bankruptcy for debts incurred for medical expenses - to me - particularly when the medical expenses are ongoing - is not a solution. Never was, and anyone who thinks it was is kidding themselves.

You get tax breaks for extreme medical expenses every year. That's the largest 'break' you'll get.

You have medical expenses? You're going to have to budget for them. And no, current CW does not believe you're entitled to any kind of sympathy, monetary or otherwise.

But...that's been the case for a long time now, all the glurge over children's charities and the disabled nothwithstanding. NPR was doing a piece this morning about the 'miracle league' for children who were 'not blessed with wholeness in body or mind' who got to play baseball. *snarks* What a nice guy. Problem is, he's not accepted AS the CW, which is the problem.

Bankruptcy with regard to medical expenses. Let me offer my take on what happens under the current law.

I can't tell you how many facilities have closed their doors because they went bankrupt - because they couldn't get paid for providing services.

The ambulance companies around here just keep repainting the vehicles with new business names - they just keep cycling through as somebody else takes the business in a foreclosure, and finds themselves there in a few years. THEY CAN'T GET PAID.

And the costs? The guy who didn't pay his bill, just had the figure added to the next one who could. Private pay without insurance is always the highest level on the books - because the insurance companies at least negotiate what they *will* pay and are legally obligated to do so, chapter and verse by contract. (Negotiated contracts - what a concept...don't tell anyone, but the labor movement gave us that little gem.) Insurance companies do pay - even if it isn't enough to cover the costs of providing care, in some cases. So what's been happening?

Anyone who worked medical during the seventies can tell you. Medicare began to be cut back. Medicare stopped paying as well as it did - and everything else began to follow suit. Medi-Cal in California today pays - but often pays so slowly, nobody can wait for their money to stay in business.

These are the mechanisms we, as a country, can use to improve the situation. We won't. We don't want to pay for something we can't use ourselves, and I can't blame them. Until we provide medical care to everyone - we won't willingly provide it to anyone.

And frankly, if someone has any hope of paying their medical bills - they should. I did.

However, if we want to do something about this - the bankruptcy code is not the place to do it. It's too late at that point - and just compounds the problem.

We have to get the bills paid. The lifestyle of a chronically-ill citizen in today's America is one a lot of people would sell their souls to avoid - and often do. They leave the country, the more fortunate ones, if they can live on SSI/SSD in a foreign country with socialized medicine.

You wonder why at times I'm so generous. I'm paying it forward, guys. I survived by the skin of my teeth and a lot of favors. That's reality.

But I never - EVER - thought any of the caregivers should take it on the chin because I decided I could get out of paying them. That's stealing.


..

So don't fucking tell me the new bankruptcy law is going to make it impossible for the medically compromised to get relief.

It was never there in the first place.

People come to a progressive stance when it makes sense. When you try to lie to them to make them come to 'your side' and they find out - you've lost any chance of being trusted or believed again.

Nope. Not a Democrat. No fucking way.

Bankruptcy -

One of things that is really beginning to annoy me, is the constant amount of STOOPID misinformation being used to try to scare people into progressive positions.

I say try, because it's not working.

I was thinking factcheck.org had jumped the shark - a bunch of Louisiana Democrats had asked them very nicely to reconsider their statement that 'the type of private Social Security accounts being proposed by President Bush would yield very little profit to the securities industry, contrary to persistent claims of a potentially huge "windfall" to Wall Street.'

What we have discovered is that the model for Bush's accounts -- the Federal Thrift Savings Plan for federal workers -- actually paid securities firms a net total of only 16 cents for every $10,000 in workers accounts. The TSP had refused to make that information public -- until now. It shows that fees actually being paid to Wall Street are hundreds of times smaller than some critics had assumed.

But then I noted - The TSP had refused to make that information public -- until now. I'm not happy about this in particular - 'For that reason and others we find that ads run in Louisiana by the liberal Democratic group Campaign for America's Future are grossly misleading. The group is accusing Republican Rep. James McCrery, who is chairman of the Social Security subcommittee and a supporter of Bush's private accounts, of "corruption" for accepting campaign donations from Wall Street, which it falsely claims will "profit most" from private accounts.'

Don't discuss the fact that any of these actions might mean the elimination of Social Security through insolvency - no, just go make someone look bad - EBIL - and make it look like a case of graft gone wild.

Anyone should really be more worried about the TSP coming forth with information it wouldn't disclose before. What else is not being said? HELLO.

*facepalms*

And then there's this whole bankruptcy thing. The biggest news that I can actually get information on is the 'no bankruptcy for you if you were sued for killing someone at a clinic that performs a specific type of medical procedure' - which really, to my mind, shouldn't have gotten so much attention. If you get sued, you shouldn't be able to claim to be bankrupt and ask for protection. I mean, really. Go to jail if you can't pay. Go be someone's prison bitch - you'll find the money then. Just disappear from society - that's a deterrent.

But I keep hearing about needing bankruptcy protection for medical costs.

This, I can speak to from experience. Listen closely.

You can, under the current law, claim insolvency under bankruptcy law - if you are truly so far into the hole there is no hope of you ever coming out. For whatever reason. However. Once you claim, that's it for twelve years. Get yourself back in again, and there is no help for you - no matter the reason.

That's why Cliff spent the last years of his life in the downstairs portion of a townhouse, less than 600 SF big. That's why I continued to work, and worked two jobs at times. That's why I depended on favors as if they were money. That's why I spent as much on insurance every month as the rest of the utilities combined. That's why. I consulted a credit counselor early on - and avoided bankruptcy. But it wasn't a comfortable life. If we declared while he was still alive, we wouldn't be able to do it again. And the medical bills continue after a bankruptcy. Believe me.

Asking for protection in a bankruptcy for debts incurred for medical expenses - to me - particularly when the medical expenses are ongoing - is not a solution. Never was, and anyone who thinks it was is kidding themselves.

You get tax breaks for extreme medical expenses every year. That's the largest 'break' you'll get.

You have medical expenses? You're going to have to budget for them. And no, current CW does not believe you're entitled to any kind of sympathy, monetary or otherwise.

But...that's been the case for a long time now, all the glurge over children's charities and the disabled nothwithstanding. NPR was doing a piece this morning about the 'miracle league' for children who were 'not blessed with wholeness in body or mind' who got to play baseball. *snarks* What a nice guy. Problem is, he's not accepted AS the CW, which is the problem.

Bankruptcy with regard to medical expenses. Let me offer my take on what happens under the current law.

I can't tell you how many facilities have closed their doors because they went bankrupt - because they couldn't get paid for providing services.

The ambulance companies around here just keep repainting the vehicles with new business names - they just keep cycling through as somebody else takes the business in a foreclosure, and finds themselves there in a few years. THEY CAN'T GET PAID.

And the costs? The guy who didn't pay his bill, just had the figure added to the next one who could. Private pay without insurance is always the highest level on the books - because the insurance companies at least negotiate what they *will* pay and are legally obligated to do so, chapter and verse by contract. (Negotiated contracts - what a concept...don't tell anyone, but the labor movement gave us that little gem.) Insurance companies do pay - even if it isn't enough to cover the costs of providing care, in some cases. So what's been happening?

Anyone who worked medical during the seventies can tell you. Medicare began to be cut back. Medicare stopped paying as well as it did - and everything else began to follow suit. Medi-Cal in California today pays - but often pays so slowly, nobody can wait for their money to stay in business.

These are the mechanisms we, as a country, can use to improve the situation. We won't. We don't want to pay for something we can't use ourselves, and I can't blame them. Until we provide medical care to everyone - we won't willingly provide it to anyone.

And frankly, if someone has any hope of paying their medical bills - they should. I did.

However, if we want to do something about this - the bankruptcy code is not the place to do it. It's too late at that point - and just compounds the problem.

We have to get the bills paid. The lifestyle of a chronically-ill citizen in today's America is one a lot of people would sell their souls to avoid - and often do. They leave the country, the more fortunate ones, if they can live on SSI/SSD in a foreign country with socialized medicine.

You wonder why at times I'm so generous. I'm paying it forward, guys. I survived by the skin of my teeth and a lot of favors. That's reality.

But I never - EVER - thought any of the caregivers should take it on the chin because I decided I could get out of paying them. That's stealing.


..

So don't fucking tell me the new bankruptcy law is going to make it impossible for the medically compromised to get relief.

It was never there in the first place.

People come to a progressive stance when it makes sense. When you try to lie to them to make them come to 'your side' and they find out - you've lost any chance of being trusted or believed again.

Nope. Not a Democrat. No fucking way.