So you like your siituation?

I know that I'm not going to change people's minds. I'm usually one who has my political opinion and keeps it to myself (close friends usually know what I'm thinking). I don't write political opinions--until now. I am moved to write my feelings on this subject. I'm going to start by asking a series of questions.

1. Have you ever had an emergency and laid there worrying whether or not the doctor who has been assigned to you is listed as a provider under your current insurance plan?
2. Has your employer changed insurance plans and it became questionable whether or not they would cover pre-existing conditions?
3. Have you ever been denied health-care insurance because of pre-existing conditions?
4. Has your health-care provider stopped covering you because your health situation is costing too much?

• I have had to scurry about to check to see if a doctor was in my plan and at a time when I should have been more worried about the situation of life.
• EPISD has changed insurance plan administrators and one of the first questions asked at an orientation meeting was, "Will you cover pre-existing conditions?"
• I had a friend whose son had a rare disease. The insurance they had discontinued coverage because it had become too costly. Then they could not get another insurance to cover him because it was then pre-existing condition. He died. Five years after their son's death, the parents were still paying for medical expenses incurred.

Charley and I are now retired, but we had to wait until he was old enough so we would be able to afford the medical insurance. I know other people who would like to retire but say they cannot do so because medical insurance would eat up whatever retirement pay they would have.

So you may be worried about universal health care, I've seen the vote go around Facebook. But what is being proposed is not universal health care or socialized medicine. If you like your insurance, you'll keep your insurance. Your insurance will have to accept pre-existing conditions, however. If you lose your job, your health will not suffer because you will still be able to get medical treatment at the same cost that your congressman pays, be he or she Republican or Democrat. If you change jobs, you will no longer have to worry whether your new insurance provider will accept pre-existing conditions.

We are already paying for people who are not insured. The way we are paying actually costs more than if we had a plan that would cover them. I taught high school in a poor section of the city. Students would come and announce that fainted the night before and their mother took them to the emergency room. They went to the emergency room because they did not have health insurance and emergency rooms cannot deny them. Did they pay the bill? No, because they were poor. Who paid the bill? We did, maybe not through taxes but through our insurance premiums. Someone had to pay.

One of the scare tactics out there is that socialized medicine is poor quality. I've been to Canada, the Canadians are afraid of getting sick in the United States and of the high medical costs. I've been to Europe where people are relaxed about their health. Doctors can diagnose and not worry about all the required insurance paperwork needed and hiring a staff that is dedicated, not to providing better health care service, but to managing insurance company claim forms. I had to get a prescription filled while in Germany, while the Germans would pay less than I did (if anything) the cost was cheaper than my co-pay at home. The pharmacist was diligent and took time to make sure my prescription was filled properly.

As for the death-panel stuff, here's was a Republican had to say about what the well-informed (ha-hem) Sarah Palin who stands by her 'death-panel' claim, her "posting came one day after Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said that Palin and other critics were not helping the GOP by tossing out false claims. Portions of the Democratic health care bills "are bad enough that we don't need to be making things up," Murkowski said, invoking a phrase that Palin used in her resignation speech, when she asked the news media to "quit making things up." Murkowski said she was offended at the "death panel" terminology. "There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill," she said." (Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.)

Think about it, who has the most to lose? It's not you or me, it is the insurance companies and the health care administrators. It is those people who are goading all the myths and lies of the health-care bill.

Alright, enough is enough from me. If you want to check out what I'm touting, here are some links:

• Jim Jaffe is a former congressional staffer and current contributor to HuffingtonPost.com and Centeredpolitics.com wrote this article found at AARP "Secret’s Out—We Already Ration Medical Care: For decades, our crafty government has been imposing rules that determine who gets what care.
• AARP reports on Health Care Reform: The Assault on Truth
• And, last but not least: The Whitehouse Reality Check

What to do with money?

From the time we are children, we are trained to want money. We ask our parents for things, they will either buy it or tell us that they don't have the money. We start to earn an allowance for things that we do around the house. Each of us, then, develops how we will use that money. The impulsive ones will go out and spend it as fast as possible, others will have a goal and save up to buy it, others still, will save and never spend. These habits will follow us into adulthood: always desiring money and what we do with it once we have it.

I've always been the goal setter. I save for goals then use it. While I was working I observed people who would be absolutely miserable the week before payday, announcing how much better they would feel once their paycheck was in their pocket. People would always ask me how Charley and I could go on 2-1/2 month vacations. It's because I knew how to manage and save.

In the past few years, I've observed elderly people. Fear has engulfed them and their fists are tight holding onto their money. These people have a difficult time using it for what would make them happy now. "Oh, I can't do that, what if I fall ill and need the money?" Actually, the kids who went out and spent their money right away are really going to fare better when they are old and are no longer able to care for themselves. 'Why?' you may ask. When you are in that situation and have no money, Medicare will take care of you. I guess people fear the quality of care they may receive; fear not, it will be good care. As long as you have money, of course, it is your money that will take care of you, of course until it runs out.

What good is it to leave it to your heirs? There most likely (not always) will be bitter fighting, begrudging, greediness; and for what? Money that you have bee trained to desire all your life. My goal in life is simply this: use my money while I can enjoy it. I don't care if I have money once I no longer understand the world I live in. I don't care if I leave money to those living beyond my death. If I have it now, I earned it, I should enjoy it.

How are you going to use your money?

Heat sizzles on the pavement.

Two weeks into retirement (or what used to be the beginning of our summer vacation) have resulted in one week of relaxation and one week of a more traditional vacation: short travel via car, visiting friends, and camping. This year is sooooo different. After ten years of traveling (touring) via tandem (see our website http://www.kamalamak.com/ouradv.html) we are doing things differently this year. The stimulus of the change were two cross-country cyclists who stayed with us in March. In March! Touring during non-heatstroke months made us inquisitive. Could we quit and live on Charley's retirement? So many people worry about money and the worry prevents them from exploring possibilities. If we didn't try, we wouldn't know. How much time do we have left in this world anyway?

We inquired, doors opened, and opened, and opened. No hitches. No wrinkles. Smooth sailing. Read the signs. The signs were green. Money will be tight, but we've been poor before. We have mostly everything now. Wish us luck.