so waht ya doin today?

I did 10yr . X1 and my oldest had EMTs , I and my oldest daughter , son and X1 held ELF certificates and I was a HazMat level 3 , we also held water rescue certificates . I enjoyed the time spent and the brotherhood . But there are things that ......you can't unsee .

HOLY COW! 85% cash discount. THAT is a deal. I was pointing out to my friend this PM on the
phone that if he were to drop his insurance, the biggest problem is that the insurance companies pay
a tiny fraction of the billed amount and the uninsured pay the full boat retail price. I advised him
to talk to the medical insurance advisor that I used when selectin Medicare supplemental plan,
who may or may not help with 'pre Medicare' health insurance choices, but either can help or
may point him towards someone who can. WAY too much complexity and change out there to
just wing it, IMO.

I had no idea that "cash on the barrel head" could get a nice fat discount, too.

Interesting info, thanks.

Bill

It isn’t an insurance discount, it is a negotiated contract price. Want to take the insurance then you also accept the price they will pay.
Medicare is one of the worst payers, they often pay low enough that providers are losing money. This is what is killing small, rural hospitals.
Medicare is a typical government program, they love paperwork. They have forms private insurers don’t use. Private insurance sees the paperwork as a net loss due to the cost of handling the paper. Medicare never sees the overhead as a cost.

Our last visit was a similar situation $710 cash , if insurance had been billed it would have ultimately cost me about $4100 as no deductable had been paid toward yet ..... That was a no brainier choice .

I paid some eye surgery out of pocket, about $2100, seemed pretty reasonable, but I told
them I was just paying cash, wrote the check prior to the event, so I suspect I may have gotten
a decent price, but no idea. Needed the work, insurance was not there....not a second thought
about it. No idea what they would have billed other ways.

Damned complicated stuff.

Bill

I just got the billing memo from the hospital for my latest medical adventure--MSRP was $206,000, insurance paid out $32,000. I am sure it makes sense to someone, but not to me. It went from "new Lamborghini" to "new Ford work truck" as if by magic. I'll take the truck, thank you very much. Every time. Can you imagine rolling up to a varmint hunt in a Lambo?

Yeah, that is amazing, Al. Something very strange there, the MSRP seems to be largely some sort of
a negotiating ploy, not an actual price that gets paid.....at least I hope nobody has to pay actually that.

Bill

Same with the surgery I had a year ago September. Bill was over $14,000 and insurance (Both Medicare & Blue Cross) paid a little over $6,000. Hospital said ok we're fine with that. I didn't even get a co-pay, zero cost to me. That was with no hospital stay, I was there for about 4 hours when they turned me loose full of stitches & still high on the drugs. Part of the 4 hours was the waiting room and sitting in post op.

Put up another 110' of fence.





This is seriously cutting into my shooting time. Perfect calm, sunny, got up to 60F today, no better time to do build fence......or go shooting.....

Maybe next weekend some shooting will happen.

would have been a great day to go fishing too.

I went down to do some trap shooting but only went one round and called it good.
it was near 30 in the valley so it wasn't cold but the wind was coming in from the north east and my eyes were watering so bad I couldn't see anything let alone a little 3" moving disk shooting about 30' up in the air and curling over like a chandelle target after 20 yards about half the time.
had I been able to see I would have enjoyed the targets.

I have built some fence, Ian. That is a fine, fine job. You won't be repairing that
any time soon.

Bill

Pistolero said:

The volunteer service sounds good. My wife's father was the Fire Chief in his small town
Fla for a couple decades, volunteer. I was on the dept for a while in college, but wasn't
around enough to do much, a car fire and a brush fire. I like the idea of volunteer emergency
services, people helping their neighbors is a good thing.

Bill

Click to expand...

The problem with volunteers, at least in my state, is that it isn't the volunteer fire/ambulance of 40 years ago. Back then you had a couple of trucks that might be in fantastic shape but 15-30 years old. You ambulance was newer cause it got a lot more miles, but it might be 10-15 years old. The fire training consisted of the old guys showing the young guys what to do and how to do it. Ambulance guys got some first aid (my first course was through the Bureau of Mines!) maybe an EMT course of less than 100 hours time. No one got compensated for time or travel. Turn out gear got handed down from old guy to new guy. Fast forward to today and the trucks can't be more than a few years old, and a new pumper costs $3-400K!. Training is hundreds of hours for firemen, thousands for EMT and above and everyone wants their travel at least compensated. Turn out gear, at $12-1500 per man, has a 5 -8 year expiration, almost everyone has to have a radio at $1K a pop. You have to have AED's (defibrilatiors) in every vehicle at $1500 a copy, you have to have medical checks and a million other things, plus all the records have to be up to snuff. What they've done is used OSHA and NFPA rules and regs to take the old. well manned volunteer system and turn it into something of a reflection of a paid, professional urban dept, all in the name of safety of course. And I haven't even gotten into the issue of buildings and testosterone and the whole "Our trucks are nicer than yours" thing that crops up. The problem is you can't get many people to put that kind of time into what amounts to good will gesture. It's a mess IMO, and a wonder any area has any volunteers anymore. I went through this locally trying to organize a fire co for our little town after my neighbors place burned to the ground...the 2nd time! It's a nightmare.

Nice fence!

A foot of snow dumped here yesterday.

Wife wouldn't let me go hunting in it..... and I didn't fight her. Won't no,coming and dragging my deadarse outta the woods. And the dog is too small to be Lassy or Rin Tin tinning anybody.

That fence work is CRAFTSMANSHIP. Superb finish.

There's no rush on the fence Ian, she's got a few years yet before the boys come callin.

Fences don't work for that. Having helped raise 6 girls, I speak with some background in this venue. Teach the girls to shoot, and don't keep it a secret that they can run firearms well.

Oh, and Ian - I noticed how easy it is to put fence posts into your loose, rich, sandy loam.


Speaking of nitroglycerine (deteriorating plastic tubes on powder measures) .....used any to make post holes?

Bill

You mean THIS rich, sandy loam?








That's not even the rough or steep part. Even if I could buy dynamite without a license I'd still have to drill holes for it....sighhhhhh

I got the line and corner posts set for another 700' or so, but still have a bunch of bracing, welding, and drilling solid limestone for about 60 more tee posts...and that just gets me halfway up the hill to the back corner where it really gets steep and remote. When I get all that done, sanded/painted, and fence stretched and wired up, I'll only have about 1700' left to go. The good news is none of that 1700' run over steep hills and valleys has ever been cleared of trees and dense brush, and only a small bit is accessible with machinery due to extreme side-hills. There's a good reason fence builders charge about the same per foot as well drillers in these parts.

Yep. When were were down in that country for the F1 drive, we just cruised around a bit
and noticed the fine, rich sandy loam everywhere......YIKES! That is some pretty rocky
country, there. It was looking like you had some trouble. How, exactly, do you drill into
the rock for a fence post? Got a hydraulic power drill on a Bobcat or something, I HOPE.

Can you drive the T-posts with a slide hammer type of driver?

Bill