Well Obama is the President and I'm wondering where the hope and change are now/

I was really ticked off when I tuned in my radio in my car to hear Obama saying "this is a disaster, the economy is terrible and this is an economic disaster".

How the hell is that going to stimulate the economy and get people and businesses spending money again? The President has nothing but negativity to spread. No message of hope now. When the Pres goes on record that this is a disaster people just clam up and stop spending. How about, 'My fellow Americans, I know times seem tough but we've been through this before. Heck in 2002 we had higher Unemployment. In 1982 we had the trifecta of double digit inflation, double digit unemployment and double digit mortgage rates. We're at 6.5% unemployment, nowhere near the 24% of the Depression, or the 14% of late seventies and early eighties. We're American's, we will get through this just like we always do. And I'd appreciate it greatly if the media would please stop blowing this out of proportion and allow us to get to work growing our way out of this."

But no, our fearless leader says "this is a disaster, run for the hills! We're all doomed, doomed I tell you." This is the price we pay for electing a rank amateur with no leadership experience to the highest office in the world.

How about change?

Didn't he say "no more Washington insiders. No more lobbyists..." Come on, Tom Daschle? Tim Gauthier? Hillary Clinton? Aren't these the same bozo's we've had there all along? And now we have an income tax evader running the IRS. Real nice.

No folks, No Hope, No Change. More of the same. Government will take more of your tax dollars for programs you don't support in the name of stimulating the economy. But the economy won't be stimulated.

But, My Fellow Americans, we have been through this before and been through worse. We will emerge better and stronger than before. WE WILL work our way out of this.

Well it's done. Congrats to President Obama. In a way I'm a little bit proud, as much as I'm not happy with Obama as President, we elected an African American for President. We've overcome all the racial tension and can now put all this nonsense behind us. The most powerful person in the country is not a white person but an African American. There is no more glass ceiling to complain about and there is no more "man trying to keep anyone down". It has been proven that with a little hard work, anyone can be anything in this great ...<< MORE >>

Well, here's where we can pay a small part of the $700 Billion dollar bailout:<< MORE >>

These morons do not know what is good for us they are not in the words of the Great Abraham Lincoln a government OF the PEOPLE, BY the PEOPLE, FOR the PEOPLE. People, We are the People let's take back our Government! Write in an independant ( Im writing in Huckabee) and vote every incumbent out of office Dem and Repub alike. These people have let us down and given away our country to the highest bidders. Take it back! Vote them all out! Vote independent where ever possible. Throw them all out! << MORE >>

George Bush symbolically lifts the presidential ban on drilling offshore and the price of oil drops nearly 20%. Lifting this ban does not mean we can actually drill, congress needs to lift their ban on drilling as well. But it was enough to send a message to the speculators and to OPEC that we are serious about energy independence. Gas prices in my area are down to $3.74/gal from their high just a few weeks ago of $4.29/gal. Just from a mostly symbolic gesture.

just think what would happen if congress lifts the ban and we can actually start exploring and drilling.

Pelosi and Co. better get with the program.

In my opinion we should do it all. Drill, work on alternative technologies, just get us to energy independence as soon as possible.

US Sugar and the State of Florida announce a monumental $1.7 Billion dollar taxpayer funded buyout of US Sugar by the State of Florida.

Quote "

U.S. Sugar chief executive Robert Buker called the deal "monumental" but said he was saddened to see the demise of his company. Its 1,700 employees, including those who work in the mill and operate the cane-cutting machinery, will lose their jobs, though the state is offering them retraining.

"We built a company that right now is the pillar of the agriculture community in Florida," Buker said. "Because of that, I stand here today ...

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My question is, What took so long? Are American's just lemmings now? Or are we just powerless to change anything because our two party system has left us with no true choice?<< MORE >>

John McCain announced today his support for Oil exploration more than 50 miles offshore. We finally see some form of intelligence from the old man.<< MORE >>

High deductible health insurance is supposed to be all the rage and the answer to the health insurance situation in America. Here's how it is supposed to work; the deductible is set really high usually $5,000 per family. In exchange you get a very low monthly premium. You set up a HSA account. HSA is Health Savings Account. Some accounts allow you to invest in stocks and mutual funds, deposits can be pre tax or tax deductible. Your employer may or may not put a set amount per month into your HSA. There is a $5000 per year cap on contribution to your HSA account. You can make a one time roll over from a qualifying account (traditional IRA...). The money in the HSA account is always yours and you can build it up over time and use it for retirement health coverage.

To use the insurance you get an insurance card (just like any other insurance card) and a Debit card from your HSA account holder.

Supposedly you go to the doctor and give them both cards, your provider submits the amount for the visit to go against your deductible and takes the deductible out of your HSA account via the debit card. You can even buy over the counter drugs and "wellness" products with your debit card. What could be better?

Too good to be true? you ask?

Yep!

Here's what really happens; So I took the HSA plan at my employer this year and rolled over $4000 from my IRA so it would be fully funded (my employer puts in $1000/year). My share of the monthly Premium is $90 for the family coverage. Far less than the $390 share for the PPO plan.

My first experience using the insurance was at the Chiropractor. When I walked in and handed them both cards, the person behind the desk looked puzzled. I figured maybe she didn't quite understand and I started explaining. She cut me off mid sentence and told me she knows what it is but why would change from the coverage I had before for this crap? I was now puzzled. She told me this was going to be a paper work nightmare for me.

Uh oh, you mean I don't just give you both cards and you do your thing? Nope. She started to explain that if they submit it to my insurance, the charge will be $120. It would take the insurance company 30-60 days to get back to them about how much they can really charge and then I would get a bill within 90 days that I would have to pay immediately or if went past 90 days it would already be in collections for the original $120 regardless of what the insurance said was ok to charge and would be considered delinquent. Oh my!

The other option, use the HSA card alone and pay $45 and submit to the insurance carrier myself. Ok charge me the $45 I'll just send the papers you give me in myself. So I pay the $45 and then send the receipt into the insurance carrier and then...nothing. No "we got you claim" "we are processing"...

So I call the insurance. The response? "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" It turns out, it must be submitted electronically and they need to take their cut from the bill first. But I saved you $75 I say. "IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!" Ah crap.

So the next month I go back to the Chiro and hand them both cards. The same person behind the desk is confused. So I explain and she says "OK, but I'm telling you..."

The following month I go back to the Chiro, different person behind the desk. "You have an unpaid balance of $120" so I explain the whole thing again. The response, "we usually don't treat people with unpaid balances but you've been a client for a long time. If you pay for this visit up front, we'll see you." I ask $45 or $120? "Depends on if you want us to submit it or not. " Well I just explained that I can't submit it myself without the proper process" $120! This sucks!

The next month I still hadn't seen a response from the insurance carrier so I skipped the appointment. Mind you this is past 60 days since the first visit. A week later I see the response from the insurance carrier. $120 applied to your deductible, Please pay provider $120. HUH!?! I thought they were supposed to discount it. Now I'm out $240 out of my HSA account when I should have been out $90.

I go back to the Chiro two months late and get the original person behind the counter. She smiles and says "you know that you are nearly 90 days past due and we are just about to send this to collections?" Yes, I hang my head in shame and hand her the card, not cards. Going forward I will not submit the Chiro stuff to the insurance and will just pay cash out of the HSA account. Of course now it won't apply to my deductible. So if I ever hit my deductible. I will be out all the money I paid to the Chiro again.

AHHHHHHHH!

It gets worse. My child had strep like symptoms. So I take him to his usual doctor who is part of the biggest provider in this area and hand them both cards (surely they have their act together and my Chiro is just too small to "get it"). The person behind the desk hands me back the debit card and says, "we can't charge you now, we don't know what it will be". OH CRAP! Not again! OK, I say, what is your cash charge? "$167, but that's just for the visit, any tests are extra" WHAT!?! With my old carrier it was $80 per visit. "that was a PPO that had a deal with us" But if I pay cash, I"m saving you money by you not having to submit this and bill, and collect. Can't I just pay the $80? "Nope". OK then deal with my insurance. 

68 days later. I get a bill from the health care provider. Please pay $20 now this is 60 days past due. $20? what happened to $167? Oh that's still pending insurance response. So I write the debit card number on the back of the bill and send it in. 30 days later I get a call on my cell phone from a number I don't recognize. Yep, you guessed it. It's a collection agency. Asking for $187. It can't be, can it. I ask, What was the date of service. The collectors response, " we don't have that information, you owe $187." I explain that I think this is for my son and explain that I sent in $20 a few weeks ago and that I still hadn't seen a bill that says the $167 had cleared the insurance that I need to pay it. "well then this is something different, you owe $187 pay it or we will report it to the credit reporting agencies." But I don't think I owe it, I say, can you prove that I didn't pay the $20 or that this is a different charge. What was the date of service? "are you going to pay this or not?" How do I know that this isn't a scam? I can't just give you my debit card number because you call and tell me I owe you $187. If you had said $167 I would pay it. "Sir, do you know what happens when this is reported to the credit agencies?" I sure do, having a developmentally disable child I nearly went bankrupt paying for his treatment and had bad credit for years and had to dig my way out of it and now have great credit. Can we please work this out? "no, you owe $187, unless you pay it, we will file." So I gave him the debit card number.

2 weeks later I get a bill from the health care provider. Paid $20, please pay $167 this is 120 days past due!

WHAT!?! I call them and tell them I paid their collections agency $187. The confused person on the phone asks why I would pay more than I owe? I explain the whole conversation and tell her that I'm still steamed about this and will take my business elsewhere. She apologizes and explains that the outsourced collections agencies can take up any account over 90 days past due that is published on list but sometimes the information about who paid who what is not timely.

Great. Just great. Another good idea ruined by a bureaucracy.

And we think it will be better when the Government is running health care.

Right.

These big companies are getting to be just like the government. Too big that they just get in the way of themselves.

Well I'm finally back from vacation and ready to get back to work. I am sorry about the 2 week delay in posting.