Good Morning fellow Travelers. So it occured to me that I haven't asked you Good People, as I've been asking my neighbors and clients. What kind, if any, of health care do you have? I think I'm in the very bottom 5% in the blogosphere, in terms of my income, and so my answer right now is "none." Not that I haven't been trying, mind you. But fitting a plan that actually does something into my pauper's budget has been, let's call it "challenging." I like food, and what little I make comes over the intertubes so I can't really give those things up. Foolishly, I had thought that there may be some sort of state program, even temporary assistance, which could fill in this period when I'm between "employer provided plans." Well, I was wrong. This state is experiencing budget nightmares, and they are throwing orphans and the disabled off the roles, so "healthy" people like myself have zero chance at qualifying for what little is left. I find this pathetic and typical of what is wrong with our legislators. I don't blame about 75% of the Dems in this state, many of whom I know and know to be good people honestly trying hard to change things for the better. But their Rethug counterparts here are some of the most soulless, venal, downright evil people I've ever known. To them, it's a big game, a game in which the only thing that matters is scoring 'gotcha' points and humiliating the other side. Never mind the dying children and starving elderly people and crumbling roads. Or the fact that by not helping people like me now, when our health care needs are relatively minimal, they guarantee greater later cost when I'm rushed to the ER for chronic conditions resulting in my inability to have them treated earlier on, and for less.

Anyway, I'd love to hear about your health care solutions in this age in which insurance company profit is more important than our lives. I think I'm going to break down and get a PPO, or some other wholly inadequate and overpriced plan that provides barely any benefit and costs me greatly in terms of what I'll have to sacrifice to afford it. But I'm getting to that age where I really cannot go without one, so hey! I can sell some blood twice a week and still have enough energy to work. Or something like that...