A couple days ago when texting with our son he asked if we would be home today and he would stop by. Ron worked last night so he would catch a few hours sleep so he could also visit with James when he got here. It was nice when the boy moved out making his own way in the world, but we do miss him. He works so many shifts and crosses shifts to work any time they need him. It is hard on him and hard to plan anything so our visits are fewer than we would like. But it is expensive for young people these days and give the boy all the credit he is doing well for someone his age in today’s expensive world. I am really proud of him and the way he has turned out, the man he has become. After a few hours visiting he asked if he could take us out for lunch. We agreed to go to lunch but told him we would pick up the tab. We were his age once and know how hard it was for us then. So we all went out to eat. James took us to a pizza place we have never been to before and it was grand. It was really nice with unusual decor and artisan menu. It was a grand time and an older couple in the booth behind us with their grand child stopped to talk with us. The woman said I looked very failure to her and wondered where we may have met. I get this occasionally from my days working in the Surgical ICU at HealthPark Hospital. I explained to her I had worked there in the 5th floor ICU, and sometimes helped out in other ICU units. She started to smile broadly and laughed. She had worked on the 6th floor. She and I had left the hospital about the same time but she remembered me. Seems I had gone up and helped them out a few times and she remembered that. She had to come to the ICU a few times and remembered how ( in her words ) kind and nice I had been. It is nice to be remembered. James , Ron, and I all shared a bunch of appetizers and a large pizza. We talked to him about him and his girlfriend would like to go to Busch Gardens with us as we often went to the theme parks when he lived with us. We told him we would pick up the tickets as his birthday present. He was excited and would work out a date with us. He offered to drive, which I thought was wonderful as at our age a day walking around a theme park in the Florida heat is very tiring. James was worried about me being able to do it and remarked we should look into a scooter for me. Smarty pants I scolded him, but I was pleased he realized the difficulties and was thinking ahead. James did react quickly when the bill came taking it from the server before I could reach it. Ron tried to tell him we would be more than happy to get the bill, but James was firm, it was his wish and he wanted to do it. As he had the bill in his hands we gave in. I was in a lot of pain by the time we left, my back was wrecked and when I went to stand up I couldn’t get my legs to push me upright. Ron helped me up. I could see James was worried. So we are home, Ron has gone to bed, both cats were waiting for us when we got home and Milo is sacked out on my desk. I found the PBS video of the impeachment trail and have it set up to see what I missed. Yes I know I just am addicted to knew but this is a historical event. I will now look at the comments I love that came in while I was gone. Be well everyone. Hugs
I have 25 open tabs on my computer to read. I just can not get my mind to focus on them. I am going to shut this computer down and start a movie on the other one, even though I know I won’t finish it. If my life pattern is true I will be up by 3 AM and start again. Thanks to everyone, if there is something you want me to get to let me know. Oh and Milo is again sacked out in front of my keyboard. I feel that is going to become his fav place. Hugs
I find this really interesting. One of the things I struggle to do is hold my arms over my head. The pain builds quickly to very intense. Also to stand for any length of time my spine starts to really hurt badly. Something like this would really help me. But it really might be good for people much worse than I am, in the future could people without the ability to walk use something like this? Could people who have to use a walker use this instead? This really is an important part of human / science interaction we need to look into. Oh yes the first few minutes are silly, but get beyond them to where he goes to the factory and shows what the suit really can do for workers. Hugs
There is much more information at the link, it is a long read but worth it. Some good things, and it explains some of the harder choices. It is do able and it has really improved the health of the people. But there are strains and it will need price increases, which from a US view point are inconceivably low. The say a co-pay is about 12 dollars. Remember though our country is much wealthier. Anyway I found the article fascinating. Hugs
Diabetes, alcoholism, and heart disease are common problems among the Taroko. The indigenous people have endured displacement, forced assimilation, and discrimination over the centuries. They are also poorer than the ethnically Han Chinese who make up most of Taiwan’s population.
But they never have to worry about one thing: their health care. In Taiwan, everybody is covered. The Taiwanese health care system is built on the belief that everyone deserves health care, in Xiulin just as much as anywhere else. The costs to patients are minimal. And the government has set up special programs to deliver care to the people in Xiulin and their neighbors in Hualien County.
In the 1990s, Taiwan did what has long been considered impossible in the US: The island of 24 million people took a fractured and inequitable health care system and transformed it into something as close to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s vision of Medicare-for-all as anything in the world.
There’s clearly a need for lessons. Compared to the rest of the developed world, America spends more money on health care and produces worse outcomes. By one advanced metric — mortality for causes that should be avoidable with accessible, high-quality health care — the United States ranked last among the G7 countries in 2016. America’s infant mortality rate is almost double that of some of its peers. Nearly one in 10 Americans lack insurance. People go bankrupt over medical bills. Yet Americans still spend about twice as much money on health care per capita as the average comparable country.
No health care system is perfect. But most of America’s economic peers have figured out a way to deliver truly universal coverage and quality care. The United States has not.
“Canada and virtually all European and Asian developed nations have reached, decades ago, a political consensus to treat health care as a social good,” health care economist Uwe Reinhardt wrote in his book Priced Out shortly before his death in 2017. “By contrast, we in the United States have never reached a politically dominant consensus on the issue.”
Taiwan made its choice in the 1990s and embraced single-payer. It has required sacrifice: by doctors who believe they’re forced to see too many patients every day; by patients with complex and costly conditions who can’t always access the latest treatments; by citizens who have been asked from time to time, and will be asked again, to pay more for their health care than they did before.
The national government would eventually fast-track the implementation of the new system to 1995, hoping to get the chaotic transition period over before the first popular elections in 1996. There was plenty of skepticism leading up to it. Industry, experts, and the public alike doubted the program would succeed. Labor protesters threw paper money traditionally used in a funerary rite when the legislature passed the single-payer bill in 1994. A majority of people in Taiwan disapproved of the single-payer plan when it took effect.
But the program’s reputation quickly improved once people started to enjoy its benefits. Approval has dipped (when premiums were hiked in the 2000s) and risen (when the rural health care program that employs Tien in Xiulin was implemented) over the years, but there has always been a solid baseline of support. Today, approval of the national health insurance program hovers near its all-time high, over 80 percent. The system endures 25 years after it was established.
Part of its appeal is its simplicity. Everybody in Taiwan is insured through the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA). They receive an ID card as proof of coverage, which also stores their medical records. The Taiwanese program runs with extraordinary efficiency: About 1 percent of its funding is spent on administration, according to a 2015 review by Cheng. (Compare that to the US, where researchers have estimated that private insurers spend around 12 percent of overhead, and hospitals spend around 25 percent on administrative work.) Experts say Taiwan’s advanced IT infrastructure deserves a good share of the credit.
The benefits are quite comprehensive: hospital care, primary care, prescription drugs, traditional Chinese medicine. Patients must make copays when they visit the doctor or fill a prescription or go to the ER, but they are generally low, 360 NTD (about $12) or less. Lower-income patients are given an additional break on their cost-sharing obligations. Higher-income patients can take out private insurance for certain things not covered by the single-payer program.
The system is mostly funded by payroll-based premiums, with contributions from workers and their employers, supplemented by more progressive income taxes and tobacco and lottery levies. Premiums have been raised twice in the past 18 years to cover the growing cost of the program. The most recent rate increase in 2010 moved the payroll income tax rate from 4.55 percent to 5.17, a 14 percent increase.
In the early 2000s, again at Reinhardt’s recommendation, Taiwan converted to global budgets to pay for health care as another cost-control measure. This means that every year, government officials and private providers sit across a table and negotiate rates for services, with an annual cap set on the total payments to hospitals and doctors that the government will make. Health spending has stayed flat in recent years as a percentage of GDP, and it is growing at a slower rate in Taiwan than in the United States.
“That’s the essence of universal health coverage,” he says. “The principle of health [as a] human right is that everybody regardless of geography, religion, gender, age should have the right to access.”
It’s a reminder that a family you choose is no less important than the one you’re given, and that churches can indeed play a role in promoting love and inclusivity instead of being a force for divisiveness.
“Having someone not accept you is really hard but when it’s someone as close with your family it’s much harder,” added Yellow Brick Road leader Marilyn Schuh.
“We all deserve a place at a Thanksgiving table where we feel loved and accepted. Thanksgiving is about coming together and giving thanks for those people we love in our life. We couldn’t think of anyone else we would rather spend this day with than you!” reads the event’s description on Facebook.
As The Advocate notes, these kinds of events can’t be under-appreciated:
Events like these can help LGBTQ people feel connected and supported in the face of ostracism. In a 2013 Pew survey, about four in ten LGBTQ people reported being rejected by a friend or family member. LGBTQ youth are at a much higher risk of becoming homeless.
Having a community like this goes a long way to minimizing those risks.
With the substance now legal or decriminalized or in use medically in over half the country it is time to revisit every conviction and void them get those people out of jail, prison, and their records expunged. They need their rights returned to them. This will soon be legal for recreational use country wide. Hugs
Hello Everyone. I needed to get a new monitor for my video computer. I had a flat screen 24 inch on it. Ron is getting a computer and he needs a monitor so I will give him that one. I wanted something bigger for watching the news videos, YouTube stuff, HBO, Netflix, and movies from Amazon. As the movies Ron and I buy are 4K and even some YouTube channels I follow are 4K I figured it would be better to get a monitor that handles that. However I was a bit surprised at the prices of new 4K monitors of that size. So I looked into the refurbished program Amazon has. It seemed really decent. So I found a refurbished 32 inch 4K monitor with all the features and a stand that was height adjustable, tilt adjustable and even landscape / portrait mode adjustable. Plus I really like the hookup being straight on acceptable rather than built under an opening. I hate having to bend over with a flashlight to hook and unhook the cables. The price was quite reduced at $329.99.
LG 32in UHD 4K Dual HDMI DisplayPort 3840×2160 LED LCD Monitor – 32UD59-B (Renewed)
I was worried about the refurbished issue so when it arrived I took pictures of every step of unpacking it and setting it up. I need not have worried. There was not a mark on it, I would have thought it was brand new never out of the original box if it did not have a small sticker on the back saying refurbished.
So am I happy? How does it work? I am thrilled. It is so clear, so much brighter and clearer than the old monitor. I love the larger size. The only draw back is I am running out of space on my desk and the cats do not like having one of the places they sprawl out on the desk reduced. Ron said he is going to build little side wings for the desk. I Jokingly told Ron I liked it so much I thought I should get one like it for my main blogging computer. He about popped a cork. I have a 27 inch monitor that is only three or four years old. He was not in favor of the idea at all. Seemed to think I was rather “pushing my luck” to suggest another new monitor. 😀😃😄😎😎
Here are the pictures I took while unpacking and setting up the monitor. Notice Milo found the box as soon as I set it down. Hugs
Hello my wonderful friends and Toy Box viewers. I had another bad night with muscle spasms. I went to bed at 7 PM just beat. I have not been sleeping much so I have been going to bed early. By 8 PM I was awake with painful spasms in my right leg. I tried for about 20 minutes to shift enough to relieve the pain and stop the spasms, but it did not work. So I got up and walked around the bedroom for a while. So got back to bed about 8:40 PM. I slept on and off fighting the building spasms and shifting to get them to subside. At 11:30 PM I jolted awake with horrible pain my my right leg. The foot, calf , and the back of the upper leg was on fire and spasm so bad my leg bones were hurting. I struggled out of the bed and tried to stretch the muscles and stumbled around putting pressure on it to help stop the spasm. I ended up in my office in my chair which is really helpful with these things. At 12:30 I tried to lay down again. I drifted off and in less than an hour was back up with both legs in spasms. I gave up knowing I wouldn’t get any more sleep. This is how my nights have been going lately. So the reason I share my attempt to sleep story is both cats were with me in bed, followed me walking around the house, and came to the office with me. When I got up for good both cats walked in front of me to the coffee maker and then to my office. I gave them their breakfast treats and set down to set up the computers and do my blogging. I had help. Hugs
So this afternoon after Ron made a grand meal of pork loin, potatoes, gravy of course, Several vegetables along with a wonderful salad for me. And it was great. I did help, but he did most of the work, and all of the clean up. The thing I want to share is that I only had three hours sleep last night, and a 1 hour nap today, so I decided after our meal to just start and finish the Captain Marvel movie. I had watched a few minutes here and there , but never more than 20 minutes at a time. I always stop the movies to check the news. But this time I started it from the beginning and watched it all the way through. It was great to do so. After my telling him about the movie Ron wants to watch it also. Now on to other peoples blogs until I get so tired I fall asleep at my desk and must go to bed. I really like what I do here on my blog, it helps me feel productive even as my body fails. Hugs
I am a 56 year old gay man who has been very lucky in life. Life is an adventure and I live it that way. I am in a long term married relationship with a wonderful man I adore. We are starting our 30th year together.
As everyone may know I support a bunch of causes. I sometimes pull stuff off the web I believe to be open to doing so. I always give credit when and where possible and I include the link to the original. If someone has a legitimate right to something posted, and you ( they ) wish it removed, simply email me at the email address above. I will removed items belonging to others that they do not wish posted here gladly, however I will not remove content simple because it is disliked or the cause it supports is against someones wishes. If your wish is to get me to removed content you simply dislike but don't own, I will not remove it. If you can show me that you do own the rights to something, I will be more than happy to remove it. Again this requires you to write me an email stating what item(s) in question, your ownership, and a request to remove it. I will respond to all such requests given sufficient time. Thanks and good surfing to you.
