Tuesday's Number: $439,352

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings. 

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

This week, there were 13 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $348,310.  

This week, there were four satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider, totaling $66,656.  

This week, there was one health care related bankruptcy, totaling $24,836.   

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Something Worth Waiting For?

If I didn't know any better I would think that the Healthcare.gov website is the single most important issue facing our country today.

Not our struggling economy or not our inability to get any meaningful, sustainable job growth; not all of the controversy swarming around our educational system, nor our immigration problem, or energy policy, or global warming, or how we protect ourselves from the next SuperStorm Sandy, or whether keeping parks open during a government shutdown constitutes an 'essential service.'

Nope, the most important thing we have to worry about right now is a website. For a program that somewhere between 0 and 100% of Americans "don't like" or "don't want" or "can't afford" or "think goes too far" or "think doesn't go far enough" or believe is "communist" or "socialist" or "has death panels" or fill-in-the-blank from any survey you can find taken over the past three years, since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed.

This pressing issue revolves around how long it takes people to actually do something after getting on the government's new health insurance 'exchange' website. It's clunky, and complicated, and makes people miserable because everything takes too long. Reporters have been wringing their hands over the risk that all of those young healthy people that we need signed up for insurance to level the premium playing field for everyone else will stop trying because they won't stand for something that doesn't give them immediate gratification. And of course politicians from both sides are clamoring for a delay in implementation of the individual mandate, because the website is bad (as if it will never ever ever function as envisioned).

Folks have reported waiting for a very long time - apparently hours in some cases -- to try and apply for health insurance.  I got in last night and was advised, in just a few seconds, that I needed to visit the NY State of Health, the exchange for New York residents. That deflection prevented me from having to go through the account setup, income review, etc. that is contributing to the clunkiness and lack of responsiveness people have experienced since the exchange opened on October first.

And so, given the number of people complaining about having to wait for the federal or state exchange, I thought it would be interesting to point out a few things that we fickle Americans ARE willing to wait for, to try and get some perspective.  

One thing that we do stand in line for, in some places for hours, that is worth it?  Voting. There are thoughts that, as new voter ID laws go into effect in several states, these lines will get longer. But a line to vote is a line I would absolutely stand in.

We're willing to hang out for lots of other things, too.

For example, here are thousands of people waiting to sing for American Idol judges.  According to the report with this photo,

People from all over have flocked to Gillette Stadium ...with hopes of getting their talent noticed... Thousands were in Foxboro Thursday to register and have returned as auditions get underway.

And then there's this great little video, showing people camped outside a Best Buy store waiting for Black Friday sales last year.  Listen to the incredulous child wonder what on earth is going on:

Whoa! More people? Mama, more people? Oh my God! Why are there more people?

And perhaps you were standing in a line somewhere back in May, waiting to by a $600M Powerball ticket? This picture was posted on Twitter by Ken Smith, a reporter for a CBS affiliate in Las Vegas.

Lotteries are illegal in Nevada, so many folks buy tickets in California.  Per an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal, one lottery seller in Nipton noted that

Last night, I heard some people had to wait nine hours in line.

And then there's concert tickets. 

People will stand in line for quite a while waiting for concert tickets - as I did once many years ago to see The Rolling Stones.  Earlier this year, when tickets went on sale for the New York State Fair, there was a minor uproar when folks who got there early were not able to get the seats they wanted. The woman who was first in line to get tickets for a Justin Aldean/Luke Bryan concert was there for 26 hours and left disappointed with the seats she got, which were in the 9th and 10th rows.

I just love this band and I'm so disappointed to stand in line that long. Twenty-six hours, I must be insane to do it.

Um, perhaps. But not so crazy as this: have you ever heard of a cronut? It's a cross between a croissant and a donut, with some kind of cream filling and flavoring.

Apparently they're all the rage at a bakery in Soho, according to an article published in July by Business Insider.

That article included a link to another, which had this picture by AndyBCampbell, showing the horde of people waiting in line for their limit of two cronuts. For hours. Yes, for hours.

I'm thinking I don't like most food enough to stand in line for very long waiting to get some.  We did stand in line a couple weeks ago for some piping hot apple fritters, but it was for all of about ten minutes. Had it been a much longer wait, and had we not been first in line, I'm pretty sure we would have just gotten in the car and gone home.

But standing in line or waiting to get stuff is not a new phenomenon. People have been waiting in line at concession stands, amusement park rides, and public bathrooms for decades.  And we'll wait for sneakers. And Harry Potter books and movies. And, of course, iPhones. How can we forget all those people who hired other folks to wait to purchase their new phones? 

In the end, after reading about so many Americans waiting for so many frivolous things, I can't help thinking that signing up for health insurance, especially for people who have gone so long without it, would be worth the wait.

Dissecting Direct Mail

Instead of aggravating over political stuff today, I thought it would be fun to dissect some mail I received earlier this week.

Now, I get probably hundreds of pounds of direct mail and junk mail a year: solicitations from charities I've never heard of; offers for credit cards, life insurance, and other financial opportunities; catalogs for clothes, jewelry, shoes, garden supplies, cooking gadgets, food in the mail, things I've seen on TV, and on and on and on. And sweepstakes offers -- like many of you,  I may already be a winner. Have you checked to see if you've won?

Wednesday, I got two great pieces of junk mail, both related to massive used car sales that are happening in our area. Before I get into the mailers, in the interest of full disclosure: I do not drive; I never have. I will someday, I think. It's just never been a priority for me.  So when I get junk mail related to cars, I shift into shake-my-head mode right away. 

So - here's the setup. Two full color, oversized 'envelope' style flyers arrived, pictures of cars all over them, large print, and lots of codes and PINs and official-looking language and delivery instructions.

Flyer #1: This could be your "key" to winning $25,000 CASH or a  $24,985 2010 Ford F150 STX!  Yep, that's right:  I could win an old car with the key that was attached to the flyer. I could also win any of a number of other prizes - there are a total of 70,000 available -  if I present my photo ID and my official bar code at "Syracuse Chiefs Stadium" on October 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 or 29. (Note that there's no such thing as Syracuse Chiefs Stadium, it's NBT Bank Stadium, but that's really a small issue.)

 Flyer #2: "One metallic key mailed for a $19,763 2013 Dodge Journey". Yep, I could win a newer old car with the key that was attached to this flyer, or a any of the total of 60,000 prizes if I present my winning invitation, photo ID and confirmation code at the Fingerlakes Mall outside Auburn on nine days only. Four of the days had already passed by the time I got the flyer, so that's kind of a bummer.

Now, here's the first problem with these mailings. Take a look -- there's no difference between the keys I got, other than one has more tape goop on it than the other. They are exactly the same. That being the case, I'm pretty sure I don't have the winning key for either deal, because if I did it means I have the winning key for both of them, and well, we know that's just not going to happen, right?

I could be the winner for one, I guess, and my alter ego 'Current Resident' could win the other one, since the mail was addressed to both of us. But I'm struggling a little trying to figure out what Current Resident's photo ID would look like, and how her identify could be verified as required in the official rules. 

Both deals are coordinated by American Hole n One, a direct mail and promotions firm out of Georgia. Prizes in addition to the cars, include cash, TVs, Kindles, and Walmart gift cards, and  'golden dollars'.  Flyer #2 offers a prize to everyone who receives the mailing, with well over 99%  (59,981 out of 60,000) of them being $5 Walmart gift cards. 

Flyer #1, on the other hand, has a problem. Again, well over 99% (69,897 out of 70,000) of the prizes are minuscule - in this case, $2 'golden dollars' but the interesting thing is, the odds of winning the car and the other major prize, $3500 cash, are 1:500,000.  Something about this seems fishy doesn't it? I mean, who are those other 430,000 people who have a chance to win my three-year-old truck?

Alas, as I wrote that last sentence, I saw a political tie-in after all. I guess it was simply not meant to be a politics-free day after all.

See, it occurred to me that the 70,000 who got the mailing are kind of like the people who actually live in a specific legislative district; they have a direct connection to the issues in the district, and are the ones to whom the candidate that gets elected needs to be accountable.

The other 430,000?  They're equivalent to all those outside the district  - PACs and unions and Brothers Koch and foundations and billionaires Soros and Bloomberg -- that pour tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars into my district during each election cycle, trying so very hard to influence not only the election outcome, but the politician as well.

And so I wonder: If I don't even have a fair chance to win a stupid used car, how am I supposed to have a fair chance to elect the person I want to represent me?

Campaign finance reform, that's how.

Tuesday's Number: $375,675

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings. 

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

This week, there were 23 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $356,281.  

This week, there were three satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider, totaling $19,394.  

This week, there were no healthcare related bankruptcies.   

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

 

Finding Freedom on Vacation

One of the things I love about vacations is how, if I allow myself to, I can truly leave more baggage at home than I bring on the trip.  I have to say, it's not always easy for me to 'vacate the premises'.

I'm one of those people who will never have a completely clean desk or a completely clear head, no matter how hard I try. I  typically worry whether I got enough done, or more importantly if I got the right things done before leaving for vacation. I have a very hard time turning off the drip, drip, drip of work-think, often coming up with things to think about just before I go to bed, or in the middle of the night when the cats move around, changing their positions and allowing me the luxury of changing mine.

And then there's my writing, and all of those ideas, and research, draft posts waiting for the right time to pull the trigger -- and I worry, what if the right time doesn't come, or worse, what if it does - will the post really ready, and will it hit the target?

And there's family, my own and my extended; relationships to manage, drama to reign in, and so on. And of course this year, we had the government shutdown to wreak havoc on things.

War Memorial Tower
Mt Greylock, MA

Somehow, even in the face of all that, I managed fairly well to grab freedom by the horns and throw myself into it, to fully enjoy the trip to the Berkshires and the week in Vermont that followed, to deal with things on my own terms and not dwell for long on all that other baggage.

I can still feel and hear and smell our walk on Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts where, they say, on a clear day you have 60 - 90 mile views. The day we were there, we could barely see six feet in any direction, but it didn't ruin our fun. I smile at enjoying, in the middle of the fog, a fun conversation with a couple from Eastern Massachusetts, who we ran into again later in the day at another stop, the natural bridge and white marble dam in North Adams. Together, we scoffed at the folks who thought there was "no reason to take pictures on such a horrible day". How silly, and short-sighted, that thinking.

Leaving Massachusetts after a couple of days, we wandered into Vermont, where we spent a week travelling up, down, across and diagonally, going to new places and revisiting some areas we had been two years ago just a few weeks after Hurricane Irene. There's been progress in many areas, places where if you were unfamiliar with the lay of the land, you'd have no idea what happened in 2011. You might not think twice about road work, for example, if you didn't know that after Irene, the road being worked on didn't even exist anymore.  On the other hand, you come across places like downtown Brandon, home still to buildings behind barricades, some that had their first floors almost completely washed away when the floodwaters created new paths and changed lives forever.

In places all along Route 100 and several other scenic drives that crisscross Vermont (are there any that aren't scenic, really?), there is scarring along just about every river, brook or stream. It's easy to spot; there are thousands of dead trees, lying grey in the otherwise vibrant Vermont fall. You can see the path the water takes now, versus the path it took before. There are rocks and boulders everywhere, strewn about like marbles in some bizarre game, the rules of which defy comprehension.

And yet, there's a sense of beauty to the damaged landscape. It's not the classic fall foliage beauty, which annually attracts leaf peepers by the busload to New England. Rather, it's a more dramatic beauty, the kind that makes a person smaller in the face of the sheer enormity and power of what created the revised landscape. And it's hard not to appreciate the resilience of what withstood that power, and the sense of glorious freedom and rebellion with which the remaining trees sort of flip the proverbial bird and shake their fists at Mother Nature, defying her, daring her to come back and try again.

It's that same sense of freedom and resilience that causes people to uproot and move there, like the guy who served us a great cup of butternut-apple bisque late one afternoon. Thirty years ago he left Connecticut to go skiing at Sugarbush and basically never went home. He spent the first few years in Burlington, but left when it started to feel too much like what he left behind. He moved to a smaller place in the Randolph area, and makes a living nurturing locals and visitors alike.

Like everyone - native, transplant or tourist - I hope Mother Nature doesn't unleash a force like Irene on Vermont again. And while I don't have any plans to pull up my Central New York stakes and move there, I do know that we'll go back, daring to experience that vacation freedom once again. 

Knowing how well it worked this time, and armed with the memories of a wonderful break from everyday reality, it's a challenge I'll be happy to accept.

Tuesday's Number: $1,234,892

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were 35 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $1,172,185.

This week, there were four satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider, totaling $36,685.

This week, there was one health care related bankruptcy totaling $26,022.  

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Tuesday's Number: $758,481

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were 30 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $758,481.

This week, there were no satisfied judgments or bankruptcies to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider.  

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

The Poetry of Sarah Palin

Sarah from Wasilla has published more poetry; most of this collection is from her Facebook page and covers what everyone but Fox News is calling a government shutdown, healthcare.gov and her husband's hunting prowess.

Cure for Belly Fat.
Republicans in Congress
are attempting to fund... essential functions
but Democrats are blocking them because
they want to make any slim down
look as awful as possible
in order to deflect
from what this
whole slim
down thing
is all about

An Apple a Day
The White House is now
comparing Obamacare's
numerous "glitches"
to Apple software
updates.

Cool. As. A. What.
Yeah.
Todd
bagged a moose.
Dinner.

Tuesday's Number: $842,316

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were 35 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $710,040.

This week, there was one satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider, totaling $6,516.  

And, there were two health-care related bankruptcies, totaling $126,120.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.