Besides costly higher education and health care … buying and owning a home is now unaffordable for many in America

| March 17, 2024

Going to college after high school has always seemed expensive, but by working, borrowing and getting help from parents … it was do-able, and by today’s standards, seemed affordable. I can’t help but smile noticing that when I finally paid off my student loan that I could start saving to put my kids through college. […]

Where do you WANT vs where SHOULD you live in retirement?

| July 10, 2022

While I personally have not worked the numbers, a May 2022 Barron’s Advisor column on retirement offered an enlightening look on “where” to live; it can be eye-opening! Low income taxes aren’t everything. Many retirees who live in states with high taxes are eager to move to states with no income taxes, says Rhian Horgan, […]

What does moderate DEM Sen Manchin think of MedicareForAll?

| October 31, 2019

When it comes to politicians making promises and pitching far fetched ideas nowadays, the sky is the limit. The current crop of Democrats campaigning for their party’s presidential nomination have lifted the “sky is the limit” to “space is the limit.” The sales pitches stretch from free tuition and education debt forgiveness to buying votes […]

One of the more interesting Health Care discussions …

| April 15, 2015

NPR’s Tom Ashbrook entertained an interesting discussion around the Cadillac plan tax which is part of Obamacare. If you’ve notice changes in your plan (just as colleges have), you will understand the emotions in the discussion. Well worth listening too … and yes, I’m a conservative who sometimes listens to NPR.   NPR Tom Ashbrook […]

Obamacare remarks from Jonathan Gruber draw media scrutiny

| November 15, 2014

Some of the political hot-potato news this past week was related to self described “off the cuff” comments from MIT’s Jonathan Gruber a respected health economist. He helped craft President Obama’s health care law and was captured on video commenting about the “stupidity of the American voter” and suggesting the law was passed dishonestly (NYTimes). […]

Obamacare is on life support. It is time to pull the plug.

| December 28, 2013

2013 introduced us to the pain of what sold to America as the Affordable Health Care for America Act by the 2008 Democrats during President Obama’s first term. Instead of “affordable,” Obamacare launched with high premiums, high deductibles and far more frustrations for those who were already insured by their employers or paying for health […]

Will President Obama win back public trust?

| December 20, 2013

I listened to the president answer questions in today’s long news conference and it was interesting to hear reporters finally drill down on the Obama administrations’ blunders and shortcomings. For the past five years most network reporters in the Whitehouse press corps  have been pretty gentle with questions and all but a few seemed to […]

What can we learn from overseas health care

| December 11, 2013

The other day in sorting through my email inbox (need to work on a few more filters), I ran across a personal story about medical care overseas … in this case Bangkok, Thailand. For some of us, including the author, there is a preconceive notion that going into a hospital in southeast Asia is dangerous […]

Taking a personal look at the Affordable Care Act

| November 21, 2013

Partisanship and opinions aside a moment, I took a serious look at the Affordable Care Act and exchange pricing just to see what it might cost IF one was to retire early and purchase heath care on the exchanges. As a resident of Ohio (or Florida), which both have federally run exchanges, the monthly outlay […]

Obamacare – Dave Ramsey suggests doing the math

| October 20, 2013

Last week Dave Ramsey attempted to simplify the Affordable Care Act on his financial advice radio program for his listeners. He asked listeners to take off the political blinders – be they those of the supporters of Obamacare or those who want the law overturned. In a “tough love” Dave Ramsey kind of way, he […]

The government shuts down and they are not even talking

| October 1, 2013

Once again our dysfunctional federal government reared its ugly head and made many of us wonder why we continue to send money to Washington DC?  The taxpayer continues to be squeezed by our bloated bureaucrats who can’t seem live on the nearly trillion dollars we send them each year — it’s ridiculous!   From my […]

What Obamacare will cost if you are in your 20s or 30s

| July 27, 2013

The question posed by the WSJ this past week was “will the young and give up disposable income to pay for health insurance” or with they pay the penalty until it becomes too expensive? It has been difficult to explicate the complex and questionably titled “Affordable Care Act” – Obamacare to many who are politically […]

Your health care plan: Spouses may no longer be covered

| February 25, 2013

The negative implication of “big government’s Obamacare” is just beginning to be felt by those with health care coverage and businesses are squirming to adapt to the pages of new regulations. One of the latest money saving measures is that of “dropping spousal coverage” – I’m just guessing, but I suspect it will be unpopular? […]

Dorothy Love: A nice place for rehab [edit]

| May 22, 2012

Everyone wants to head home after a hospital stay … and that includes my mom, but if rehab is called for and skilled nursing care required, I can’t think of a better place than the Dorothy Love community. It is just a few miles from my mom and dad’s house in Sidney Ohio and an […]

How Doctors Die

| December 10, 2011

What treatments do doctors seek when they get sick? That’s the basis of an article my daughter read to me this week while we were heading out to dinner … it is sobering. Ken Murray’s article in Zócalo Public Square is something I found thought provoking when considering just how far “we” want doctors and […]

Archive: Understanding retirement Part 1

| August 28, 2011

I’ve been thinking about the big entitlement (negatively charged word?) issue when it comes to how the U.S. structured our senior citizen’s healthcare and retirement living expenses. Having never really fully understood the cost … and inching closer towards that eventual day … I do recognize while looking at my own health and insurance costs […]

Video: If air travel worked like health care

| July 2, 2010

My daughter occasionally shares a bit of medical humor with me – this week’s visit was no exception. I found it funny …but my wife was less receptive believing the spoof promotes government universal healthcare.

Long lunch streaming video, checking email and news

| March 17, 2010

Enjoyed a TWiT broadcast by streaming Security Now over a late lunch while catching up on my email today. The weather is starting to feel like we are turning the corner and closing in on spring; sunny and near 60 degrees today. The news of the day seems to be focused on the house Democratic […]

Is Healthcare “Deader than a doornail”

| January 22, 2010

[flv:FN_Healthcare1001221.flv 480 255] After President Obama, and most of the U.S. Congress (the Democrats), wasted a year on massive health care legislation, many are suggesting our nations’ leaders may finally be getting the message: Focus on jobs and the economy before spending money we don’t have on taking over health care. The current bills, according […]

Our federal government and health care

| January 14, 2010

Although I rarely forward emails since I dislike the spam filling up my box, I do once in a while get the urge to share.  Here’s a snippet worthy of  thought as the our elected representatives continue in a direction to take over reform  health care. Will they break their streak and run it efficiently […]

Senate approves unpopular healthcare legislation

| December 24, 2009

The year 2009 is closing with our federal government’s Christmas present making big changes in America’s healthcare system. Today, the senate passed legislation moving a massive 2000+ page healthcare bill one step closer to law and will in essence give significant control of over one-sixth of our nation’s economy to bureaucrats. Although supposedly promising needed […]

Politics and testing new flash plugin for WordPress

| November 16, 2009

Currently upgrading and testing a new embed for flash video, although it might not work with current 2.8.6 version of WordPress. Nevertheless, it offers a few extra features that most have become accustom to such as a poster frame and full screen video. I’ll be tweaking the flash encoder on the Mac in order to […]

A Nervous Bull and Healthcare thoughts

| August 13, 2009

As U.S. Congressional representatives sweat over whether to have townhall meetings in their states to talk healthcare during the August recess, I sweat over how to plan financial security for my family’s future, of which health insurance is a part. Years ago it seemed logical to just keep plunking away a few dollars into a […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog