Aren't hospital expenses just the craziest? I got my itemized list from the hospital after my surgery, and just the surgery and hospital stay alone cost over $58,000. Crazy!

The worst part is that if it's late at night, even here in a decent sized city, there really isn't any other place to go aside from one of the ERs.

It must be fucked up to live in a world where you can convince yourself every child is born into a two-parent het family with the money to raise her.

I don't usually let my students write on abortion, but in one case I let a student write because she wasn't interested in writing the usual pro or con paper, she wanted to better understand what abortion was, what the procedures were, legal and medical issues, etc.

When she started writing the paper, she was firmly pro-life. She came away from the paper with a much more nuanced view. I remember her saying to me that the most important thing she learned from writing the paper was that you could try to protect EVERY life, or you could try to ensure that every child born could be given the best chance of being born healthy and loved, but you couldn't do both.

With my current health plan, I pay the "contract" rates until I meet a crazy high deductable. So the bills I see show the full cost, the discount to the contract rates and the resulting total which is what I pay. It isn't a set percent decrease but the variance is usually significant.

This year I get to go through this fun with my prescriptions also. No more co-pays, just "contract rates". Can't wait (sarcasm font) to see how crazy those are.

Sending mA to Hayden, Kate, ej's mom, and andi.

The rest of the world confuses me.

you could try to protect EVERY life, or you could try to ensure that every child born could be given the best chance of being born healthy and loved, but you couldn't do both.

That is a great summation of the issue. Will have to remember this.

It's interesting, though, that "punishment" = "having a child." I mean, is that *really* the message they want to send about their view of children? They don't want women to not have access to contraception because having a child is a beautiful glorious thing; "punishment" /= "beautiful glorious thing."

This. For all the "Children are sweet wonderful joys to raise" rhetoric, they sure do seem to want the slutty slut sluts to be "punished" with them.

She came away from the paper with a much more nuanced view

What, you mean formal education really is useful? Who'd a thunk?

What do men have to do with raising children?

They provide the sperm. Then they get a job so they can be the sole breadwinner in the family.

And, according to the tv, sleep with their secretaries. I have no idea why the secretaries have paying jobs instead of making babies and letting their husband make the monies.

@@

What, you mean formal education really is useful? Who'd a thunk?

At least in some cases. I've had other student who come to see me all upset because all their research points in one direction but they want to write a paper that argues for the other. I've even directly asked, so why do you want to argue for X when all your research proves Y? The answer is always some variation of "I just don't like Y." It can be hard to see one's own ideological barriers.