certain cumulative number of absences

Amy that's nuts! I can understand consecutive days but cumulative? That's just crazy talk!

Knowing that I could not provide decent health care for any kids I might have is a good part of the reason we don't have them.

The whole healthcare thing is so huge.

I really just don't understand why so many people don't think it's a crisis, how many people don't have insurance and/or can't afford the insurance they do have.

I certainly didn't plan it that way when I had the first one, Daisy Jane, or even the last one.

I can understand consecutive days but cumulative?

Cumulative. So even if it's a bug here and months later a bug there, you go over seven and you need a doctor's note for every absence. OR you get reported, and then you have social worker looking into it.

Oh, I'm not saying don't have kids if you can't afford their health care. I'm sure you end up sacrificing other things. I'm just not willing to sacrifice those things.

I want people not to have to take it into account when deciding, or lucking into starting a family.

Sorry if that came out all judgey sounding.

Aside from coming to the conclusion that they assume every parent can take their kid to the pediatrician for every sniffle.

Especially since you probably shouldn't be doing that. I mean for most minor things it's completely unnecessary and only spreads illness.

Sorry, DJ -- it's one of my few buttons. It's got a big red "shame" label on it, too. I jumped a little quick there.

And the point is that no one should be ashamed -- healthcare is out of control expensive and complicated when it should be available to everyone.

(edited to be clearer)

ION,

French police say they have arrested a 63-year-old woman who was leading her 40-year-old companion along a busy shopping street by a leash attached to his exposed penis...

The couple admitted to being sex addicts and said they were in the middle of a game when arrested, police said on Thursday.

[link]

It has been really eye-opening to have the cost of healthcare be such an issue. Like, I now know to ask if there are options for similar drugs that come in generics, because even some of my meds that do come in generics, they were $70 for 2 months. I have taken them for years and never paid more than the basic co-pay of $10 or $20, but now, one generic is covered at the low-cost, but not the main one. it's all crazy. Like I want to shop around procedures, but that is crazy, right?

And the point is that no one should be ashamed -- healthcare is out of control expensive and complicated when it should be available to everyone.

The number of fucked up choices we end up making because health care decisions can mean putting your entire financial security at risk is just unconscionable.

I know when I was uninsured (or when I was on a shoestring and had a high-deductible plan) I made some really shitty decisions. I coughed up blood once and decided to wait and see for a few days because I was so scared that what if it was something? How would I pay for that? My sister right now I'm really concerned about - I (and my many medical degrees) see a lot of diabetes symptoms with her. And I've mentioned my concern, but I haven't pushed, because what if she gets diagnosed while she's uninsured? She had a (falsely) alarming test result from an exam at PP recently too and as scared as she was about what it might be, the fact of being unemployed and uninsured was almost paralyzing.