We're finally getting some cooker weather. Days in the low to mid 80's and nights in the mid 60's. Loving it. Also no rain. Not that we need it after Ian. Even without rain floods in some areas is still getting worse as water goes down stream.
Here the temperature went from 80 to 55 so fast I wonder if it saw a traffic cop. It's good for running though. It's nice to be able to go for a run and not have sweat dripping from me when I get home, and not end up with my shirt soaked with sweat.
This weekend's challenge was to run a 10k, so I ran my 8 mile route (it's a little over 8 miles, so about 13k all in). It felt harder than it should have done but I got around it without needing a walk break, which was nice. It's the first time I've ever done that on this particular route. My legs are going to ache in the morning.
Healthcare in the US would be funny if it wasn't so serious. Then came the "Affordable Care Act", which would perhaps better be called the Unaffordable Votes Act, that makes it easier to get insurance, throws vast amounts of government money at subsidising premiums (meaning insurance companies have no incentive not to hike the prices), while still leaving many people functionally uninsured. For most people if they have a deductible of $5000 per person then to all intents and purposes they might as well be uninsured, even if the government is kind enough to pay a good chunk of their insurance premium. As with most other things, every time the government steps in to help it makes everything worse. It often seems like the most favorable outcome is to stop working and try and get on Medicaid. Curiously much of the opposition to universal healthcare seems to be based on the idea that it is "socialist". People are afraid of "death panels" that decide who lives and who dies. But then they clamor to keep their insurance policies, that are effectively death panels. Because if your insurance company doesn't cover the insulin you need that will cost you $950/month it's easy as anything to come up with that $11,400 every year, even as you pray the price doesn't go up again this year.
On a more positive note I went for another run today. My legs didn't feel great from the outset - I didn't sleep well last night - and now they hurt more than they should. It feels more like a hurt than an ache, so I hope I haven't damaged anything. If anything I suspect I just strained something and it will work itself out, hopefully overnight.
Wait. Denver? Did you actually fly into the People's Republic of Amerika or did you walk across the border?
One time when I was visiting the US my wife needed a prescription. Of course we didn't have US health insurance, so when we took the prescription into the local pharmacy they asked about it and grimaced when I said we didn't have insurance. The price was something like $80 but as soon as I said "paying cash" the assistant went back to her terminal, tapped a few keys, and came back asking for $35. I've heard from a few people that when the Amish need anything major they show up at the hospital with a satchel full of cash and the question "will this be enough?" and from what I gather it surprisingly covers the bill every time. It seems like a large part of the stupidity of the entire system is that dealing with insurance companies creates a large enough administrative burden that it hikes the price by 100% or more. Of course it only works if you have enough cash to pay, which the majority of people don't. What's really fun is that healthcare seems to be the only industry that doesn't give you any idea of the price before you begin.
Actually flew in, I'm here for business meetings. Paid in cash, itemised invoice, via one of my HR reps. They also gave me a Vicodin prescription for the pain and I'm wondering if I should fill that in case there are any surprises on the flight back, or hold off the opioid risk.
I'd get it filled, just make sure you keep the prescription handy when going through security at airport or customs. I'd try heavy doses of over the counter painkillers -- tylenol, advil -- here in the states before going to the vicodin if at all tolerable.
I recall seeing a list of fees in one of our hospital emergency room for non-Canadians. Not for everything, of course, but at least for the triage and doctor visit in the ER and few other things.