Our supplemental just tripled.

You know something else, dude? I'm proud of the various direct and tangential roles I played over the years in seeking progress and betterment, even if we're sometimes moving forward by only a few yards. I'll make no apologies to you or anyone else for my work and activism, or for sharing my personal knowledge and experiences in the hope that it might inspire others to undertake similar initiatives in their own respective locales, so that they might perhaps make a significant difference on behalf of the greater good.

Again, can you offer anything comparable? Personally, while I'd be very pleasantly surprised to learn otherwise, I very seriously doubt it. And that's simply because I've met far too many political bleacher bums over the years to either need worry about you as a potential adversary, or count on your help and support during critical periods of intense activity.

And you know why I think that? Because when I worked in the public sector, you're exactly the type of person who wouldn't hesitate to call me up at my office, and then proceed to tell me both how to do my job and what I'm doing wrong. You're the guy at the meeting who just loves to criticize my perceived mistakes, and who gets off on pointing out my shortcomings to everyone, regardless of whether it's done in public or in private.

And then, often in the very next breath, you'd be that guy who offered all sorts of personal excuses in order to avoid making any commitments on behalf of the very causes you ostensibly espouse -- only to show up just in time for the photo op and celebration, as we proclaimed a victory or success.

That way, you never have to risk a public defeat or failure, and endure any attendant personal embarrassment or even humiliation. You won't be seen as having lowered yourself to the base level of those whom you perceive as your moral inferiors and intellectual subordinates. And you can continue to pretend -- even if only to yourself -- that you're somehow so far above it all, as to be excused from ever having to get your hands dirty.

In the meantime, just pardon me all to H*ll for getting off my a$$ and trying to walk the walk and fight the good fight on a near-daily basis, both in my professional life and in my political activism, sometimes successfully and other times, probably not so much.

I've always freely admitted that I'm far from perfect. I make mistakes. I sometimes show questionable judgment and impatience. When I get tired, I tend to not suffer fools lightly and can be very curt and short with others. I'll laugh inappropriately once in a while at a crude or offensive remark, when I should really know better. I'll shoot the occasional brick from the free throw line, or get caught looking on a strike three call with the bases loaded and two outs.

But just who do you think you are, my friend? Well, from my standpoint and strictly my opinion, you are likely what the kids here in the islands call "all show, but no go." You are the stereotypical salon liberal who loves to wear your causes so prominently on your sleeve, yet I suspect that there's actually very little if any room in your own heart for the type of faith and passion which can otherwise compel one to action or decision.

Because were there otherwise, you'd be out there working the corridors at city hall, testifying at the state capitol and meeting with your public officials. You'd be organizing like-minded citizens and residents within your community, or manning public information booths at local fairs to get the word out. You'd be stuffing envelopes, making phone calls and holding campaign signs. Further, you'd be sharing those experiences with all of us here and showing me your game, rather than merely babbling on about the issues ad infinitum.

And that's what renders guys like you a dime a dozen and a nickel a bushel. For at the end of the day when all is finally said and done, it's really all about you and only you, and just as it's probably been all along, you are one with your own agenda.

And quite honestly, that makes you no different from all those self-absorbed political hucksters in D.C. and elsewhere, of whom you purport to so thoroughly despise.

As for myself, I tend to not care about others' opinions of me when I have every confidence that what I'm saying or doing is right and correct. Painfully flawed creature that I am, at least I'm still out there scrapping, and putting one foot in front of the other. I know where I'm going because I know where I've been, and while the dogs may bark, the caravan will pass.

My company has a full time employee who's only purpose is to get the insurance company to pay all the crap they deny.  That person IMO is one of the most valued employees we have.  She has saved me many aggravations and some money, but she saved a coworker of mine a rather large amount because of sort of mix-up with a hospital leaving the network midyear, something apparently he should have known before the surgery.

There is literally no other business in the world in which you sign a form assuming all financial responsibility without having any control over who will be involved and what the costs are.  IMO blindly signing financial liability should illegal under customer protection laws.  

Imagine having a car repaired by BigInsurance.  You go in thinking you have a warranty, but they won't even look at without making you sign a from assuming all responsibility.  But the good news is they accept your warranty.  There is no standardized pricing or any conceivable way to find out if the repairs are covered or what they cost, but it's cool because you have a warranty.  They fix it, no mention of any costs.

A week or two later you get the bills, turns out the warranty isn't accepted by the folks the original service station contracted the work out to, so you are on the hook for the entire amount, even though are one of the lucky ones with a warranty, which the service company stated they accepted.  Oh, and the amount is higher than they would have charged the warranty company had they the taken the warranty.  And there isn't a damn thing you can do about it because apparently consumer protection laws against that kind of BS don't apply to health care or the insurance industry.

All of this BS could be easily avoided with industry specific national consumer protection laws.  Like no one is required to sign for financial responsibility without some sort of estimate that has to be w/i a certain percentage of the final bill.  Or that the facility is on the hook when they use outside services that aren't covered by insurance.  One bill for each visit, if they want to contract out the work fine, but the customer is only billed by the entity in which they went to.  And lastly, a real and understandable reason as to why any item is not covered, maybe even standardized codes so they just can't make up reasons.

Maybe if that doctor didn't have to hire 2 people to code and process all his claims he could see you for $75? And if you can't afford $150 to go to a doctor when you are sick - how are you going to afford $300/mo for a plan with a 5K deductible? huh?