Tuesday, June 05, 2012


1847- WE FIX FLAT



I was going to cover Exodus chapter 4- but let’s see how much time we have.

Last week I noticed a bump on my right arm- and I was familiar with the feeling.

I told my wife ‘damn- a got bit by a brown recluse- again!’

Yes- many years ago in Kingsville I had a bite on the leg.

I didn’t know what it was at first- so I ‘self treated’.

I had some leftover antibiotics and sat in Epson salt.

The bite got big- red- and really ugly [won't give you the gory details- look on line if you want].

It eventually left a hole in the middle of the infected area.

Years Later I realized it was a brown recluse spider.

So- when I showed my wife the bite- she kinda doubted at first.

But after a couple of days she was like ‘when are you going to see the doctor’.

Of course- I self treated again [it’s in the final stage- why go now?]

That brings me to another thing- I don’t have health insurance.

Why?

When I retired from the fire dep’t we did not have a contract deal like the northern depts.

Today Wisconsin holds their recall- it looks like Walker will win.

One of the reasons for the recall was Walker ‘recalled’ bargaining rights for some public service employees.

He left the Cops and Firefighters alone.

But these guys do indeed have ‘Cadillac’ retirement plans.

They get their insurance covered- in some cases- 100%.

Not here in South Texas.

So- after I retired I got my kids on a plan [they are on their own now] and I applied for my wife to get on with the V. A.

We were both in the Navy [I did not get on- made too much money- but not enough to buy my own in the private market].

So- I self treat- or pay cash [around 120 on average] for a doc visit.

This is what some people don’t get.

I had a conversation with a liberal friend of mine.

They get free coverage for themselves and a family member.

The ‘son in law’ also got on the plan.

None of them work- the daughter and the sons are drug addicts.

And the state they live in [N.J.] considers ‘drug addiction’ a disability- they all get free coverage.

Now- I don’t judge them- or complain [too much].

But one time they were arguing with me about how everyone who was complaining about Obama care were deadbeats who didn’t want to help pay for those in need.

I told them that I not only pay for myself [when I have the cash] but I also will now pay the fine [if the Supreme Court doesn’t strike it down].

I explained to my friend that my daughters will also pay the fine- except my daughter who is a teacher.

So my household will be paying a couple of thousand extra bucks a year- a fine- because I have no insurance- and I still don’t have coverage.

So- for people who don’t work- who get the free coverage like my friend- they don’t understand why some of us are ‘miffed’.

One time at the fire dept we ‘self insured’.

Every year the city put out bids for our insurance.

And every so often our plans would change- you would go in and get briefed on the new plan and all.

So one year they decided to do the self insurance thing.

The city hires someone to administrate the plan [Entrust] but they only do the clerical work- the pool of money is simply the money the city collects from the workers.

Risky indeed- one guy with HIV and the pool is empty.

So we had a bunch of disgruntled fire fighters to say the least.

It didn’t help much that some of us veterans kinda teased them a bit.

They would ask ‘what’s self insurance’.

We told them ‘whoever is on duty that night- they will provide the health care for your family’

What?

Yeah- at our fire dept we also ran the EMS service [ambulance].

Over the years we had various medical criteria that we had to meet.

For most of my time I was an EMT.

Some of the guys were Paramedics.

Others held something called ECA.

This was truly the bottom of the line certification.

It was basically a glorified first aid thing.

Most of the Captains held this- eventually it was done away with all together.

So- we told the new guys ‘yeah- that’s what self insurance is- we will be providing the care to ourselves- just hope you don’t get stuck with the ECA when you call for help’.

Needless to say- they were livid.

You know- kidding around breaks the ice at a job like that. LOL

One more from the fire dept. and I’ll be thru.

The town I worked in was a great little city- Kingsville.

My retirement comes from that job.

We would drive around often- whether a fire or simply doing maintenance on the fire hydrants.

So we would see all the little FIX A FLAT shade tree mechanics all over the place.

We would get a kick out of the signs that said ‘WE FIX FLAT’.

I mean we didn’t expect the guys to be geniuses- but at least put an S at the end of flat.

So one time I told one of my buddies ‘man- you’ll never guess what happened- I brought my truck to the tire guy- and had a couple of flats’.

 He fixed one and said he was finished.

 I told him ‘man- what about the other flat’?

He said ‘can’t you read the sign?’  Nuff said.








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