Labor Day Post

Obama health care has seen Medicare Advantage leave 200,000 in the lurch in Massachusetts and now the estimates are over 3,000,000 will be looking elsewhere nationwide. I guess that is “change?”

Now that I am on Medicare I see managed care first hand as a recent procedure was rejected as being “too close” to when it was previously done. My secondary insurance managed to pick it up but with many that simply does not happen.

While on an insurance kick I am wondering why Medicare doesn’t have a dental program? I looked into private programs and they happen to be costly for the coverage provided. Say $40-50 a month for a single subscriber with deductibles and caps of $1,000 per calendar year. You know how much a root canal and crown cost? Doesn’t even come close. Now I like to negotiate prices on everything and dental care is one. I asked on my last visit if I could get the Mass Health or Medicaid rate and they said no. So the simple hygienist appointment will cost me twice as much. So today may be my last visit to this dentist to whom I have been going for thirty years. I’ll shop around for what the basic costs are - hygienist, full X-Rays, crowns and simple fillings.

“We expect a little bit of violence while we transition.” That was one of the remarks by Joe Biden regarding Iraq. The current failed administration also praised the previous failed administration for the success of the troop surge. Stories regarding how many billions were and continue to be wasted in Iraq are in the news with projects unused. Next stop Afghanistan.

In the last few months I have had the opportunity to go to court on matters not related to me and have notice an eerie comparison to casinos. With both as long as you keep them coming back you will make money. Howie Carr likes to say “In the halls of justice the justice is in the halls” and that seems quite appropriate. I enjoyed listening to the bargaining back and forth between lawyers as they attempt to reach a mutually acceptable compromise rather than to risk it all before a judge. The judges I have seen certainly give credence to the very old statement that a judge is someone who knows (contributes) a governor.

Hurricane time which means I go to the store and but 20 gallons of milk and 20 loafs of bread. Maybe all the cases of bottled water? But the hurricane became more of a windstorm as the day and night progressed with the Outer Banks region giving it a big yawn.

Red Sox are not officially dead but to me the season is now over. Tampa and New York show no signs of a tailspin and Boston has too many players on the disabled list. I think $28,000,000 is on the DL.

Middleboro has some type of road improvement in the picture as politicians - both local and state - were falling all over themselves in self congratulatory mode. I understand there was a medical team available to treat all the strains from patting themselves on the back.

The latest poll to see who we’ll get stuck with for governor shows “One And Out” with a slight lead over Baker (R-HMO) with Tim Cahill a big money scratch ticket away. Sooner or later Cahill will have to back out.

The Tribe seems to have stirred some interest in those few hearty souls who actually care about the casino. Tribe has decided to invest what little money they have left to copy virtually every public document in existence. The speculation appears to be centered on the anti element who are fascinated by this. I think the Tribe may actually use all this paper to build an origami casino in Fall River. The mayor at that fast fading collection of abandoned warehouses sees the casino as a fiscal savior.