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This must be based on your own experience, as mine is entirely different.  I took care (happily) of my own mother in her last years of life, and I have several aunts and uncles who have also been taken care of by their children.  Willingly and with love.  I hope I have instilled the value of helping those you love into my own two children.  However, I did not choose to have children as a part of a "retirement plan"!

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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I love this comment.  My cousin (childless by choice) was asked by a friend when she and her husband were going to have children.  My cousin said "not for a good while - if ever".  Her friend actually said "We had ours early and got it out of the way"!!  My cousin's quick and intelligent response was "If I felt that way I definitely would not ever have a child."  Just speaks to the idea that people believe having kids is part of the "natural progression" rather than a conscious decision. 

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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What government mandates are you referring to that increase the cost of health care?  And I think the millions of people covered by medicare would disagree with you that the government has made their access to healthcare worse.

posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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I so agree with you.  Why are the insurance companies so afraid of being run out of business by a public option?  And if they are that inefficient (and greedy), maybe they need the competition. 

I am also self-employed, and my husband is avoiding starting his own business in large part because of the cost of health insurance and its rapidly increasing rates.  So now we get insurance from his employer and it costs our family over $1000/month! We're lucky to have it and be able to afford it, but surely we can do better in this country.

posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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Somehow we have to standardize what it means to have health insurance.  Right now, there are so many different plans, all with different coverages, different copays, different exclusions, different deductibles.  It is impossible to negotiate the maze, and if you're employer is providing an insurance option, you may have no choice as to your plan.  This complicated system surely adds to the cost and inefficiency of the system, and out-of-pocket costs may still make obtaining medical care prohibitively expensive for many people.  It seems to me that one way to standardize it is to provide a public option....

posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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I live near Albany and we do paddle the river here, not much swimming for no particular reason. But, from a public health perspective, all the comments regarding people not getting acutely ill following exposure to the river are missing the boat, so to speak. Acute illness is much different than chronic effects. Judging the river on that basis is similar to saying that "well, my blood pressure is high, but I feel fine, so there must not be a problem". I don't know enough scientific facts about the river to comment on its condition, but I do know that only discussing the human exposure issues in terms of acute illness is not a very thorough assessment. We know there is chemical contamination of the river. How does that affect us after repeated exposure and what is building up in our bodies? How about different effects on children compared to adults? How do we find that info?

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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