I've spent much of the evening researching health insurance options.

It only cements my hatred for the health care system in the US. There is probably no other area where I am so directly opposed to Libertarianism than on health care.

What I seem to have discovered is this: Affordable health insurance is coupled with annual deductibles so high that for routine care and checkups, it won't matter whether or not you have health insurance; the likelihood of hitting a $5k deductible in small. In essence, these plans exist only to stave off the cost of emergency care. If you wish to have a lower deductible, the monthly premiums are going to rise. Ironically, while the deductible may be low, the annual out of pocket maximum is going to be higher. Really, these plans won't protect you as much against the costs of emergency care. If you want to have the best of both worlds, insurance premiums are going to go through the roof (hundreds each month).

There's also something like eight companies which provide insurance for my area... It's difficult enough to weigh the benefits between plans from one provider, much less eight.

I'm really not sure which way to go. I'd like to keep my premiums affordable, but I'd also like the option to start doing regular care without it mattering whether or not I'm insured. A big question, though, is really how much an average visit to the doctor is. I suppose I should try and construct it mathematically.

I'd like to get my mental health evaluated. I could see this potentially requiring regular appointments.

I'd like to see an allergist. I believe this requires monthly visits (for the anti-allergy shots or whatnot.)

I'd like to get a physical, but I probably only need one.

I'd like the option to see a doctor for the occasional illness.

It looks like I'm going to live in California until next March, at least. So let's assume I need coverage for thirteen months. A year (assuming insurance coverage doesn't start immediately.)

One physical.
Twelve allergist visits.
One - twelve mental health visits. Let's go somewhere in the middle and say four.
Three random doctor visits.

So, twenty doctor visits per year.

What's a doctor visit cost, now? The last non-cleaning dental checkup I had was about $150 I think. A quick look at some mental health options seems to support that. No idea about allergists, but I'll assume something similar.

So, $150 per visit. $3000 a year.

Assumption is that a cheap plan won't cover anything until I hit the deductible. At best, that'll probably be $3k or more, so no deductible. Assuming I don't get any emergency care, I'm not likely to hit my deductible from regular healthcare. Premiums for these plans seem to range in the $40-$60 range. Assume $50... $600 per year. Out of pocket expense for me is $3600. If there's an emergency, my annual expense is likely to be about $4000-$5000, tops.

A no deductible plan will either require a copayment for the visits, usually $20-$50 (assume $35), or a percentage, usually about 30-40% (assume 35% or slightly over $50... we'll call it $50 for ease.) Say there's something like $800 in regular doctor costs. Of course, given that I'm getting benefits from the getgo, there's no reason I couldn't go more often, if needed, but i'll pay a percentage regardless. Monthly expenses for these plans seem to range in the $70-$120 range. I'll call it $100 per month, or $1200 per year. So total out of pocket expense is around $2k. Of course if there's an accident, I may be looking at $7500 or so.

Ah, well. I think I've found an ideal middle ground through Blue Cross of California. Unfortunately, when I try to finish up the application process, it keeps failing.

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While I'm on the thought of mental health, what's the difference, practically speaking, between a psychiatrist and a psychologist? I gather that a psychiatrist is a doctor and may prescribe medication while a psychologist usually cannot, but I'm not really sure how they approach things otherwise and what treatment psychologists offer.

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My idea for a story (or stories) using Lillian Francis Smith provides me with some interesting logistical problems which is a fun exercise in story construction.

I'm dealing with a historical figure, but one who's footprint on the historical archive is minimal. This is good because it allows me to develop her as a character without worrying about contradicting too much. Of course, many of her contemporaries would become characters in the story, and those, such as Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill Cody, have a considerably larger footprint. Not that accuracy is necessary, but it'd be nice.

Likewise, there are certain events that are fairly certain to have happened. The initial idea for this story was to look at the events we know and construct a story which presents reasons for these things happening. Of course, to make this work, I need to construct a mystery with these historical cues.

A bigger problem is that I need to construct a mystery. I confess that I don't have much experience with this, nor much of a clue as to how to proceed.

If I could construct a mystery, it'd probably be best to start with an area of little historical importance: Smith's early life before she joined the Wild West Show. Given how young she was when she joined, she'd likely need to be at least a year or two younger, so she'd probably be about 12 or 13 for the story.

I'm not really pushing this forward quickly. The Sammy Austin story I'm working on is the culmination of ideas I've had as far back as 1992 or so.

I suppose I should sign up for something like the Novel in 90 thing that Phoebe mentioned.

1 lb turkey
1 sweet Mayan onion
1 pepper. Not sure what type, but it was a little larger than a jalapeno and it was white in color. Doesn't seem very hot
1 large bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (not really specific, it was just the cheapest single bottle of non-crap beer I could find)
2 cans black beans
1 can yellow corn
About 2/3rds a jar of Trader Joe's red mole sauce (this largely because i forgot to buy tomato sauce)
Some garlic hot sauce (since I forgot garlic)
Cumin, New Mexico chili powder, salt, and pepper for seasoning

Brow the turkey, slightly grill the onions and pepper in the same pan. Mix in pot with beans, corn, and beer. Stir in mole sauce, season as needed. Cooked in oven on 250 for about 4 hours covered. Cooked uncovered for about 30 minutes. Raised heat to 400 and cooked another 20-30 minutes.

Oh so filling. And I think the mole sauce is what I've been looking for to give the chili the depth of flavor. I also didn't use vinegar this time, which may have helped.

Eaten with cornbread and tortilla chips, this is near perfect.

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I took advantage of some after Christmas sales on Amazon and Barnes & Noble which gives me a bit of reading material but (more importantly) also takes care of a good number of Christmas gifts.

The day I got back, Jesse treated all of us to one of his Christmas gifts: The Bobs concert. I think I'd heard a track or two of theirs before in Jesse's car, but the concert experience was quite good. Despite my warnings that I might fall unconcious at any moment, I was enraptured and entertained throughout. Good a capella music and some well done humor. As an added bonus, they did a drawing, and I got a CD.

Since then, things have continued apace in trying to make this feel like home. I've bought a new vaccuum, a new computer chair, and done some slight rearrangement in my room. A friend's given me his old 27 inch TV (soon to be moved into my room and hooked up to the computer.) My computer still is lacking in stability, but it's not failing me critically at the moment.

I've been giving a more critical look at laptops with a mind towards buying one in the next couple of months. It will probably happen around the end of February or early in March. I'm strongly leaning towards buying a MacBook. Given the capabilties, cost, and support it's the strongest offering out there. I'm just not sure which one to get. There's about an $800 difference between my two choices, of which the biggest change is screen size. While I normally wouldn't consider screen size as that important, it can make a bit difference comfort-wise.

I've made a major plunge into declaring myself an adult. I opened a mutual fund for investment. It's a small amount, now, but I'd like to see if it can become enough for a down payment on a house in a few years. I'm also looking to get myself health insurance. I'm finding a bit of a stumbling point at the moment, though, because I don't really have any basis for how much regular (as opposed to critical) medical care costs which is pretty important to determine whether or not I'm going to hit the annual deductable. It's also important, because I'd like to get myself evaluated by a psychologist. I've noted over the past few years that I have had more difficulty keeping with a train of thought and focusing on a topic. Given that I'd like to a) write novels and b) attend graduate school, both of these are somewhat worrisome. I'll probably look more at this later.

I need to get back into writing more regularly. Besides the novel-in-progress, I want to start working on an historic mystery (or series of historic mysteries) set in the late 1800s with Lillian Francis Smith as the main character.

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And I turn a milestone this year. While it's less personally relevant than age 28 (my cyclical birthday), 30 tends to appeal to the masses. As such I'm going to try and hold a big-ish celebration. Plans are still tentative, but I'm going to look at getting an area with a pool table and projection TVs (for video games). Not sure if dinner will be a separate affair or combined, yet. A movie might be part of the package, likely 300.

Date is tentatively set as March 17.


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I've been writing this entry for about 4 hours... I'm -still- stuffed from the chili.