No Alternative

After my previous rant, I imagine you all think I am voting for McCain- that isn't entirely true either. Hubby suggested we vote tonight via our absentee ballots, but I encouraged him to postpone this. The chance is pretty high that we will postpone doing this for so long that I will end up recycling our ballots. The truth is, McCain is, well, concerning. What is this stuff about Palin 'going rogue'? What are they doing?! Big, BIG sigh. (Instead, we watched Sex and the City, the movie, which actually, disappointingly, would have been better as a TV show not as a movie.)


Meanwhile, we have the flu. It is official. With so many of us down, aches, fevers, malaise, chills... and according to CDC, the flu season arrived California about two weeks ago. Pretty awesome, though, that I sent Aidan to school last Thursday and Friday, and that I went to clinic on Thursday and Friday, coughed all over everyone, touched everything, and the best part of all: I was the snack mom today at Aidan's soccer game. That's right, from my influenza infested house, I chopped fruit and prepared snack.

Now the big debate is this: Do we still go get our flu vaccines? Or did we already have the strain that was the predicated strain?

I also feel really dumb: I should have started us on Tamiflu. But I kept thinking we just had a cold, I mean, it is still just October! And I kept thinking that we would shake it off tomorrow, but alas, it has been four days. Argh.

Next year, I am getting ourselves stocked with some Tamiflu in August.

Getting down to business, this is what is wrong with Social Security Disability. For most of us, when we get so sick that we can't go to work, we can collect State Disability, it is essentially an insurance you pay into. As long as you paid it within 1 year of when you need it, you can collect some money. Not a lot, but some. California has some set limits on various conditions, for instance, being postpartum after a vaginal delivery gets you 6 weeks, via C section gets you 8, and your doctor can request for more time. After a year of this, you then need to apply for permanent disability. That is a much more stringent process, and it is a big deal. There are lawyers who work on this, and they get a cut.

Anyway, I find myself doing paperwork for this permanent disability application on behalf of patients, A LOT. To save myself from endless paperwork and all, I just send the entire chart, all the notes I have written, all the labs (including positive drug screens...) and it all goes. Most of the time, everyone gets denied, and people will then hire attorneys and sometimes, they succeed in getting 'their' money.

Now, I will say that these patients need the money. I mean, who doesn't need money? However, a lot of this money isn't spent wisely. Even for people who are high functioning enough to make sure they pay rent on time, they still spend way too much on 1. cigarettes, 2. alcohol, 3. street drugs.

I say, if we are going to have this 'wealth transfer program' anyway, let's just make more decision for these people. This amount should come in the form of 'rent voucher', 'food voucher', clothing 'voucher.' Let's just always make decisions for other people.

Hubby was saying that I should run for public office. I am frankly, too sick to consider that seriously, and besides, I rather like my current job, you know, something I have actually trained for.