I don't like it... it's too quiet in here... like waiting for the other shoe to drop.


Only news on my end is a new rear tube and rim lock waiting to be installed. Old rim lock was a MP Liteloc and the front broke, taking the front tube with it. The rear now has a slow leak, so I suspect the rear Liteloc is also a casualty. I'll be replacing it with a standard MP rim lock that should hold up better.

Now I just need to find the motivation to go out and get it done. Every time I go out to do it, I end up on taking a spin on the Versys instead...LOL

 

Speaking of Versys, I'd like to see a 400V using the new engine. The 300V gets a little wheezy with that extra weight. The new 400 motor is surprisingly torquey and has more hp.

I have two new tires sitting next to the KLX ready for install...my traditional Kenda Parker Desert front and Kenda Trakmaster II rear.

 

I tore up a knee at school, filed with Bureau of Workman's Comp - biggest mistake ever, should have lied about it and said I did it at home to my own doctor - school self insured and, of course, they denied the claim. Now after a month and a half without any medical help, I have a sore knee and a hearing. I did finally get an MRI, so we will see what happens. Catch 22 - personal insurance says "workman comp claim, insurance won't pay", workman comp says "denied". WTF? Only way I will ever do another workman comp is if they have to haul me out on a stretcher and it is clearly a work issue. Otherwise "it happened when I was working around the house".

Heaven only knows if my summer is hosed again. I hope not. At least I plan to see several flat track events, hopefully Springfield in May, Lima in June, Peoria in August, and four Ohio regionals/vintage, in July. If the knee can do it, some riding. Maybe I finally put on the 299cc cylinder, flat slide, and pipe in May.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

Ahhh that sucks. I actually made my first trip to the ER a couple weeks ago at 51 years old. Seems that I passed a kidney stone, and although I lucked out and passed it without too much drama, I didn't enjoy it.

The meat of the story is... my ER visit went smoothly, in and out in a couple hours. No drama or long wait times. Basically a CT scan, blood drawn, BP taken, pee in a cup as best you can, and finally some pain meds to take the edge off.

Total bill sent to my insurance company = ER visit = $8765.00, ER Doc = $350.00, CT scan = $527.00 (so far...lol)

Insurance paid about $900 of which my copay is about $308.

What in the hell do people do who don't have real health insurance?

 

$8765 for your visit that didn't involve major medical treatment or surgery. And they wonder what's wrong with the healthcare industry.

 

That's why there needs to be some system to help working citizens attain health care. If they're poor enough they have a med card where Medicare covers them, but if not they go broke. The fact is insurance is a pay it forward, the young and healthy are paying in without collecting for now. Bad debt in the medical field will push up pricing too, so either way someone is paying. Fact is everyone should be paying in and covered, those who are young and healthy will eventually not be healthy or young and will need health care. The whole industrialized world works with either socialized medicine or socialized health care insurance... except the U.S. We are probably still around 37th in the world in personal health care per citizen out of 31 industrialized nations, yes 37th - six non-industrialized nations come in ahead of the U.S.

My premiums are $3000/yr for wife and I, school pays an additional $17,000! 20K/yr for 10 years for sure. If all of the private policies were pooled I'm thinking there'd be a whole lot of money available for health care. Not so much for the share owners. Right now it's monetarily correct, not morally correct.

 

A little cost comparison to your $20k a year for you and your wife: My wife and I both have traditional Medicare (NOT Medicare Advantage) and our total premiums are $2880 - Medicare, and $5000 for supplemental (medigap) insurance from United Health Care.

For this we get no deductibles and no co-pays. Other than drugs, the premiums are our total yearly healthcare costs. We have never had a dispute with Medicare in 17 years. And we've had a lot of action between the two of us: kidney cancer, bladder cancer, hip replacements, knee replacements.

A little editorial comment: I'm always amazed at the amount of people who don't understand the difference between socialized medicine (the VA) and socialized health insurance (Medicare)

 

Installed a set of Shinko 705s 2 days ago. No mud in my forcast for at least 6 months and they are so much better on pavement than the Dunlop 603s that came with the bike.

I don't know if I am delerious, but my top speed is higher too. Saw 90 mph indicated on the freeway yesterday, and that was without drafting on level ground.

 

That's why I mention both. One is managing the actual health care, the other is how it is paid for.

I'm on Medicare A and when I retire I hit the rest. So you're telling me ball park 8 grand for insurance... $667/mo. That's a serious hit. Sure makes the systems in effect in all those other countries look good. One rider from Canada said their system covered him when he got sick while in the US and covered his son when his son was injured in an accident in the US. Nice!

 

Yup we have it pretty good up here but we pay for it just the same as you guys. Our tax rates are far higher