Hah! -blushes- Well, I'm glad we can come to that. It's a hard thing to learn about and I know that I've tried to make heads or tails of it myself many time and have just failed miserably in my search for truth and "facts" that make sense and I've come up with things that are more opinion than fact and just given up for the most part.

I just know that in a few months, I will have finally paid off all of my ER bills from the last 5 years after ignoring them during my times of severe penny pinching lol

You just hit the nail on the head. You had an expensive ER visit and are diligently paying it off. However, reality is that you are not paying for "your" ER visit...you are paying for the other hundreds of thousands who went there for a runny nose, or headache, and paid nothing. You are paying for the multi gunshot and stab wound patient, whose bill was 1000 times yours, and paid nothing. On average, 15% of ER patients do not pay anything on their bill. At some facilities (the busiest, inner city one's) that number approaches 80% or more). As you have discovered, the idea that "we all pay" is bogus. It is those who "do" pay that pay for everything. Again, something found in no other business then "health care" and "government programs", where a few are being asked to pay for the many...and that "many" is growing in number.

Yeah, and it's annoying. And I'll admit the only reason I decided to pay off the bills was because it was a hit on my credit report and my fiance and I would like to buy a house one day. Because in the end, it's people who actually do pay on their bills that get punished. That age old saying of "it only takes one person to ruin it for everyone."

It's very difficult for nearly everyone to understand many things.
Many things are very complex. Then when politicians get involved, good luck to us.

Very true! Because it's hard to keep up with what's the truth, what is garbled truth, and what is a flat out lie!

It's much easier if you just assume it's all a lie.

My point is that the entire situation is a trickle down effect and it starts with the cost of educating doctors and nurses. It all gets translated into the price of things. I'm also a big ol' tree-huggin' socialist when it comes to healthcare, which is why I didn't respond to the other comments regarding the situation. I'm steadfast in these views and won't likely change them any time soon.

Stormy, the socialized health systems in some nations, for instance, Scotland, or Norway work. They work great, in fact. However, they work, because you have a population with a near zero unemployment rate and a very high overall income level (near zero poverty and near zero illiteracy). In nations such as Canada and the UK, where unemployment and low level jobs are far more prevalent, then the systems are unraveling as so few people have to shoulder the huge bills of a larger and larger population not paying to keep the system afloat. They make up for it with reduced and limited services (if you are too old, sorry, no transplant or no high tech prosthetic..things we take for granted having access to in the USA). In this nation, however, there are so, so many unemployed, illegals and high medical needs patients, that socialized medicine is a house of cards that cannot help but fall. You cannot have one worker supporting the cost of 10 people who are not paying into the system and then expect any level of care. The math doesn't work. The finances don't work. If you have some magic wand to wave over this situation or know how to change that basic equation, do tell. It is sure beyond me.

agreed, it is disrespectful to steal. for some reason, I visualized a silly skit of sorts w/ this girl doing her thing. just amused by the thoughts of the mental skit of it all.

A large diameter glass cigar tube works too.

A lot of the well made glass toys are optically clear at the end and work great for this.

Interesting. Is that glass thick enough to be "safe" from breakage during play? We don't smoke so have never seen or held one.

Such as?