I'd like to write a book. Not a memoir. All writing contains aspects of an author's life fictional or not, the voice being the main indicator of the mind and perception behind the work. If I write a book, I wouldn't want it to be directly about me so much as the things I've encountered and experienced that I feel are worth illuminating. Journalistic I suppose.
I received a bill today, for dental care. I have dental insurance and health insurance through my work. Fortunate things, that I am grateful for. It is fascinating how these work, the notion of the FT job, benefits, etc. GDP versus GNW?
This bill, well, statement rather, that indicates that a bill is on the way, is both disappointing and unsurprising. Despite the coverage I have, and coverage I have had in the past I have consistently found, that if I receive medical care--of any sort- in this case the perfunctory annual dental cleaning--I should expect to fight the cost and expect to defend my coverage later down the line in a not so simple process--there will always be subsequent notices that bring into question whether or not I still owe money, and more often than not, I do, some loophole exists or the care just didn't fit the coverage paid for. In this instance, I would have forfeited the fluoride treatment had I known it would be extra.
There are heavy flaws in the system, most people have to pay co-pays when receiving care-- just for walking in the door- but there are always multiple additional costs and the processes involved with addressing discrepancies are often time-consuming and convoluted.
As for myself, I am motivated to be healthy--to spend as little as time at the doctor, dentist, etc. as possible, it is already one of my least favorite activities, so it is even more unfortunate, that when visiting these places is absolutely necessary, the subsequent billing makes me regret having sought care in the first place.
Disappointed. With systems.
On a different note, this is the most I've written freely in quite some time. And probably the least cryptic writing I've composed for some time.
I have a lot going on in my brain and would like to make better use of it, especially when it comes to potentially plausible ideas that might benefit society, or larger populations, so called "global thinking" perhaps.
If I have ideas that I think are plausible, occasionally I vocalize them. For instance, recently, I was considering my city becoming an "eco-district" and what that entails, means etc. I've read a bit about urban design and the future of "smart cities". I've wondered about these progressions and how making advances in sustainable large-scale infrastructure designs could benefit society both immediately and in the long-term. One consideration I've had as of late was regarding homelessness. In Saint Paul, the Dorothy Day center is getting revamped and expanded. https://dorothydaycampaign.org/about-the-project/
Revisioned, revitalized.
Wouldn't it make sense to make this building a sustainable and renewable energy source? Cover it in solar panels, and utilize that energy, to convert and/or reduce costs that go into the buildings maintenance, and/or reduce any other costs. I'm not an engineer, I don't know how it would all work. I do know that significant change comes with cost and there's this age old expression that hasn't quite died out yet...."you gotta spend money to make money." Either way, I look forward to seeing the continued development of the twin cities.
On a related note, I read about this site recently and then on the same day, was traveling on a city bus where analysts were collecting data on riders of the bus.
Socioeconomics of public transit.
http://alltransit.cnt.org/about-the-data/
28 soon. Warm weather on the way. Here's to another week. Years.
