Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I'm trying -

Yeah, I'm trying -
I'm trying to understand why a seven room three bedrooms house in Scarborough with two baths, a two car garage built on 1.2 acres of land, is taxed at $2833 while my single story condo with living room, kitchen, 2 bedroom, 1-3/4 bath, sunroom, and single garage is taxed at $3088. And I have to pay for trash removal, plowing and street lights. The town says they can't

I'm trying to figure out why I paid a State Income Tax this year, and then got a little check in the mail to compensate for my high taxes/low income. And why am I paying a State Tax when the Fed says I don't owe them anything?

I'm trying to figure out why I have to go to my general practitioner who charges my insurance and Medicare $160, so he can tell me I need to see a specialist - a fact which I already knew. And now the insurance company and Medicare have to pay the specialist.
I could have saved them the $160 because I already knew my GP could not take care of my problem.

I'm trying to understand why the government is talking about proactive medicine, but when I go to my naturopathic nutritionist, who is truly proactive and very effective, the government will not recognize that and contribute to the cost.

And I am also trying to figure out how we ever got to the point where a doctor charges more than he could if he didn't have to figure in how much less the government and the insurance company were going to compensate him for his services.

Dishonesty reigns. Hospitals charge $3 for pills we can buy at the drug store for pennies; bigger bucks for medical kits place in a patients chart but never used. Doctors charge a consultation fee for looking in and saying hello.

How did the ophthalmologist fee go from $220 a year ago, to $479 this year? He didn't build a new building or use any new equipment. He put the same kind of drops in my eyes, and spent the same amount of time writing out a scrip.

Why are all roads and highways torn up at once and the signs all say "under construction" and the equipment is idle beside the road and not a laborer is in sight? The street coming into Stoney Creek was "scarfied" and a layer of recycled paving was put down. The man hole covers were exposed by four inches. Going over them was a jolt so I slalomed around them all through August and September. Last week without warning, the trucks rolled in and the flag people - who hold signs that say stop/slow - took up their stations.
Now we have a nice smooth road with a straight course and no cursed man hole covers to dodge. What I would like to know is what were they doing for the two months between start and finish?

When I am eighty I plan to stop trying to figure out all these weighty problems. But I am only (nearly) 79 so I have a little time yet to solve them. Meanwhile, I think I will go out and look at the lovely leaves along the road and the beautiful big glacial rocks which have been rudely hacked into to provide the road. I wonder why they didn't go over those rocks? It would have made great hills for viewing the world beyond.

Janice in Maine





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