Obamacare... and Household Hints from JeffC

Regarding the Consitutionality of Obamacare... 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, of the court's liberal wing, began the questioning during Wednesday's session by suggesting that even if nixing the individual mandate would cause collateral damage, it is a problem for Congress to solve, not one for the High Court to head off. "Why don't we let Congress fix it?" she asked.  

Is she familiar with Congress?? Congress hasn't fixed anything in years. They are the ones who created the law. They like it the way it was voted through.

Healthcare is a complicated, emotionally charged issue. Personally, I favor some things about Obamacare and I'm against other things. That's OK. Like most things that Congress gets their hands on, I just think a bunch of extra junk is stuck in with the very basic thing most people want- some sort of reasonably priced or subsidized health coverage available to those who aren't covered by employers or Medicare, so people don't suffer or die just because they don't have the money to get treatment.

Let's just do this...

1) The medical community can stop overcharging for everything (CT scan $3000 for people without insurance and only $400 when billed to my insurance? seriously? what is the real price on that test? and don't get me started on $20 Tylenol at the hospital...)
2) Make available an insurance pool that is for anyone who is not covered under other insurance already. Premiums on a sliding scale. This isn't just for the poor, but for people who are out of work or without insurance for whatever reason.

That is all. It should just be simpler than it's been made out to be.

Where is Laura?! I'm being left to solve the world's problems on my own today! ;)

Props to JeffC for the best household hint I've gotten in a long time. Our towels were getting this slightly mildewy smell a few months ago. They smelled fresh and wonderful out of the dryer, but as soon as water hit them, then came the gentle wafting of ick. No visible mildew, and I make a great effort to make sure towels are dry before going in the hamper. So weird. Just before I trashed the towels, JeffC said I was using too much soap and that I should turn up the temp on my wash water. He said that soap remains in the fibers and makes them "sticky" to dirt, etc. (Sort of like the carpet, if I don't rinse the spot cleaner out really well.)

So I started washing towels on the "sanitary" cycle, which is ultrahot water and cold rinse, and I halved the amount of detergent. Voilà! No more smell. They are just like new. YAY!