It prolly won't be believed or appreciated but I want to throw another element into the mix that I know about first hand.

That's the whole welfare/Dr dinosaur(a Vermont specific kids medical program)/disability, portion of this equation, which is socialized medicine.

People who do not pay, abuse the system. They go to the doctors for the slightest reasons. Many are scamming the system, many of whom have no compunction about scamming it to the nth degree. This includes for drugs they don't need but can be sold as an enhancement of their personal revenue stream. It happens a lot. If not for the cash, for personal recreational use. Many go to food shelves for food they don't need in order to trade(in the old days, to sell their food stamps for cash) their debit card food allotment for other goods(trade shrimp or salmon, feed the kids mac & cheese).

Not to pick on the poor scammers only, doctors and social workers facilitate much of this abuse by looking the other way or signing off without question. The greater portion of the CPS people and the doctors' vested interest is in perpetuating the system(it's not coming out of our pocket!). That goes for all the court mandated interventions too, in our state anyhow, because most of the mental health/counseling outfits(that serve the poor) are tied in with the state and you either jump through the largely pointless hoops(because as in the old days of mandatory AA meetings), it's not about so much about outcomes but whether the counselors like your attitude, and of course, fines and attendance fees. In the old days, there were no attendance fees, lol.

Not so much anymore, but not that long ago I dealt with these folks on a daily basis, and these varieties of abuse must be an immense financial drag on the system. People are people, most will abuse it if they perceive it as free. Especially the poor who are continually reenforced with the idea they are entitled and otherwise disadvantaged, even though most are just lazy shits.

Having grown up and out of the welfare system(& let us not forget all the drugs poured into kids instead of just whooping their arses a time or two to get their attention in focus as to who is in charge-it use to work just fine for the majority of society), it's long been my contention that welfare/disability cheats are not stupid, as it's a lot of work to jump through the hoops in just the right order, while pleasing and appeasing the various personalities whose approval is needed to carry all this off, and get that trustfund check to appear in their mailbox. There are support groups, and of course, recruiting commercials that you too could be eligible for this or that bandwagon.

Too Gene, could you speak to the doctors need to CYA. Meaning, is it still necessary to test for everything under the sun so no one comes back and sues you for overlooking something or other. My understanding is that leads to mucho wasted dollars, coupled with the malpractice insurance that is needed, just in case.

Hey Dan, what's the cure for the difficulty logging in to DBIS? I hate missing out on passionate spur of the moment responses. And I'd love to post some personal photos. Is there any Mac friendliness scheduled? I gather you're studying but I thought I'd ask. :o)

peaceably

ps Gene weren't kidding, those HD recovery places are expensive.