I came across this picture on TwicPic this morning. Wisconsin’s struggles with their Gov. Scott Walker has made more than nation media. It’s made worldwide media.

The kicker on this story is who is pulling the strings (According to Forbes, it’s the Koch Brothers) AND the union has agreed to Scott Walker’s concessions. They will pay A LOT more out of the paychecks for health insurance and their pensions. I also came across this being posted on Facebook (and how true it is):

Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM
with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)

BUT wait!! Even with the concessions being granted, Scott Walker is still not backing down. If this was truly about the budget and only the budget, he’d be jumping for joy and these protests would be over. However, since this is truly about union busting, he is still digging his heels and won’t give up until collective bargaining is done for.

Scott Walker, you have made a mockery of Wisconsin. People of Wisconsin — I couldn’t be more proud to say that I was born and raised there. You have stood up for what is wrong, and if I was there, I’d be protesting with you.

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I spent yesterday morning with a shy crabby kid and three therapists in my living room.  It was a tad nerve wracking on my part, since at first, all Will would do was throw their toys back at them.  It took about twenty minutes and at least he started to do what they wanted.  We got good and bad news.

Now, to qualify for Early Intervention, Will had to be 30% behind.  On both occupational and development skills I think he scored out at 21 months (he’s 25 months).  That isn’t enough to qualify for services.  However, like we all thought, he scored at 17 months for his speech which means he’s 32% behind.  He qualified!

Now, we have the fun part.  Since early intervention is a state funded service, I had to literally sign my life away.  Okay, maybe not my whole life but damn it was a lot of papers.  First, they have to send something to my health insurance which they will most likely deny.  This will take 2 weeks.  Then they have to verify Bill’s income to come up with what we will owe monthly (yeah, I wish it was free but it’s not).  Then they can finally set up a therapist.  I am thinking Madison might be in school before this all gets set up.  We’ll have to see.

Needless to say, I am happy.  I am hoping this will help him talk better and more and end a lot of the frustration in our house.

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Many of you know my kids have not had a good year with their health.  I also have surgery next week, so I’m not helping our healthcare woes either.  Now, let me start by stating that I have fairly decent health insurance.  It covers most of what we need covered, $1000 deductible, $3,000 out of pocket family deductible.  Now, with everybody’s issues this year, we may actually make the family deductible.  My kids (before insurance) alone have wracked up over $20,000 in medical bills this year.  We definitely are getting our money’s worth (finally!).

So why am I worried?  Bill’s insurance is dependent on his job.  This is the worst construction (which is the field he works in) has ever been (according to an article he sent me a while pack) here in Chicago.  We keep our fingers crossed at all times here.  My biggest concern would be Madison.  Seeeeee, with her history, she’s pretty much uninsurable if we would have to pick up our own health insurance.  Her ketosis acidosis would be considered a preexisting condition that most insurances will most likely not cover or if I could actually find one, the deductible would be so high it may be pointless or we won’t be able to afford it. (And yes, I’ve actually looked into this).  Depending on what we find on my surgery next Wednesday, I may or may not fall into the same case too.

Though, is government run medicine the answer?  I don’t know.  My fear is that if the government starts offering up insurance that small companies, like the one my husband works at, will have no incentive to offer insurance.  I’ve heard about the long lines and substandard care in countries with socialized medicine.  I don’t want that either.  I can’t offer up anything better than what we have which is clearly broken.

What are your thoughts?  What is the right answer?

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