Text 16424, 119 rader
Skriven 2011-10-08 09:41:18 av Dave Drum (1:261/38)
  Kommentar till text 16375 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: Insurance
=================
-=> Janis Kracht wrote to Dave Drum <=-

 >> That sounds outrageous.  Gail recently had an MRI to help diagnose a
 >> bone chip in her elbow.  The amount billed was $1778, but the bill was
 >> knocked down to 443.64, as per agreement with Medicare.  Medicare paid
 >> 80% and our secondary coverage paid the rest. We paid nothing.  Sorry
 >> to hear about what your insurance is doing to you.

 >> I've seen similar things on other bills in the past, e.g. procedures
 >> billed at $3000 knocked down to a few hundred $, again with us paying
 >> nothing.

 > When I had my first major thing done under Medicare (and the Blue Cross
 > supplement) they put a stent into my descending anterior artery. Four days
n
 > hospital, etc, etc. The windowed envelope came from Memorial Medical Center
 > and I opened it with a sense of impending doom.

 > Sure enough, U$38,000.

 JK> wow - that's a bundle, understandable though :)

 > But, under that were the "adjustments" and payments. And when I got to the
 > bottom line (literally) that said "You owe .... $0.00" my gap toothed grin
 > could have lit Tiger Stadium on a moonless night.

 JK> I can understand your joy :)  What a relief that must have been!  I
 JK> guess I better get going on the medicare thing... Ron's policy is not
 JK> getting better Lol.  Maybe between the two, we'll actually survive the
 JK> next year with med. bills.

Especially as you can probably use Ron's insurance as the supplementary for the
Medicare. Or can you? I pay Blue Cross a whack every month to pick up the stuff
not covered by parts A & B of the Medicare. Part D (the prescription drug
coverage) is going to take some study and some advice from the local Senior
Centre. For the past four years the tab for the Part D has been covered by the
State of Illinois - but, with the deficit woes, etc. the income threshold has
been raised for the freebie. Never thought I'd have making too much money as a
problem.   Bv)=

Anyway, my maintenance drugs are all generics and co$t me under U$30/mo. But,
I've got this itchy feeling between my shoulder blades that something is going
to cause me to have to spring for "call" drugs for which there is no generic
and are a lot of $$$. But, that's what insurance is for. I'll feel less nervous
once I am back under someone's umbrella.

Anyway - I found this in my daily e-mail from the New York Times ... and it
seems that rattlesnake tastes *nothing* like chicken.    Bv)=

How Does Rattlesnake Taste?
By Maud Newton

Many compare it with chicken, some say it's like alligator and campers in the
Southwest, where it's most often eaten, call it desert whitefish. In fact,
rattlesnake tastes, at least when breaded and fried, like a sinewy,
half-starved tilapia. Maybe that's why it tends to be served in chillis and
stews, where spices and peppers lend the illusion of flavor.

Not that there's any consensus on how best to cook it. A collection of recipes
from forest rangers suggests grilling over campfire coals or frying in a
buttered skillet with onion or sage. Savenor's Market in Boston, which shipped
a western diamondback to me overnight when I couldn't find one to buy in New
York City, recommends parboiling. But I recently followed Harry Crews's recipe
ù printed in "The Great American Writers' Cookbook" (1981) ù which calls for
the snake to be cut into one-inch slices, soaked in vinegar, dashed with
Tabasco, battered in flour, pepper and salt and fried. The flesh was bland and
difficult to eat. A couple tiny bone splinters that I crunched into by accident
tasted like chicken gizzard, a pleasing respite from the overall lack of taste,
even though I couldn't actually chew them up and swallow them.

Crews, a Georgia native, really focuses more on capturing a rattlesnake than on
cooking it. He calls for driving the serpent from its nest on a cold day by
blowing gasoline through a hose into a gopher hole and then toting the snake
home in a burlap sack while trying to avoid being bitten. Maybe wild-caught
snakes would be gamier, more like alligator or crawdad than tough, chewy fish.
They would, at the very least, make for a much more exciting meal.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

      Title: Snake Steak
 Categories: Five, Game, Exotics, Chilies
      Yield: 1 serving

      1    Rattlesnake; gutted, skinned
           Vinegar
           Trappey's Red Devil Hot
           - Sauce
           Salt & Pepper
           Flour

  Gut and skin the snake. No particular skill is needed for
  either job. Cut off the head six inches behind the eyes.
  Cut off the tail 12 inches above the last rattle. Rip him
  open along the stomach and take out everything you see.

  Peel him like a banana using a pair of pliers as you would
  to skin a catfish. Cut the snake into one inch steaks.

  Soak in vinegar for ten minutes. Drain and dry. Sprinkle
  with hot sauce, any of the brands out of New Iberia. Roll
  in flour and deep fry, being careful not to overcook. Salt
  to taste and serve with whatever you ordinarily eat with
  light, delicate meat.

  Figure one snake per guest. Always better to have too much
  than too little when youÆre eating something good.

  Recipe by: Harry Crews; The Great American WritersÆ Cookbook

  From: http://http://maudnewton.com

  Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives

MMMMM

... Doing nothing is very hard. You never know when you're finished - Dave Drum

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