The little "angels"

Whenever you see a kid on TV with a chronic illness-whether it is a real kid in a fundraising ad or a fictional character in a show-that kid is portrayed as being a sweet, brave soul, enduring medical torture with no complaints at all.  A few of them really are that way.  But, dear readers (if any of you exist), please let go of that mental picture.  Nothing about chronic illness automatically makes a child into a saint.
How a kid responds to chronic illness depends on the kid's underlying personality as well as what kind of parenting he gets.  Some parents spoil their sick kids rotten to "make up for" the illness; those kids are just pure evil for health care professionals to deal with.  Some are just scared of painful procedures, and who can blame them?  But the uncomplaining ones are rare.

"Affordable Care Act"--affordable for who?

I saw a news article this week saying how some insurance companies are starting to get nervous about the requirements of the "Affordable Care Act," aka "Obamacare."  The companies knew they would no longer be allowed to refuse to cover pre-existing conditions, and that there would be a cap on how much they could charge sick people in premiums.  But all that was okay, because everyone was gonna have to buy insurance.  All those young healthy people paying premiums and not making claims would balance the books.

But the young healthy people can do math.  When insurance premiums are $3000 per year, and the fine for not having insurance is $100 per year, their choice seems simple.  And the insurance companies are starting to sweat.