Kirk W

2 hours ago, Chalkie said:

Our PCM is not only the general/family practice doctor that we see for routine or non-urgent visits, he also is the "collection" point for the data from the various specialists we see.

That sounds a lot like the primary doctor in an HMO, where you must see the PCM for referral to any type of specialist? My primary care physician will sometimes refer us to a specialist but we have the option of choosing our own specialists and my not be involved at all. For instance, 15 1/2 years ago on a visit to my primary care physician, a family medicine practitioner, I asked about a mole on my left ear and was referred to a choice of 2 dermatologists. The one that I chose did a biopsy and then sent me to a specialist in Mohs surgery without any contact with our pcp. Since that time I have moved twice, changing PCP doctors each time but continued with the same dermatologist. Appointments with him are made without contact with my PCP and the same is true from my annual urologist follow-up. As I understand it, with the PCM those rechecks would need to be made via the PCM. 

Pam has the same PCP as I do, but she also has a gastroenterologist who she contacts directly when needed and the same is true for her orthopedic doctor. Thanks to electronic medical records, each of us have only 1 medical record which each of our doctors have access to and add to when we visit, even though they are not all in the same practice, via the EpicCare Link medical record system. 

15 hours ago, lappir said:

So I'm thinking about a Poll of how may of the participants on this forum have a:

It might be interesting to start a poll, which any forum member can do. 

Pam & I have the same Primary Care Physician, but I'm not sure what a Primary Care Manager is, if it is something different? As well as the PCP, in the past few years I have seen a pulmonologist one time for check up by referral, a cardiologist also once by referral (both due to my age and never having seen one), an orthopaedic spine surgeon once to check a back injury and a urologist for prostate surgery and now an annual follow-up. I also see dermatologist every 6 months to prevent a return of previous melanoma that was now 15+ years ago. My PCP also has a Nurse Practitioner who assists her and most patients alternate visits with 6 months between. It is interesting to note that the cost to my Medicare & Insurance is exactly the same no matter if I am seen by the PCP or her NP. 

A few years ago, I read an article that compared the total earnings by the age of 50, net of the cost of education, for a long list of different professions. I did an internet search but have not found it. As I remember the #1 profession for total income by age 50(net of education expenses) was a plumber and the highest medical profession was down about fifth or sixth. The nearest thing to that which I found was Top 25 Highest Paying Jobs in the World in 2023.

12 hours ago, Chalkie said:

I have two cousins that are doctors and a brother-in-law that is the CEO of a hospital.

I have 2 retired and 2 active nurses in the family and my wife was a health plan administrator many years ago, if that matters. I don't know that I consider doctors or anyone else over paid. I do know that medical costs are a problem today but I have no ideal how to change that.  What Are the Countries With the Best Healthcare?

I would think that the numbers are personal income, net of job related expenses. But I don't know for sure. I didn't get the impression that the article was critical of doctor incomes, just stating facts.

These jobs require extensive education and training and are some of the most demanding positions in the workforce — they can be stressful and require long shifts or overtime.

The work is intense, but the professions are growing. The BLS estimates 24,200 new physician and surgeon jobs will open each year over the next decade as population growth, an aging population, increasing rates of chronic illnesses, and retirement create added demand for doctors. But the investment in training and time has a solid return; while salaries do vary by location and specialty, physicians are some of the most well-compensated healthcare practitioners, and the highest-earning Americans in general.

We were fulltime for 12 years but have now been off the road for 10+ years so there would be some things that have changed. It was those years on the road that caused us to become life members of Escapees, but all of my club involvement has been as a volunteer so have a lot of experience with the group but have never been an employee. There is a lot of experience and knowledge to be found from club & forum members, and I'm only one voice among many. 

What do doctors earn in the US?

The compensation of physicians and surgeons in the United States reflects a complex landscape shaped by factors like specialty, geographic location, and demand.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), approximately 816,900 Americans were working as physicians or surgeons as of May 2022. In 2022, the median annual wage for physicians and surgeons was $229,300, according to the BLS. This was nearly five times more than America's general median wage, which was $46,310.

12 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

Just one GFCI as the closest receptacle to the circuit breaker, protects all receptacles downstream.

While this is typically the case, it doesn't have to be wired that way and occasionally is not.

HOW TO REMOVE PEX COPPER CRIMP RING  article and/or the video   HOW TO REMOVE PEX COPPER CRIMP RING

I hope that you find this helpful.

If you buy an RV or tow vehicle now and keep it at or near your home in CA, the law does require you to license it in CA and there are fines for failing to do so. On the other hand you could buy them now and store them in a state that you plan to claim as your home and if you keep an address in that state you could quite legally register and insure them in whatever state you have them stored in when not traveling over the highways. CA is one of the more aggressive states about enforcement of such laws, although many other states are becoming more active in that area. 

I suggest that the first thing that you do would be to learn more about what domicile is and how it is determined by reading Ultimate Guide for Residency and Domicile as a Full Time RVer, along with several other similar articles. I think that you might find the Escapees RV Club to be very helpful as they are a support group for people travel in RVs with a lot of emphasis on those who travel of extended periods. While the majority of members are retirees, the most rapidly growing part of the membership is the members who still work as they travel. The club has a special subgroup called X-scapers that is made up of such people. 

Before you do anything else, make sure that all of your 120V circuit breakers are closed. The only way to know that for sure is to open each one and then close it again as a tripped circuit breaker is very difficult to detect visually. Do you own a multimeter that you can test for 120V to the outlet with? A GFI outlet that does not have 120V will not reset so check that first. Pull it out and measure between the wires connected to it before you replace it. If there is 120V at the connections and it doesn't reset, then open the circuit breaker and replace it. Be very careful to make all of the connections exactly as they are now. 

East to West has an interesting history. Lisa Rees incorporated East to West and North to South Inc. (the company’s full name) in May 2017 and didn’t begin building the Della Terra until January 2018. In July of that same year, she sold her company to Forest River, where her father is CEO and became general manager of its newest division.

1 hour ago, BamaDaz said:

I have heard that running the propane on frig while driving is the leading cause of rv fires.

While it is often debated, the simple fact is that the RV propane system was designed to be used while traveling and is used by thousands of RV owners while traveling, especially when traveling in very cold weather. There are many antidotal stories that are popular in RV mythology, but try and find one that can be documented. It is wise to turn off the refrigerator when you stop for fuel, but in my years of RV experience, I have used the propane refrigerator for many miles and when traveling with a motorhome in cold weather we also use the furnace. If traveling in extreme cold weather your plumbing will freeze.

There is truth to the opinion that the RV refrigerator is a common cause of RV fires but it is not from the use of propane but rather from the failure of the absorption cooling unit. There is an excellent aftermarket device called the Fridge Defend that prevents pretty much all of that type of failure. 

20 hours ago, lappir said:

I my mind the only person getting any advantage is the salesperson who convinced you to give them your money. 

I feel quite safe in my opinion that insurance companies would not spend the vast amounts for advertising that they do if the policies that they are selling do not make them very handsome profits. I find many of the advertisements for Part C plans to be very offensive, implying that your are stupid or mentally deficient if you don't buy their Plan C. 

10 minutes ago, BamaDaz said:

has anyone done that and can the truck keep up with keeping trailer battery charged?

I am wondering why you would want to do that? I have operated my RV refrigerators on propane while traveling for years, as have numerous others but you can also just turn it off and it will be fine for 6 to 8 hours, especially if you don't open the door. 

I believe that you bad information. I suggest that you visit the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle dept. for accurate information.

I suggest that you start by reading Ultimate Guide for Residency and Domicile as a Full Time RVer

Since Jessfar has not been back since posting his question, I doubt that he will be. 

I'm not sure what you mean by "your RV TAG as the address" when you ask? Are you planning to change to a FL domicile and leave WI? I doubt very much that you could keep a Wi CDL if you move your domicile to FL. I suggest that you start by reading Ultimate Guide for Residency and Domicile as a Full Time RVer

Changes to Medicare for 2024

Each year, the Medicare Part B premium, deductible, and coinsurance rates are determined according to provisions of the Social Security Act. The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B enrollees will be $174.70 for 2024, an increase of $9.80 from $164.90 in 2023. The annual deductible for all Medicare Part B beneficiaries will be $240 in 2024, an increase of $14 from the annual deductible of $226 in 2023.

See the link above for complete information.

That is interesting! Thank you for posting the link.

3 hours ago, SWharton said:

Is this true of all the pictures posted?

That depends on how the pictures get posted. If you use cut & paste to post them then the picture is stored on the host forum. If you use a link from a photo hosting site or even from some other website, then all that is stored on the forum site is your link. How the pictures can be inserted into a post depends on the software being used by the forum host and if the forum is not "in house" but is located on a commercial forum host site like this one is, then the cost of the forum is dependent upon the amount of storage paid for. There are some forums that allow either method of inserting pictures.

Very few public internet forums are actually on the server of the host organization but are actually on the servers of a hosting business. Forum hosting services typically cost between $100 and $500 per month, depending on the size of the forum and the storage it uses. The rise of social media: In recent years, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become increasingly popular, and many people now use these platforms to communicate and share information with each other. This has been especially true at the Escapees RV Club with the increase in younger membership. 

10 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

Presently this is where varying toll passes are accepted.

I looked at Toll Guru but it isn't current for NTTA & SunPass each accepting the other and it makes no mention of any of the national transponder services that are trying to gain acceptance by all toll authorities. Until and unless there is some sort of standardization at the national level the frequencies, and data is going to have compatibility issues. Things like system identifiers, account numbers, and various other data needs to be standardized and the system issuing the transponder must accept bills from all of the systems that accept it. This is not a simple thing to manage. 

1 hour ago, palmeris said:

sunpass pro

Which fits with what NTTA says about their transponder being accepted by Florida, except around Orlando and that they accept the SunPass. Are you saying that the TSD device has a SunPass imbedded into it? If so that might be how they could be accepted without being listed by NTTA as acceptable. Making them all accept the transponders from all of the other toll authorities is certainly the ideal answer but until that happens the commercial ones are probably the best answer for truckers and RVers who travel into all or most states. I don't have a great record in predicting the future, but I suspect that we will see more toll roads built in the future as a way to pay for new roads.

It has been a while since we were last there but family in California reports that they have had a nightmare with 12 different toll authorities but it seems that they now have FasTrak that works with all of them. 

Doing a search for a nationally acceptable toll road transponder, I found these others.

BestPass             NationalPass        RV-TollPass

That depends on if they both use the same fuel (gasoline, LP, or diesel), do you have proper air flow requirements for the larger unit, and how do the dimensions compare? 

Are you planning to do the work?

1 hour ago, GeorgiaHybrid said:

Kirk. The NTTA's site indicates the are interoperable with Kansas's K-tag, Oklahoma's Pike Pass,  Texas's TxTag and EZ Tag as well as Florida's Sun Pass.

Just so that you know, I have had a toll tag with NTTA for more than 10 years now and as an account holder I get regular updates on where it is accepted, and that is how I came to be in touch with the NTTA employee who called me. If you will look at the NTTA website, as I stated before it does list "Florida (except for some tolls roads in the Orlando area)" but there is no mention of EZ Pass or Sun Pass. However that is a listing of where the NTTA tag is valid and accepted and says nothing at all about what other toll transponders that they accept. I would be very surprised if the Sun Pass is not accepted by NTTA, since their transponder is accepted on Sun Pass roads but I highly doubt it would be accepted by EZ Pass, since it is only in the Orlando area and that area does not accept the NTTA. In my experience, accepting another transponder is always a two way agreement so I'd expect that any system that accepts my NTTA tag would be accepting transponders from those systems. I specifically asked the NTTA if they accept the Toll Solutions transponder and was told no. I didn't ask if any of the other TX systems accept it, so perhaps they do?

Quote

1. What states participate with EZPass? EZPass can be used in the following states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, and ONLY Orlando area in Florida.

Quote

Florida (except for some tolls roads in the Orlando area) joins tolling agencies in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to provide convenience and the lowest toll rate with your TollTag.

You can pay for toll roads in Texas electronically with the TxTag, EZ Tag, TollTag, PIKEPASS or K-Tag, depending on where you are driving. Pay by Plate is also available on all toll roads. The first 3 are from TX systems, PIKEPASS is OK and K-Tag is Kansas.

You mentioned a box with two transponders inside so I'm wondering what it looks like? I have only seen the flat, decal like transponders recently but NTTA was originally a plastic item that was about 1/8" thick and some people would move it between vehicles, which may be the reason that they changed a few years back and replaced the old style.  What does your TSD transponder look like?(I haven't driven in FL for about 15 years.)

3 hours ago, palmeris said:

More to come.

I'll be interested to see the list. The idea is certainly a good one if they can actually make it work. As to them paying the fee via the license plate reader, I can see how that might work with major truck-lines, but find it difficult to see how they could intercept the fee bill when the license is to an individual since they mail it to the address on the vehicle registration.