Dutch_12078

As the others have said, the difference was adjusted out in what ever manner is most favorable to the facility's bookkeeping. All we paid was the $235 co-pay plus a small sum, $7 as I recall, for the TV, Internet, and phone service in her room.

My wife had two valves placed in her lungs this past summer to improve her breathing. The total bill was ~$89,000 including three days in the ICU. Her UHC Advantage plan paid ~$34,000 and her co-pay was $235.

Jay pretty well covered it. As for the 40% for some out of network procedures, I would assume that's 40% of the bill at their "reasonable and customary" rate, but we've never had to go that route. Even when we were juggling my wife's cancer treatments between her NY oncologist and the Florida oncologist that was consulting with her when we were in the south for the winter, everything was done in-network. Everywhere we've traveled, we've never had a problem getting in-network service when needed.

As I get more proficient with it...

My wife and I each have a United Healthcare PPO Advantage Plan at $16/mo including Part D coverage. We can use any providers in the UHC network nationwide, or out of network providers at slightly higher co-pays. Urgent and ER coverage is nationwide of course. Our plan includes eyeglass and hearing aid coverage, as well as annual physicals, vaccines, etc. Our PCP visits have no co-pay, and as of next year, our specialist co-pays will drop from $40 to $35. Prescription co-pays range from $0 for tier 1 & 2 drugs to 20% for tier 5 drugs. Our annual costs have been significantly lower than the average annual cost of most supplements except for the first year of my wife's cancer treatments when it was about a break even. Our prescription costs are supplemented with NY State's "EPIC" elderly pharmaceutical plan that limits our maximum co-pay to $20 after a modest deductible at no cost to us.

I've been playing around with it a bit, but I've got a long way to go before being productive with it.

Patiently waiting...

Interesting! I wonder if it will ever evolve into server and desktop implementations.

Thanks, Ray, that does answer some questions about the overall power supply. I did read that at least some Babcock homes have Tesla Powerwall battery backup installations as well.

"Annual Wellness Visit" is how our doctor lists our annual physicals under our United Healthcare Medicare Advantage plan, but in reality, she conducts a full on get naked exam complete with an EKG and other tests, preceded by blood tests tailored to our history. Our cost is zero, as is our monthly plan premium other than the standard Medicare deduction from our Social Security. And our UHC plan is good anywhere in the country with any UHC in-network providers. Or out of network at higher co-pays.

If the pitch is thick and hardened on non-glass, I usually carefully scrap some of it off with a plastic scraper blade, and then finish the job with hand sanitizer. On glass, I use a regular razor blade scraper plus hand sanitizer.

The Babcock Ranch solar system never went offline. The community never lost power, water, or Internet. You're right though, they only saw winds in the 100 -110 MPH range and lost just 2 panels out of about 700,000 to flying debris.

According to Google maps, Babcock Ranch and the FPL solar grid serving it are only about 5 air miles apart.

The 401k I had allowed me to shift my funds into a variety of different mutuals, bond funds, and even a guaranteed interest account. That guaranteed interest account saved my butt in the 2007 fiasco after I moved everything into at the first signs of trouble. It only paid 5%, but at least it was making money when everything else was losing.

It sure seems like they got it right. Even the ~700,000 solar panels survived intact except for two damaged by fling debris. Although credit for that apparently goes to FPL.

According to the article, Toyota will have 15 BEV models by 2025, and yes, they are hedging their bets with hybrid and fuel cell models as well. The $70 billion they're investing in EV's should keep them going for awhile. They're also investing $5.6 billion in expanding their EV battery production, with almost half of that going to their North Carolina battery plant expansion. I think it's fair to say "Circling the drain" is gross exaggeration. As you said, time will tell...

Yes, it would seem they have adequate battery storage. I saw mention of Tesla's Powerwall systems in one article, but I don't know if that's standard on the homes or not. The ~700,000 panel solar system covering ~900 acres is owned by FPL.

Then it's clear that those standards work. Do the codes also require the flood control measures that Babcock Ranch implemented?

When my wife and I had our annual physical a few weeks ago, our doctor highly recommended we get the fifth COVID-19 shots as well as the senior flu shots given our advanced ages and my wife's COPD. She knows my wife can only have shots in one arm anyway, but she recommended I get both shots in the same arm as well if we got them at the same time so only one arm would be sore. We did that, and other than some mild injection site soreness for a day or so, we had no other side effects.

I recall seeing the signs for Babcock Ranch and the 100% solar feature when we were in the area a few years ago, but I didn't realize how much storm resilience was also built into the housing. In other articles, it was mentioned that even the roads and curbing are designed to carry off storm water without flooding or damage. Very impressive!

Toyota as a corporation, is a long way from "circling the drain". Even if the automotive segment declined significantly, which is unlikely, they have many other areas to keep paying the bills. Between housing, boats, robots, forklifts, sewing machines, and several other non-automotive products, they'll likely be around for a very long time.

I'm glad to see that's how they were doing it. I'm well aware of how the Fixed Liquid Level Gauge works, Bob, having used it many times when filling both DOT cylinders and ASME tanks. I mentioned it to the attendant at Tractor Supply, but he said he was filling my 30 lb cylinder the way he was trained. I don't know who did their training, but clearly something was skipped. It's not a store I'm likely to use for refills very often, but it'll be interesting to see if anything has changed the next time I stay at the state park in the area. It's good to see they have the larger sizes available for exchange. I wish more refillers would do that.

The Tractor Supply I used here in upstate NY a few days ago also set the cylinder on the scale, but then he just filled it until the OPD kicked off. The scale wasn't even set for the proper weight.

That "vent" is the "Fixed Liquid Level Gauge" that's used the same way as the equivalent valve on the permanent ASME tanks.

Do they just pump until the OPD kicks out to know when the cylinder is full?