I have little doubt that I will continue to be something of a party gadfly, and that I will continue to hold an oppositional, progressive stance toward the leadership on fairly regular occasions. . . .

I wonder how he defines "oppositional," "progressive," and "fairly regular."

As for Joe Arpaio, he just concluded another sweep where he detained Hispanic individuals for "probable cause" of illegally trespassing in the state. Of course, not all were undocumented and some were natural born citizens.

And who are these people whose very comments will destroy the Tea Party movement?? Names please.

The Demos are whistling past the graveyard and trying to create distractions.

It isn't going to work.

And the one chance we had to create a viable single payer health insurance system has been lost to give Obama a "legacy."

That's simply outrageous.

I wonder what else they consider to be "untreatable"  and refuse to pay for.  End-stage cancer maybe?  How about, say, Lou Gehrig's disease?  Maybe rabies?

I went through something similar myself with insurance refusing to cover my antibiotics since they weren't the common (cheap) ones used for my diagnosis - which I can't take because I am highly allergic to most antibiotics.  My mom found out and got so mad - and she was the one who taught me that this is stuff you can fight, since at the time I had no idea I had any rights what-so-ever.

Dealing with collection agencies is another thing she may have to learn.  There are all sorts of rules they have to follow - and they almost always break those rules.  But they will always try to intimidate you into paying them, so you gotta be able to stick to your guns.  But this is stuff most younger people really don't know, and my experiences dealing with this stuff, and my mom helping me has also been beneficial down the line now for my sisters as well.

Don't let'em grind you down. Tell the insurance folks they must pay and the Doc you won't pay.

They all really push around the young innocents, only making them more cynical like the rest of us.  I have done the conference call setup noted below, and my daughter gets even angrier when the tone changes because they deal with older, take-no-nonsense types.

The collection agency calls on Sunday mornings! really are awful.  Of course, they usually accomplished the aim of getting paid, because I would haul out the checkbook to make them leave her alone in hope that she could work on physical recovery rather than get worse from emotional toll.

But she has learned a lot, as your daughter will.  Mine now knows to take every name, write down everything, keep a dated and signed record, etc.  And we just spent time on the phone again tonight, going over the latest letter that she drafted in reply -- and she is getting good at pushing back.  It may not cut the costs, but it cuts down on the frustrations.  And, again, that helps her emotional health, fighting back at all.