The New York Times podcast called The Daily just did an expose of several "non-profit" hospital systems around the country. Lots of them actually make huge profits for their parent companies and routinely charge high bills to patients they legally aren't supposed to charge at all. It's really a racket.

Remember that winter...oh, ten or so years ago, when it was in the 60s/70s in February? That one was crazy!

I keep getting them for all different states. I liked r/vermont, so how about r/connecticut, r/nevada, I think got an r/indiana, too.

Yeah, most of the under $100k houses are one step above condemned. I've even seen some listings that are for "as is" houses, and the previous owner was a garbage hoarder. Whole house is full of trash bags that you're on the hook for disposing of, hence the "as is".

I have decent internet and water where I live...it really depends on what town you're in and what providers you have.

I was noticing as I scrolled through the comments that several people were talking about getting on a waiting list for appointments. I couldn't tell if this was meant to be additional things for you to consider or if they misread the part where you talked about applying to masters programs. I wasn't reading their comments that thoroughly, so I may have missed some context. 🤷🏻‍♂️

... did a lot of people misread the bit about psych programs as requesting recommendations for finding a therapist?

Make sure there are gluten-free options this time, please. Members of the Conspiracy to Eradicate Lives In Agricultural Channels (CELIAC) were very disappointed in last week's offerings. We can't afford to have the baby murder conspiracy splinter into competing groups over the snack table!

It can get weird. My father once got a notice by mail that he was being fined for illegal parking in Rutland, a city he'd never been to. He ignored it, assuming it was a scam letter. Two weeks later, he got a second letter informing him that his fine had doubled for non-payment. Then he got a letter stating he'd missed his court date. He kept trying to call the traffic court to straighten the mystery out, but couldn't get hold of anyone.

Finally, after MONTHS of mounting fines, he managed to get a person on the phone. He tried to explain that he'd never even been to Rutland. They rattled off his license plate number.

"Yes, that's my plate." "Well sir, our records indicate that your Volkswagen Passat was parked in - " "I don't have a Volkswagen Passat." "Yes, sir. Your black Passat, license number da-da-da." "... You mean my blue Dodge pickup, truck plate # da-da-da?" "Uhhhhh....."

Turns out there was a truck plate and a car plate with the same digits, and they stopped at the first one they found without making sure the vehicle details matched. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Exactly. In a perfect world, all or most of those laws would be great to have. But how do we pay for it without adding strain to the already struggling? Most of the responses I've heard have been soft versions of "suck it up, poor folks".

I bet his toddler voted for him today, too...