I would love to have the time and ability to create an entire blog devoted to this subject because I really think that the mothers and women I have talked to about this are the ones who really have the answers. What is wrong with all the big wigs?! (Maybe their heads are too big) My sister concisely solves most of the major health care problems our country has in a simple four step approach that would cost almost (at least
comparatively) nothing and solve a host of problems with the health care crisis.
Step One: All doctor visits cost $100 - People have lost touch with how much health care really costs. If you never have to pay something (insurance covers everything) it becomes a crutch. Insurance could
reimburse people, but this should help people look at going to the doctor realistically.
Step Two: All doctors must post prices for basic fees - When no one knows how much something is it is going to be meddled with. Isn't this how mechanics and other industries work? Why not
health care. It will also tell you a little about the doctor you are going to. You get what you pay for.
Step Three: Cap litigation rewards for subjective losses - Obvious. I wonder exactly how much of a doctor's fee is to cover his cost of malpractice insurance. We have already seen and heard of places where people can't get
OBs because they can no longer afford malpractice insurance.
Step Four: Get rid of paper! - a short hospital stay results in volumes of
repetitive notes and charting that no one is going to look at (except a lawyer years after the fact for litigation purposes). Couldn't it be electronically organized in a better way so that the multiple doctors treating a patient can review it easier, thus cutting down on medical mistakes and the cost of producing and filing and transporting paper.
Scott loves being the leader. I recently heard him bequeathing Abigail with the higher sibling authority and responsibilities as he took a brief leave from the house to do something really important like take the garbage out or something. It sounded like this, “Abigail, while I am gone you are in charge because you will be the oldest. So you have to look out for your younger brother and sister. You’re responsible for them, Okay!” It went on for quite a while, but this was the general idea and I was smiling as I listened. 
I have found something that I have in common with Abigail. She really, really, really doesn’t like to clean up her room. She likes to keep it clean as she goes. Unfortunately she lives with a tornado named Allison. The clock is ticking for these sisters to share a room I think. 
Allison, is Allison. She doesn’t understand why I am not laughing when she shoves her finger into her watermelon to see how far the juices will squirt. She lives 75% of her time as Snow White and someone needs to convince her that she shouldn’t wear long sleeve shirts and pants and several layers of dress-ups when it is so hot. But her big accomplishment this week is swimming in the big pool with just her arm floaties. Yeah! For someone who started this summer terrified of the big pool, even with me holding her, this is great. 
Michael loves to parade around the house with clothes. He reminds me of a house elf from Harry Potter. He really thinks he can do anything everyone else is doing and luckily this includes sitting on my lap during story time and reading with us. Well if you have come this far in this letter I should thank you for reading it because there isn’t a lot to report, but we have been having a good time not doing much.
Yesterday Sam and I began with a great outline and plan for the day. Sam had to go in and work in the morning and then he would come home. I was making Chicken Parmesan with Scott in the kitchen and Abigail was practicing her piano with Allison when I heard her fall off the bench. She was really hurt. I spoke to Sam on the phone and I was impressed that he was able to correctly deduce that Abigail had a fractured, mildly displaced collarbone. I took her to Sam and he took her to the children’s ER for x-rays. I feel really bad for anyone who has to wait in an ER, but it was nice that they streamlined Sam and Abigail. It was a good thing too. Sam got paged while getting x-rays with Abigail (he was on-call) and called me to come get Abigail. He used the computers in the ER to view the CT scan on the patient he was called on and Abigail was pretty impressed with the “pictures”. Abigail came home with a sling and we just have to be really careful about not bumping or falling for a few weeks. 
I’m sending a picture of the compost I am trying to decompose aerobically in a garbage can. I found a video on the internet of how to do this. They demonstrate easily punching holes in a garbage can with a hammer and a nail in the video. So I got my garbage can, hammer and nails and started pounding away. Thirty minutes of pounding later I didn’t have much to show and Sam who had been trying to nap inside was not impressed. He came out, shook his head, and said there must be a better way. He reemerged with a hand drill and I was completely finished in probably less than ten minutes. 
I canned peaches and the children had dentist appointments this week. I was so amused by the dentist’s summary of the children’s reactions. Scott was so interested and involved in what was going on that it made the exam a bit challenging, but at least he was cooperative. Abigail showed immediate signs of distrust and skepticism which made x-rays and the exam difficult. Allison persistently asked them not to put holes in her and once she was satisfied she could trust them she was putty in their hands. I could have written the dentist’s synopsis beforehand so it was rather amusing to listen to. 
I wish you could see Abigail and Allison play. They are superb examples of cooperative play. They practice musical note flashcards together. Abigail shows Allison a card and says, “what’s this?…..(quietly) it’s A.” Allison, “A!” Abigail, “YES Allison! Good job”. Allison, “I did it all by myself!” Whatever success Allison achieves in this life will have to be in part ascribed to Abigail’s diligent tutoring. She loves to drill Allison in counting, letters, music, stories. It is so constructive I’m amazed. 
I taught my last gospel doctrine lesson today because I was sustained as the Primary pianist and secretary. I think they will be glad to be rid of me in GD. I would start class by inviting everyone to fill all the seats in the center and front being sure to leave no seats empty between people. It was something Elder Eyring would do while I was at BYU and I figured that if it was good for him it was a good thing for me to do, but I didn’t get the feeling that many people were very keen on this approach. 
