Yea, I didn't even go into how much my wife's nephrectomy cost.
dingdongmetacarples
joined 1 year ago
For a real example, my 10 year old swallowed a button battery (yes she should know better). Of course we went to the pediatric ER immediately. She was seen by a doctor, got some X-rays, then puked the battery out. She's totally fine. In the end I'm paying about $2000 out of pocket for that. That's on top of the monthly premiums I and my employer pay.
My premiums are about $280 per month for health, dental and vision for me and my kids. Premiums are pre-tax so there's a bit of savings there. My employer pays about $1100 per month on top of what I pay. My wife is on her employers plan because they would charge about triple that for all of us to be in the same plan. that's about $100 per month for her.
On top of that I have a special pre-tax savings account for health expenses only called a Flexible Spending Account, which helps a bit but it's kinda silly and not very flexible. I have to determine at the beginning of each year how much I might spend that year, then that amount will be taken automatically out of my checks. If I don't spend it all, it's gone.
I really recommend this video to understand (or not) the complexity of the US health care system https://youtu.be/-wpHszfnJns?si=Wi48w7TCkETdIUQQ
It's easy to passively cool things, as long as you're okay getting them wet :)
If the Hoover Dam becomes inoperable, the entire Southwest US is in trouble. It provides water for farms and power, both mostly in California. Las Vegas would actually be the last to feel the effects of Lake Mead drying up because they've installed a deeper "straw" to draw water from, along with a pumping station.
https://www.snwa.com/where-southern-nevada-gets-its-water/our-regional-water-system/intake-no-3.html
At an individual level sure, it's easy to throw on a blanket when it's cold. But at a household level, much more energy is used to heat homes.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-10/why-we-always-fight-over-air-conditioning
What purpose does any city serve?
The largest water reservoir in the US is a few miles away. A large air force base was built on the, then, out skirts of town, the nuclear testing site, and the magnesium plant in nearby Henderson. All of which helped the US in WWII. That's why Las Vegas isn't a ghost town. It's much more than gambling and debauchery. If that's all it took, then why isn't Pahrump (where prostitution is legal) a big city? What happened to Reno, which used to be the place to go party?
I think Lemmy users are incredibly ignorant of Las Vegas and should get a little bit of reading in before trashing my home town.
You also may want to let the 2 million plus residents know their city is not necessary.
Las Vegas grew out of being a train stop for water. Yes, water.
The laws of thermodynamics disagree
Edit: the downvoters may want to actually learn about this https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/why-does-it-take-more-energy-to-heat-a-home-than-to-cool-one.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-10/why-we-always-fight-over-air-conditioning
I grew up in Vegas. I'd hang out outside with friends all night in the summer. The nights used to be a break from the heat, now it's just always hot. Plus the removal of almost all grass contributes to the heat island effect. The grass needed to go, but it wasn't without consequences.
Would you say the same about places where it gets well below freezing in the winter?
Edit: Many older houses don't have AC in Vegas. They use evaporative cooling mostly.
I declared it!