What You Need to KNow About Heath Insurance Today

Let me tell you a ( true ) story…

I am the Human Resource Director for a medium sized healthcare company. We operate in four different states and employ nearly 1,000 people. We provide services to people with disabilities. In this role, I have a front row seat to what is happening in the healthcare field, as I administer our benefits, in addition to seeing how our services operate. It is no exaggeration when I tell you that our biggest concern is for the cost of healthcare and health insurance in particular.  

The cost of health insurance is a direct threat to our existence and to the jobs for 1,000 people. There are 5 health insurance companies in Connecticut and we are at their mercy in regard to pricing. Due to the costs we have lost many good people. I have seen, in my experience, many people dropping their insurance or going without. I have also seen many providers, mostly specialists ( for now ), stop taking any insurance; to save money and aggravation. The insurance companies have told us, in no uncertain terms, that the fact so many people do not have health insurance raises the cost for the rest of us. 

Since we are in healthcare, we send a lot of people to the emergency room. Why? Because, like everyone else out there, we fear the cost of a law suit. When in doubt send them out is the mantra. Whatever happens in the healthcare system, tort reform has to be a part of it.  

Our employees who do not have health insurance do not go for their preventative care. When they get sick, they go the emergency room too ( as private Doctors can demand cash ), even though its not an emergency, because they can they stiff the hospital for the bill. They cant pay it. I am not saying everyones does this, but some do. I see the wage garnishments and get the collection calls. I am sure that they are sicker when they seek help as a result of not having preventative care. 

A Doctors office visit in Connecticut costs between $150 and $200, even before any tests or anything else is done. A ride in the ambulance is between $400 and $500. My friend, an ambulance dispatcher, gets upset because so many people view the ambulance as a “taxi” rather than something to be used in an emergency. The cost for an ER visit, again before anything is even done to you, in Connecticut is $1,200. Therefore, uninsured people and others who rely on the ER are absorbing the most expensive healthcare around, something the insurance companies have been clear affects the rates of the rest of us.  

Let me put that another way, the least able to pay are using the most expensive services. When something someone else does affects me or someone else, you have socialism, no matter how you define it. I now have a vested interest in what others do, because it costs me money. Its not something the President created, it was already here! 

Our employees are not illegal immigrants. As the HR guy, I have to make sure of that. Most of them are not lazy. In fact, most of them work two jobs to make ends meet. So much so that this has become a problem for us as an employer. I too work two jobs, even though I am one of the best paid in the company. Therefore, the argument that people who want healthcare reform are all lazy, illegal immigrants is not correct. Though I don’t discount insurance abusers are. 

The health insurance cost for a family is nearly $2,000/month (25,000/year ). My employer pays half. The cost to me is my second largest expense, right after my mortgage ($12,000/year for my portion of the premium ). In fact, the cost to me for health insurance is nearly equal to my mortgage per month. The cost has doubled in the past 10 years. In 10 years, if the trend continues, and it is expected to ( so I am told by the insurance people ), the annual cost for health insurance will be almost $50,000 ( my portion, $25,000/year ).  

My employer cannot afford that and neither can I. I have a $3,000 deductible to meet. Last year, we never hit that mark; therefore, the premiums I paid are all profit for the insurance company. I have only had a 1% pay increase since 2007, while my insurance has gone up 12 – 25% per year in recent years. 

In the meantime, healthcare insurance companies make money hand over fist. United Healthcare, the largest healthcare insurance company in America, made a profit of 1.4 billion dollars in a 90 day period this year. That’s PROFIT. This same company paid their CEO $102 million in 2009. That’s the person’s compensation for 1 year. To put that in perspective, that’s the lifetime income for nearly 50 average Americans!  

The other insurance companies are making sizeable profits and paying their execs equally large sums. A friend of mine who works in maintenance for an insurance company said that they will buy furniture and then discard it after 6 months, even though there is nothing wrong with it. When they put on a conference, they give out all kinds of free things and do it up big. These are my premiums they are spending! I see it as wasteful. 

Clearly, some are making money out there. In my small town alone there must be a dozen pharmacies. You can’t watch TV or even drive down the road without seeing an ad for this medication, this medical clinic, that type of medical care. Almost every time I go to the Doctors there is a pharmacy rep. there in their suit waiting to talk to the Doctor. They say that the average American, regardless of age, takes at least 1 prescription medication a day. I can only surmise that medical care is such big business because it is lucrative for some. 

As an employer we are not alone. Many people work for us just for the insurance because their spouses have none or the cost is even greater than ours. I used to hear people say, how come employer X has such better health insurance? I don’t hear that now. Today, the only people with good health insurance (except for the rare hold out employer ) are those who work in state or federal governments. Who pays for that? We do. Oh and unions too, they also still have good health insurance. 

On the other hand, people on Medicaid have good coverage. Yes, they have to wait in lines and put up with a lot of hassle, but whatever they need is taken care of. Its like a golden ticket. Unless they want dental care, then forget about it. A friend of mine who was disabled and could not work was on Medicaid ( she has passed away ). She absorbed hundreds of thousands of dollars in health insurance costs annually. Her medications alone were more than $10,000 per month! She had electric wheel chairs and other things paid for by Medicaid, that she never even ended up using. Was she a lazy illegal immigrant? No. Did she deserve to die simply because she was disabled? No. She had been a productive working American at one time. 

So there it is. No politics. No conservative vs. liberal views. These are the facts from a person who sees it firsthand, everyday. The system is broken. This is why I get so angry when people think the status quo is fine. Its not. Those who say everything is fine don’t know what they are talking about, period, end of conversation. If a person has insurance or if they have good insurance, they must consider themselves lucky and the minority. To say, leave the status quo as is, is like Marie Antoinette allegedly saying “let them east cake” and we know what happened to her.  

Whats Obama going to do? Whats Romney going to do? What are you and I going to do? Because something must be done. I have some ideas, perhaps I will write about them in the future. I don’t want something for free. I don’t want undeserving people to get something they shouldn’t. I want a system that is fair, where people get what they need in an efficient and effective manner, regardless of income. If that makes me a “liberal” then so be it. I think it makes me a realist. 

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share this, especially to those “conservative” people who don’t want any change.……..

A Dalai Lama Christmas

 
 

Have a Dalai Lama Christmas

Party like a Buddhist with me

I don't know if we'll be reborn

So have some butter tea!

 
 

Have a Dalai Lama Christmas

And when you walk down the street

Say namasate to friends you know

And everyone you meet

 
 

Oh, Ho the dorje

Held for all to see

Monks chant, Mani Padre Om

Meditate along with me

 
 

Have a Dalai Lama Christmas,

Keep your karma clear

And Oh by golly, lets have a Dalai Lama

Christmas this year.

Boats Free Upon the Tide

 

Shoreline's rising tide;

seaweed upon the strand,

staining black the rocks

between ebb and neap.

Boats lie moored here alee,

some floating; others weighing

at anchor; buoyed

by transverse waves,

whose sonance now

reaches my ears.

 

Who knew, the moons

subtle hand had pulled,

not only upon the gathering sea,  ( oceans net )

but lifted all the ships too,

so that one, alone,
slipped its reigns;

ironically freed

by gravities' wake?

 

Ignorant were we,

racing in the spray

and swimming out

to those crafts there,

as our end.

We knew not,

that the knots had frayed

and that we, like it,

were adrift in the bosom

of the boundless sea.

 

Getting no closer,

yet further away

from home, we move in

an imperfect asymptote.

Unaware that our aim

too is loose, as we both

drift heedlessly

toward that place

where sea and sky

meet as one.

 

Being a Good Sport.

Sport is "thru-hiking" the Appalachian Trail, a trail that runs over 2100 miles from Mt. Katadhin in Maine to Springer Mountain, Georgia. Thru-hikers are people that hike the entire thing in one go, typically taking up to 6 months to complete their journey. Each year approximately 1,500 people attempt this same challenge, though only a fraction makes it all the way. However, Sport is not a person; Sport is a dog, in the company of his people Tyler and Sonya.  

The trio began their hike on May 20th at Katahdin and have steadily been working their way south ever since. Hiking on average 15 to 20 miles a day, Sport is a good sport. He carries his own pack and undergoes all of the same adversities as Sonya and Tyler; climbing mountains, fording streams and sleeping under the stars. 

An undertaking of this type is not taken lightly, much planning and training is necessary to complete the sojourn. Sport too had to be ready. Before beginning their hike Sonya and Tyler took Sport out on a number of practice hikes. They also sought out the advice of dog experts, such as Lynn Whittaker, Owner of Bowwow University; a dog training studio in Litchfield, CT. 

Sonya and Tyler wanted to make sure that Sport was up to the challenge in regard to his training, both physically and mentally. This meant obedience training, basically doggy-boot camp, for Sport. Since Sport would be meeting other people along the trail, it was important that Sport had the basics, such as come, sit and stay, mastered, especially since he might be sharing sleeping quarters with strangers and would often be off leash.

As Sport was going to be working hard and his weight-load at a premium, it was also important that Sonya and Tyler consider the proper nutrition for Sport. As he would be doing a lot more work than the today's average couch potato pup, finding the proper diet was a must. Furthermore, there were other considerations, including ticks and such which can plague both human and canine alike. Lynn Whittaker was able to help in these areas too, offering guidance and advice for Sport. 

Sport, through Sonya who is equipped with an I-Phone, has been keeping his friends and family in Connecticut up to speed on his adventures. Back home in Litchfield, Lynn and the folks at Bowwow U follow Sonya, Tyler and Sport's progress; tracking their movement on a wall map. Lynn continues to provide advice and moral support too as the group checks in via email, photos and the occasional call. 

In a few weeks, the three will be making their way through the 51 miles of the trail that weaves through Connecticut. Lynn plans on meeting up with them to help resupply Sport as he continues to make his way south. More updates on their progress to come.

 
 

 

I AM A PARTICLE. I AM A WAVE.

One day I will return

to my quantum state;

neither here, nor there.

A complex wave.

Contours of constant probability,

defying prediction

of such conjugate variables.

Am I matter?

Am I spirit?

When my body is at rest

where is my energy?

It will have been

translated into this closed system

and become what I have done;

having changed this plane

even if only in the most

subtle of ways.

It goes on and on

even after my cause

has long been forgotten.

When my spirit

is thus quantifiable,

having irradiated away

and given off

its valance,

then you will know

all that I am

all that I was

and all I will ever be…

and I will be gone

having crashed upon the beach

and returned to the sea.

Systemic Dysfunction

In America most businesses are either manufacturing-retail, they make and/or sell something, or service oriented, they do things for you, like companies that mow your lawn for instance. Even governmental functions can be so organized, for example the government can either build a road ( manufacturing ) or audit your taxes ( service ) Among the service businesses are a particularly pernicious group which I call "systemic" organizations.

In a manufacturing or retail establishment there is a product and a process with a definitive beginning and end; usually the "end" is when the product is made and/or sold. The buyer then pays. In system oriented business the focus is not on an end result, but on the process, because there is no product. You are the product and the business gets paid along the way by servicing you. Thus many of the activities engaged in by these system oriented organizations are designed to keep you in the system because without you, the product, the business ceases to have an income and ceases to be; if you move on out of the system, no more income for the business enterprise.

Examples of system oriented businesses are hospitals, courts and insurance companies. Have you ever noticed that if you go to the Doctor they always find some other test or other thing that you have going wrong? Get a blood test and the Dr is likely to say your "levels are elevated". What the heck does that mean? Insurance companies are set up to take money from you, they make it so easy you can even pay on line, or have the money directly taken from your account. But file a claim! Then you find that the insurance company didn't get your check, didn't send the right form or lost what you sent them.

Bureaucracies are especially effective at this charade and DMV is probably the best example. You almost always have to go back to DMV two, three or even more times. You never have the right form or it wasn't signed by the right person in the right spot. And ask yourself, what does DMV do for you? It's nothing more than a glorified way of collecting taxes. They don't make it easy for you to get what you need taken care of, like they should, no, in fact they make it more complicated. Even when you have done nothing wrong you feel guilty. You walk on egg shells. You don't want to get in trouble with the "man".

Once entrapped in such a system it can sometimes be nearly impossible to extricate yourself. The judicial system is the best example here. Get into trouble with the law, even for a minor infraction, and you can expect months of going to court, paying bills etc. If you get into deep enough trouble you may go to jail, be on probation or parole. In this way you are almost guaranteed to be in the system for years! Job security for some cretin with a brow-ridge and anger issues.

"Oh", you may say, "you can avoid these systems by staying on the straight and narrow path. Just don't get into trouble". Ah, but the system makers have thought of this. They create so many rules and make things so confusing that it is easy to fall into their trap and then WHAMO, your in their system. Look at how many rules there are in our society. You can't do this, and you can't do that. When there are too many laws, then everyone is a potential criminal. It used to be that the lawmakers in Washington were part time politicians with full time jobs elsewhere, not anymore. They sit all day in their plush offices with their leather chairs creating more and more systems. This is why simple forms no longer have names, they now have numbers instead, things like W2, the 1040, the I-9; guaranteed to confuse.

This too explains why the government is against abortion or personal recreational drug use, because we don't want to make things easy on people do we? Heaven forbid that people actually use their brain to make decisions for themselves. We want to control what people do and what people say. We want them to be in the system. It's much like the movie the Matrix. In the movie machines live off the life energy given off by humans. In the real world systems do the same thing. Or to quote another movie, "I keep getting out, but they keep pulling me back in again".

Most people have 6th grade level educations. I have a master's degree and can barely figure out how all these systems work, never mind an 80 years old addle pated grandmother for whom English is a second language. That's why America imprisons more people than any other country in the world! Land of the free? Ha, we put more people in prison than the USSR ever did. Nothing is free in this country. It's the land of the expensive because those systems need to be fed, especially the judicial system. The one system that is supposed to protect our rights is the one that most imprisons us, but only if your poor. If you have money you can hire lawyers and attempt to get justice, look at OJ, look at all the Wallstreet scumbags. If your poor, recourse to the law is yet one more thing denied you: "With liberty and justice for those who can afford it".

Now that you are aware of this, pay attention, you will be surprised how many of these systems there are. Stand up to the systems! Otherwise….,

Plug in, turn off and shut up.

Thanks for the Cache

It seems hard to believe that it has been nearly seven years ago now since I first was introduced to Geocaching. And it was O. Rex who first turned me on to it. I had a GPSr, but we were using PDAs back then, Handsprings with a GPS attachment. I had one ( a gift ), but wasn't really sure how it worked. I was only dimly aware of this thing called Geocaching. Fast forward, and here we are marking significant milestones ( just passed # 300! ). While some people do in a month what we do in a year ( or four ), for me, it is not the quantity, but the quality. When I first started doing this, we were coming down off of some pretty big trips hiking out west. I ( we ) had some heady plans to see the world ( trekking in Nepal and hiking Patagonia ), but they were not to be. Health issues and life in general denied us these opportunities (so far). Geocaching became a new passion. A replacement for what we wanted to do, but could not. It allowed us to condense into a few hours some of the experiences it might take a week to do. It gave us something to do during the day; to plot and plan mini-trips that could be distilled into an evening or a Sunday. It helped define us and added meaning to what otherwise might have been just another day, or week, or year. Simple trips to the store became adventures and every foray to somewhere new became an excuse to geocache. Today, we have each cached in other states. We have even cached in another countries. We have cached in the summer, and the cold, in the rain and in the sun, day, night, we have even tied caching into camping trips and in our day to day work world. Heck, I have even cached with my mother. I rarely go anywhere without checking to see if there is a cache I can do along the way. While one of the best parts was discovering cool new places in my own state where I hadn't been, the best part was hanging around with my good friends and Rex in particular. You couldn't ask for a better caching partner. He has always been willing to do the crazy things few others would, canoeing in the rain, visiting cemeteries late at night, caching cold winter evenings, with Rex putting Christmas lights on his backpack. I, and I think we, have 100+ great memories because of geocaching we wouldn't have had. This is why I love geocaching. Thanks for the Cache