Summer has finally arrived

 Edie, Health Care, My MCL, Politics  No Responses »
Sep 272010
 

When I first sat down this morning, I had every intention of writing a political rant.

I was pissed off because I believe Kaiser overcharged Edie for a prescription. I find it so amazing, that after 7+ years of dealing with the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, Kaiser still can’t get it right. [Fortunately the quality of care they provide is better than their financial and billing prowess.]

This last prescription put Edie $200.50 into the donut hole, but instead of charging her only $200.50 for the prescription, Kaiser charged her $270.50. I assumed, and later confirmed, the extra $70 was the copay for the 3 month prescription for Lyrica. So why was she charged the copay? After all, if she had been within $1 of the donut hole (instead of $721.61), they wouldn’t have charged her $995.61 (the drugs only cost $926.61) for the prescription. They would have only charged her $925.61. [At least logic tells me that would be the case.]

So why are they charging her the copay in this case?

Of course the customer service people, didn’t seem to grasp that concept, and were adamant about charging the copay.  So now I’m forced to write a letter to the Appeals Board to file a grievance. Hopefully they are a little more intelligent than the customer service representative(s).

Then I saw the following article at Marketwatch.com “Real Estate 101: How to buy property in college towns“, and wondered when did the US stop making stuff? When did investing become such a huge part of the economy to the point companies are no longer concerned with their products or employees, but only their bottom line? When did the financial industry become an industry? They don’t make anything. All they do is move money around, and then charge you for doing just that.

What ever happened to hard work as a way of making money? My father did it, and I’ve done it for the past 35 years.

But then I thought, what’s the point? Who’s going to pay attention to me anyways? There are a lot smarter, and more influential people trying to get the same point across, without much success, so what makes me think I can accomplish what they can’t?

So rather than dwell on the perverseness of the US health care system, or a national psyche that favors greed and profits over hard work, fairness and moral principles, I decided I would find something more uplifting to write about.

I decided to complain about celebrate the fact summer has finally arrived. It only took 3 months, but it may actually be here now. I know that because it’s been hotter the last two days than it has been this entire year, and today is not supposed to be any different.

These are the first days this year, I’ve been able to go without arm warmers, or a long sleeve shirt at the start of a bike ride, and sitting at the coffee shop afterwards has actually been very comfortable.

Oh, and then I just realized, yesterday marked my 8½ year anniversary of dealing with my MCL, and not needing treatment.

I guess those are two things I can celebrate.

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 Posted by Marc at 6:10 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

I’ve been scammed

 Edie, Life, Off Topic  2 Responses »
Sep 102010
 

And I have no one to blame but myself. I failed to read a contract, or at least failed to properly understand it.

I thought by paying a yearly fee to Orkin for termite inspections of our home, and needed re-treatments, after the initial treatment [tenting] in 1990, we would be covered for any future structural damage [caused by termites] that might occur. Isn’t that what insurance is for?

Well as it turns out, the so called Orkin guarantee, does nothing more than guarantee they will retreat (at no charge) if termites are found. It doesn’t matter whether they were negligent in performing annual inspections, and missed termite infestations, or if their re-treatments had been inadequate, it isn’t their fault if termites return, and structural damage occurs 20 years later.

Sort of sounds like the health insurance industry. You pay your premiums, but there’s no guarantee the insurance company is going to cover your health care expenses.

So now after paying Orkin some $4000 in premiums over the past 20+ years, we’re faced with spending some unknown additional amount for structural repairs, which Orkin conveniently happens to be in the business of doing as well. They’re giving us a price this afternoon.

Now if that doesn’t sound like a scam to everyone out there, than nothing should.

On top of all that, and what might even be a bigger hassle is we have to bag up all our food [and wine], in preparation for tenting, and spend 3 days in a hotel (at our expense), which with two cats, is not what I would call a vacation.

And here I thought I was depressed a couple of days ago. :(

So my one suggestion to everyone, if you’re paying a fee to Orkin or some other exterminating company [actually any company], for what you may think is insurance, check your contract, and make sure you know what is covered. Don’t be surprised like I was!

But on a more upbeat note, it looks like Edie’s latest treatment protocol [Bendamustine + Dex] is showing good results. Her free light chains have shown improvement, so she is going for a third treatment on Tuesday, provided of course her other blood counts aren’t any worse than last Monday’s results.

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 Posted by Marc at 6:31 am  Tagged with: , , ,

Chloe’s back

 Edie, Life  1 Response »
Aug 312010
 

A very nice young kid called about 10:30 last night, indicating he found her. Four days she was gone, and it’s a good thing he found her then, because she was about 5 blocks away, right at a major intersection with lots of traffic. Who knows what might have happened if he hadn’t found her then.

She was a little disheveled, but didn’t look the worse for wear. Of course the first thing she did when we got her home was head straight for the food.

Now all she seems to want to do is sleep. She slept with us the entire night, and today, she’s spent the entire day on our bed. It must have been a very trying ordeal for her.

I guess it’s true that cats have 9 lives. The problem is at this rate (this is the second time she’s disappeared), Chloe’s going to use hers up before she turns 3 (She’s not even 2 yet).

But Edie and Morris are happy now. Ok, maybe Morris not so much, but Edie was much relieved.

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 Posted by Marc at 5:16 pm  Tagged with: ,

Just how much longer can this go on?

 Cycling, Edie, My MCL, Politics, Work  5 Responses »
Jun 122010
 

It seems the longer we go, the worse things get.

The fiasco in the gulf is just one of many example.  We’re so busy politicizing this, and trying to place blame and fault (often where it doesn’t belong), little focus is being placed on the real issue, and that is an ecological disaster that will linger on [for uncountable years], creating unimaginable consequences from which the southeastern coast of the US may never recover, and place an undue burden on the rest of the country.

Another example is the politicization of physician reimbursements for medicare patients by the Republicans. But I’m not going to get into that. It would take up way too much of my time, and result in even greater aggravation.

Then there are the customers [at work] who are becoming more stupid by the day, designing systems that are so complicated and convoluted, and change by the minute, they guarantee errors, and non compliance with requirements, forcing suppliers to change procedures that have worked for the past 30+ years [and still work for 99% of all other customers], all in the name of improving quality. But in the end all it really does is create delays in production, and increased costs, without any improvement in quality.

And on top of all this, Edie is going through 10 days of radiation (3 more to go), and my fatigue [or maybe it's just depression] seems to grow worse by the day, forcing me to face the reality, I may not be able to delay treatment much longer.

There just doesn’t seem to be any reason to get out of bed any more, except maybe for a bike ride, the only thing that seems to allow me to maintain my sanity in this insane world.

All I want to know is, when will all this insanity end?

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 Posted by Marc at 7:12 am

The times they are a changing

 Edie, Life, My MCL  7 Responses »
May 242010
 

I was reminded recently of a quote by Eric Hoffer

In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

Well what I want to know is, what happened to that world, and why can’t I continue to live in it if I so desire?  I don’t particularly like the changes that are occurring.

Besides the fact the US is “going to hell in a hand basket” (which I won’t get into here), work isn’t nearly as enjoyable as it once was. Not that work was ever enjoyable, but since being purchased by PCC in October, things have changed in a way I’m not happy about. I can’t put a finger on anything in particular, but the feeling is there, much like how the dynamics of the bike club I belong to have changed as well over the past few years.

But worst of all, Edie’s myeloma has reared its ugly head again, and I’m beginning to wonder, what’s the point of anything any more?

I guess I should count myself lucky in some regards. I am in decent health, considering the health I’m in, still able to compete on the bike at a high level, and Edie’s being a real trooper, going about business mostly as normal, with very little complaining, if any. She’s certainly handling it a lot better than I would [than I am], and definitely better than a co-worker’s wife, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a while ago, and now just lies around the house, taking her pills, and feeling sorry for herself.

Still it doesn’t change the feeling I have some most every morning to just bury my head in the pillow, yearning for the good old days, and say to hell with it all. Yet for some reason, I don’t. Every morning I manage to drag myself out of bed, put on a happy face, and go about my [mundane] life as if nothing is wrong, knowing full well that just isn’t the case.

The only thing I know for sure is, it’s getting more difficult with every passing day.

Oh well, time to get ready for todays bike ride.

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 Posted by Marc at 6:30 am

The world is passing me by

 Cycling, Edie, General Health, Life, Work  No Responses »
May 232009
 

_mac1stOh, how I yearn for the good old days, when getting through an airport security line wasn’t such a hassle, when a 250 Mb hard drive was considered huge, I didn’t have lymphoma, the dollar was still king, and the US actually made stuff.

Last week was Digital Process Data (DPD) training week at work. Now for those who don’t know what DPD is, basically it’s the computer data (software) fed into numerical controlled (NC) lathes used to machine parts into complicated configurations. It’s also used in the design and inspection of those parts.

Now that, in and of itself, isn’t difficult to understand or deal with (at least it’s no more difficult to understand than all the computer graphics we are subject to on TV and in the movies now a days), but without going into any great detail of everything else involved, i.e. controlling, disseminating and validating the software, suffice it to say it’s a lot more complicated than it sounds. And it’s especially more complicated when you can remember what it was like only a few short years ago.

It reminds me of a saying by Eric Hoffer,

In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

And what I came to realize this past week was, the world is changing [rapidly], and I’m just not sure how interested I am in trying to keep up with it any more.

Maybe that’s why I like riding my bike so much!

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 Posted by Marc at 6:47 am
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