Going UP

 While not quite balmy, the 37 (F) degree temperature outside was nice.  That was when I first got out of bed.  We're up to 40 (F), and things are only going to get warmer.  I guess there are some out there saying that we're going through a January thaw, and that appears to be true.  Long range forecasts, however, to indicate are return to colder temps next week.  If the forecasters are correct, our daily highs should be in the 40s (F).  Still, that ain't bad.

Oddly enough, yesterday was really a meh kind of day.  Tuesdays have been like that for quite some time now.  I used to believe working the weekend and Monday were the cause.  Apparently, I'm wrong.  Tuesdays for me just seem to be me.  I mean things were done, just not as many as I would have liked, and I didn't waste time on social media.  I tend to do that when I'm at work rather than when I'm at home; now you know where I'm really wasting time.  

Two loaves of bread were baked yesterday, the old fashioned way, kneading by hand.  There's a mini-debate going on in my head as to whether I'm going to invest in another bread machine or not.  The machine is easier though slower.  For the time being I'll probably be using the age old method of standing at the counter and rolling, and folding the dough with my hands.  To be honest, there's something calming about that.

For those who don't see my social media posts, I call this Ball in his Mouth.  My cousin sent me a note telling me how cute Howie is, and I replied, "Yeah, 75 pounds of cute!"

Orangie was blubbering away yesterday at a Republican retreat and among the many threats that fell from his mouth was one regarding the mid-terms.  Some of the Main Stream Media outlets said he "quipped" about them.  For those who don't know, a quip is a short, witty comment that sounds spur of the moment.  This was not a quip, and even a Republican knows that.  Orangie is an extremely unpopular president who has lived his life lying and making unpopular decision that benefit on himself and his closest allies.  He knows, as does the Republican party, that the mid-terms will be the end of his regime, if they take place.  Their problem is that they are completely unprepared to deal with the consequences should they try and interfere.  They are the minority party, and instead of trying to grow their base, they are doing everything they possibly can to alienate themselves from the loyalty they need.  Insurance premiums for their voters are going up.  Food prices for their voters are going up.  They have removed subsides that help many of Orangie's supporters in red states to buy food.  As the number of hungry people goes up, so does their anger.  This is a lose/lose situation that Conservatives have never taken the time to think about.  

Power and Money

 Wow, we got a cold one outside!  23 (F).  Yikes.  In fact, we've got a few days of coldieness ahead of us, but then this is to be expected, we are only 9 days for winter.  I'm interested to see if this year continues the trend of cold Decembers and early Januarys and then a warm-up into much more moderate temperatures. 

Yesterday was sort of a meh day, and yet it wasn't.  A bag of tomatoes and a half bag of onions went through the dehydrator.  My house smelt like a tomato salad.  It wasn't bad.  I did some writing.  A leg workout was done, though now my quads are a bit on the sore side.  Rather than ride today, I'm going to be putting some time on the treadmill.  

I also worked.  It was fine.  Slow.  No departments are making plan this week.  I'm don't work until Sunday.  That's right, this is one of my 15 hour weeks.  I have one next week as well.  However, Christmas week I'm back to my regular 20 hours.  This is a good thing because Howie's initial visits to the Vet are $$$.  After this round of shots is over, they'll become less expensive.  Sadly, they are already trying to get me to buy treatments he doesn't need, such as a very expensive heartworm  med, that needs to be administered monthly and costs $180 for 3 months.  Heartworm is a serious issue down south.  Up here in Central PA, not so much because this parasite is passed to the dog through a mosquito bite, and where I live, mosquitos are a season issue.

They also push pet insurance, and this meme is so very appropriate.

The same thing applies to pet insurance.  In fact, it applies to all forms of insurance, and it isn't just United Health Care.  There was a time when insurance was a good idea, when it was affordable, when it actually paid for claims, whether they be health, home, or vehicle related.  At some point, though, their value began to decline for those being insured.  In most states, car insurance is required if you own a car.  When I hear what young people have to pay for car insurance, I am flabbergasted.  That's corporate greed.  Health insurance is even worse.  When I was fulltime, I was paying $165 a month and that was for bare bones coverage for a single individual.  I stopped paying that when I retired (7 years ago).  That cost has gone up.  Family coverage is far more expensive.  And, if you do need to file a claim, there is that inevitable deductible that needs to be paid first, and then you find out your insurance is only going to pay a percentage of your bill.  Is it any wonder Americans are upset? 

And for all you stupid cultists out there:  The Orange Anus said that there's good possibility that prices are going to go up.  I wonder how long it will take them to realize he doesn't give a shit about them.  The only things he cares about are power and money.

Leveling things out

 The cold weather has arrived.  Blustery, the high temp today is predicted to be 27 (F), with tonight's low dropping to 14 (F).  Tomorrow, forecasters are predicting the temps to climb into the mid 30's (F).  By Monday, our daily highs are supposed to be back in the low 50's (F).  I've no problem with that.

I was on my way to my local Giant supermarket yesterday morning, when I stopped and talked to two of the workmen from next door.  They drywalled the attic, so it's now one large room. What used to be the enclosed back porch has been turned into a bathroom, the new toilet should be coming next week.  One of them said that he and his wife would probably move in until they managed to sell the place.  With interest rates what they are, they may be living there a long time.

The dry rack arrived yesterday.  It's assembled and folded up, awaiting it's first use.  

In order to intensify my treadmill speed walks, I've been increasing the incline.  Yesterday I was at a 5.5% grade for almost a mile.  Holy Crap were my legs sore!  It was a good thing I had to work yesterday.  I had the chance to walk it off.

Speaking of work, I had a customer who wanted to do a project this weekend; several rooms (?) are going to be turned into an Air BNB and he intended to lay vinyl plank flooring, something he knew nothing about it.  Two bathrooms.  Neither he, nor his wife / girlfriend had any idea of the dimensions.  They had no idea what their square footage was, so when he asked how many boxes he was going to need, all I could do was shrug.  He did the same thing with floor leveling compound. He was not pleased when I told him I couldn't tell him if he needed to buy a little bag or a big bag.  What they ended up doing was buying a lot of everything, intending to return what they didn't use.  When they checked out, he told the cashier he was a contractor.  She and I laughed.

Yesterday, the Republican held House of Representatives passed a decree denouncing Socialism.  Here's a chart defining Socialism, and Capitalism, and Communism.

Republicans hate anything and everything that hints at socialism.  They see it as a scourge against Capitalism, where basically anything goes and the consumer / citizen takes the brunt of the financial pain.  I've talked to people who do not understand there is a difference between Socialism and Communism, one woman actually asked me why I think we'd be better as Communists.  That is what Republicans are selling, that Socialism is the same as Communism.  

For these Republican congressman, Social Security is socialism.  Once elected, these same congressmen are set for life: a nice pension and free medical.  Why would they care about the average worker in America.  I do believe Congress should pass legislation which eliminates their pension and their insurance.  If Republicans what pure capitalism, they need to deal with it like the every other American.

The Good and the Bad

 So I get to go to work today... for a full 8 hours.  Son of a bitch.  Work is not my favorite place to be spending my time, it does, however, provide some benefits.  The large orange retailer I work for hands out bonus checks twice a year.  They call it Success Sharing.  Full time associates get bigger checks, part-timers?  Nice but not great.  Being a part-timers, I was expecting one of the 'nice' checks.  That is not the case.  You see, the old HR person chose not to change my status to part-time until the beginning of January.  Four months of my Success Sharing was calculated using the full time %, so my net is about 4 times what your average part-timer gets.

The estimate my car repair was emailed to me yesterday.  I have $250 deductible.  Can you guess where some of that Success Sharing is going to go?

And, of course, yesterday was another shit show at the confirmation hearing for Kitanji Jackson Brown.  Even though I was expecting those white, conservative Republicans to vilely demean this quite qualified candidate, seeing their desperation in action was infuriating.  They are being threatened by change, being backed into a corner by change, and instead of trying to understand what and why this change is happening, they are lashing out against it.  Their futility is embarrassing.  They let their pettiness over ride decency.  Their future will be defined by these moments when they scratched and clawed in desperation to prove their superiority.  They will be remembered for their failure.

On a brighter note, has anyone heard if Clarence Thomas is still in the hospital for his flu-like symptoms that are not Covid?  No one is saying anything.  Silence has never boded well.

Lie, Lie, Lie

 Well, we're off to a really windy Friday.  High gusts have tugged the top off of my garbage can and sent it sailing.  One of the resin chairs I never sit on was upended and sent dancing.  Later this afternoon, after things die down, I will put everything back where it belongs.

The insurance adjuster called yesterday. My damage is covered by my comprehensive insurance, so I'll have a $250 tab to pay.  The estimate is scheduled for March 22... yeah, they are that far behind.  One of my fellow associates sold cars at one point in his career, so I showed him the picture I had taken.  He pointed out that my bumper cover was cracked.  "That'll be a expensive fix," he told me, "there are a lot of sensors in your bumper."  As long everything is covered, I don't care.  Part of my coverage includes a free car rental from Enterprise while my car is in the shop.  They called yesterday and wanted to know when I needed the car, so I told them it won't be until probably sometime in March.

I watched the last episodes of The Book of Boba Fett last evening.  I suspect Disney was hoping the series would be as popular as The Mandalorian it wasn't.  Boba didn't have the cute, little Grogu.  Boba has a rancor... and he rides that sucker... and it did eat people.

And thanks to a judge, the Orange Anus, Ivanka Danka, and the Dumb One need to give depositions in a Civil Lawsuit.  Perhaps if they hadn't lied so much been so blatantly brash, this case would never have had legs.  However, it seems al that that family knows how to do is lie, lie, lie, make brash statements.   As a result, their financial empire is in serious jeopardy, perhaps if the foundation hadn't been laid upon the sands of deceit.  And because this is a Civil Case, rather than the Federal Case the New York Attorney General is working on (at present, I believe, 19 separate lawsuits have been filed against this crime family) taking the 5th is pretty much treated as an admission of guilt and actually can be used against them in the Federal Trial.  Holy Mother of Ouch Shit!  

I was stoned

 The temps are supposed to rise into the mid-50's today (F).  Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow.  With the temps warming up, I need to start thinking of my flower planting this year.  Two years ago I did bulbs and bunches of zinnias across the front.  Last year, some of the bulbs came up (no tulips) and very few of the zinnias, so this year I'm thinking of putting in a row of dahlias.  Now, won't that be nice?

My dental visit turned out to be mundane.  I had a filling I felt was beginning to crumble, and it was just my curious tongue imagining the worst.  The filling's fine.   My next appointment is scheduled in September.

However, while driving from my dentist to my neighborhood Giant, a dump truck turned on to East Penn Drive and a stone (rock) fell off.  The truck was approaching me at probably 20 mph, and I was heading towards the truck at 45 mph.  This is the stone (rock).  It's about 4 inches wide, 1.5 inches high, and 1.5 inches deep.

And that little sucker took out my left front parking light... completely.  I actually found the stone (rock0 sitting inside the car.

And, I'm waiting for the Insurance Adjustor to call.  I was told by my agent this type of damage is usually covered by comprehensive, but some adjustors will occasionally say this was a collision because I didn't brake.

On the lighter side of thing... I saw a Tweet last evening which said, "Fox News can't seem to stop talking about Hillary, so Trump must really be in trouble."  Maybe someone should tell Fox News they're beating a dead horse... of course, they're always looking for a dead horse to beat.  Hillary had the decency to accept her defeat in 2016.  Now, Fox News, in their desperate attempt to keep the Orange Anus from either going to jail or relocating to Russia is bringing up Hillary Clinton... again.  In fact, she is the 'go to' victim every time Republicans see that roiling tsunami of shit heading their way.

Fasting?

Well, I'm going to have blood drawn to day at work.  Yeah, it's one of those evils that comes with my job, especially if I want that old discount on my insurance.  This means they want me to fast... for 9 hours... and drink plenty of water.....  Right.  I began going to the VA for my health care about a month ago.  They're very good.  They're cheap.  The only reason I didn't dump my work insurance is because I have a specialist or two I feel comfortable with and didn't want to change.  Dr Wabnick, from the VA, is working to get my cholesterol down, and my blood pressure.  This is how it goes.

Anyway, I'm not fasting.  I ate breakfast.  Also coffee with whole milk.  As I said, the only reason I'm going through with this is for the discount, which will knock over $600 off of my insurance payments this year.  And, of course, when they ask me if I've been fasting I'll lie.  I'll say "yeah, stick me with your little needle."  The things we do to save a buck.

Job Search

Well, it's my first day off in a row.  Yippee, that's right, I have 2 days off back to back, and have I ever been busy cleaning, and doing laundry, and applying for jobs... well, I applied for at least one, and it wasn't with the large retail organization I now work for...  My gut is telling me that 8 year relationship is slowly coming to a close.
Originally I had expected to step down from my management position shortly into the new year, but, as things go on, that may not happen.  I find myself growing more and more irritated on a daily basis.  Retiring this early would not give me full benefits, however I have more than enough to live comfortably.  Unlike a lot of people, I don't have to worry about health care... really.  You see, back when I was 18, I and my friend Frank Marco decided to join the Navy.  Buddy system, you know?  Except they split us up right away.  Anyway, 12 months later, after A School, I was over in Vietnam.  I am, as far as the Federal Government is concerned, a Grade 6 Veteran "who served in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975.  And this gives me health benefits, as long as I get them through the VA.  The closest VA outpatient clinic is about.... 2 miles away.  There's a copay of $15 for a visit, $50 if I need to see a specialist, say for my Glaucoma.  Drugs are dirt cheap.

So I actually spent some time on the computer this morning looking for a new job.  It doesn't have to be full time, which would be very, very nice.  That would mean I could spend more time with my dogs.  More time doing what I want.  No more 0300 mornings, or getting home at midnight... I think I'm talking myself into this.  You know what I mean?

Work & Politics - 8 days a week

Eight Days a Week is an old Beatles song, one Paul McCartney, it is also the length of my work week... and I'm in the middle of it... and it's only going to get worse.  Tomorrow I get to open which means a 0330 wake-up call.  Wednesday and Thursday I get to stay up all night.  I can remember, when I was younger, staying up all night was not a big thing.  Now I hate it.  Oh, I do get Friday off, but after working a couple of overnights the day is pretty much a waste.  Besides, on Saturday I have to open the store again which means another 0330 wake-up call.
The following week I have someone named Stephen schedule in the department.  Since nobody knows who Stephen is, I asked the scheduler who flippantly said, "oh, don't worry, I'm just hiding him there, his hours are going to Admin, not you."  That's right, she's hiding somebody's hours in my department and charging them to another department.  They hired a guy a while back to work evening freight but I understand he now wants to work days so maybe she's trying to fudge his hours which, accounting wise, is not kosher.
The Democratic National Convention begins this evening.... I don't watch conventions.  Anyway, Hillary will get a big bump in the polls.  This always happens.  Poll watchers know this.  If you're not a poll watcher and read this blog... well, now you do.  Three weeks from now polls might show a little more relevance, but not now.
I think it's funny, the Ruskies seem to like Trump.  Way back when the DNC computers got hacked?  That's the first thing I thought of, you know?  Putin and Trump - soul mates.

The home improvement retail giant I work for does a 'healthy challenge' every summer.  This is a 6 week challenge in which associates are supposed to work on creating a more healthy lifestyle for themselves and their families.  If you want to continue getting a discount on your health insurance, you need to participate.  This year, unfortunately, they are showing participation by state.  Pennsylvania has a little over 10% participating, which is just another way of spelling 'failure.'  And you can bet, 99.9% of that 10% are only doing it for that discount.  If they want to promote healthy living, they need to link it to something other than the discount because I can tell you, most of the people from my store who are participating cheat.  This is how it goes.

The vicious circle of insurance fraud

I thought I'd do a quick jot before I go to work regarding Insurance Fraud.  There are 2 types: the first is perpetrated by individuals scamming Insurance companies and the 2nd is perpetrated by the companies themselves.  And, surprisingly enough, I have an example of both... in regards to the same individual.
Let me call this person Barb, and let's say she happens to be one of my associates.  Anyway, this past summer Barb came storming up to the paint desk in a tizzy.  Her husband's employer had just told him that since she works full time and can get her own insurance, well, that's what she needs to do.  They're not going to insure her anymore.  And, of course, they put the blame on Obamacare.  Of course, that's pure fraud.  His insurance company is just cheaping it out.  If Barb gets sick, her husband's insurance company doesn't want to take the hit; let that expense fall to her insurance.
And, of course, Barb does have health issues, which is why I'm referencing her.  When I transferred from the Carlisle Store to the Mechanicsburg Store she was out on Leave of Absence.  She had managed to break her foot and was supposed to be out for 2 months (?) which turned into 5 months, with multiple doctor visits.  Interestingly enough, during the time she was off the job, I'd seen Barb at my neighborhood Giant supermarket several times.  Each time I saw her, she said "I'm supposed to be wearing this boot but I hate it so I don't wear it."  She only actually came back to work when her disability insurance ran out.

This past August, Barb too 3 weeks LOA because she needed to have surgery.  She has / had trigger thumb???

And then two weeks ago she fell in her kitchen baking cookies and broke her ankle, and now she's going to be off for (she says) 6-8 weeks, but my guess it will be closer to 4 months.  When Barb has an injury she takes full advantage of her insurance, sometimes not being the most honest in order to take time off from work, and so she commits fraud.

It's a vicious circle.  People like Barb run up insurance bills that are unnecessary in order to stay home, and Insurance companies blame Obamacare in order to get these free loaders  off their expense report.  Wouldn't it be nice if insurance companies became more honest and transparent and people like Barb were actually penalized?

The Hideous Truth about Physical Therapy

Well, I've had several sessions of Physical Therapy as part of the treatment for my lower back issues and I have to say... I am not that impressed.  This is not because I'm not noticing any difference, rather the exercises they are having me do?  I can do at home.  Basically I spend about an hour strengthening my core muscles.  That's it.  And I'm serious when I say everything they have me doing, I've already done.
My Dr prescribed one month of Physical Therapy, and I will do one month.  Mostly, however, I'll be doing much more at home because for all intents and purposes, I have a gym in my house.  I had asked about using my eliptical and my therapist said that was fine but nixed the free weights and the bicycle.  In fact yesterday I spent 15 minutes on the eliptical and was rewarded with a slight burn in my quads and hamstrings.  Every day is better.

What I really need to focus on is not looking around the room when I'm there.  That's when I realize how hideous Physical Therapy can be: people like myself who can do the same exercises at home.  True, there are patients who need help, like the woman with the knee replacement,  But there seem to be more like the woman who came in, threw a white towel down on the floor, took off her shoe, and bent her great toe while pushing her foot front and then pulling it back.  Why is she, and her insurance company, spending money for her to rub her toe across a towel?  And she's not alone!  While I want to get in and get out many more appear to do their exercises in slow motion in order to socialize.  Like the middle-aged woman who had them do moist heat treatments on her shoulders.  She started talking to the therapist about a church bazaar, and how her son couldn't attend because he was going to baseball camp, and how the minister was so disappointed because he'd been hoping her son would be a ringer for the dunk tank.... And the therapist walked away to check on another patient and this woman just kept on talking.  See what I'm talking about?  And this is not an isolated incident.  It truly is hideous.

When Health Insurance gets it right

The first time The Arlington Group put through the claim for my back surgery it was denied, yesterday I received the results of their appeal.  Surprise, surprise, this time the claim was approved.  However, I'm getting a second opinion because of A) the initial denial, and B) things have so drastically improved since my initial visit to Dr. Kutz.  How drastically have things improved?  On my first visit I had no strength in my right leg and it was nearly impossible to lift my foot more than an inch off of the floor.  This morning I carried the walker I'd been using during the first month out to the car.  That's right, I carried it down three steps and across the lawn.  What makes this so totally ironic is that in the appeal, Dr. Kutz emphasized that I could not walk without the aid of a walker.

That's not true anymore.  What's even more important is that even though I'm not 100% back to where I was before I started falling down, I'd say that I'm at least 80% there.  Do I have arthritis in my lumbar region?  Most definitely.  Is it so bad I need to have 4 of my lumbar vertebrae fused together?  I suspect probably not.  Will I be back to work in a month?  I'd say most assuredly so.  

Now I know everybody complains about health insurance, how expensive it is and how it covers so little, but this time?  I think they got it right.  The fact that my Orthopedic Specialist  needed to enhance information on the appeal to my initial claim is not so good.  Is his diagnosis wrong?  I don't think so.  I do believe that when it came to treating my arthritis The Arlington Group tried to sell me a Gold Plated Cadillac when a simple Ford Focus would have done the trick.

Decorate This

I always do my reading in the morning, which consists of the NYT, news websites and blogs.  This morning Sean, one of the bloggers I read, was talking about a current project he was working on, a very labor intensive update of his family room.  He had a line about meeting with a decorator which I found intriguing.  You see I manage the paint department for a high volume, home improvement store.  Last year my sales were over $2.2 million, that's a lot of paint.  As such I get to deal with a lot of "decorators," (notice the quotation marks.)  I will leave the decorator stories for him.  This is mostly my gripe about the shitty schedules I get, you'd think with that type of money coming in they cut me a break.  How crappy are they?  Yesterday I started an 8 day stretch, that's right, I get to work 8 days in a row before I get another day off.  And it's not as though the next 8 days are going to be a cakewalk.  Yesterday I was in a 5:30 AM, today I'm in a 2 in the afternoon staying until 10:30 PM, and then I get to back to work 11 hours later.  That's right, I get 11 hours off before going back for another 9 hours.

What makes this just a bit saltier is the fact that I'm supposed to be participating in a Health Challenge in order to maintain a $50 monthly deduction from my Health Insurance.  One of the questions you're supposed to answer daily is "did you get 7 hours of sleep last night?"  And the answer is... no.  I have dogs and their routine is to get up around 5:30 in the morning (I get them up at 3:30 when I need to be there by 5:30).  Rare are the nights I get a good 7 hours of sleep, mostly it's between 5 and 6.  On the 7th and 8th days of this stretch I have to be at the store by 5:30 in the morning, so those will be early days for the girls.

Of course, with this Health Challenge, you're also supposed to be working out on a regular basis.  Now that's a laugh.  Talk to any personal trainer and they'll tell you one of the most important thing you can do is to set up a routine:  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are weight training, Tuesdays and Thursdays are Cardio.  It doesn't need to be those specific days, but you need a routine to follow on a regular basis.  This is how we create habits.  My schedule precludes any such routine or any kind of regime.  In case you are wondering, I am not alone.  All full-time associates deal with this nightmare.  This is the horror of retail scheduling.  You have no idea how often I would like to call corporate and tell them to just Decorate This.

    

Aetna - sucks the money from your wallet

I was more then a little surprised yesterday to get a bill in the mail from Pinnacle Health for a partial payment on some blood work I'd had done this summer as part of my annual physical.  Why surprised?  Because I have Aetna Insurance through my employer and according to the plan I have they are supposed to cover physicals 100%.  So, of course, I called Aetna.  The representative I talked to asked if I had any pre-existing issues and I told her I did not.  Her response was that my health provider had billed the blood work as Lipidemia blood work, rather then routine blood work, the kind of work they always do to check cholesterol and glucose.  She asked if I had any pre-existing conditions and I said "nope, I'm very healthy."  At her suggestion, I called my health provider to get to the source of the problem.  I was not very happy with the information I received.  You see back in 2011, during a routine physical, my triglycerides were 2 points higher then what is considered normal.  My doctor felt that I should have the blood work run again in 6 months just to make sure everything was normal, which I did, and it was.  Except for that one blip my triglycerides have been fine ever since.  However, that one blip gave me pre-existing status, at least as far as Aetna was concerned.

When I asked my provider why the last blood work was billed to Aetna as a Lipidemia test I was informed that to do so would be considered fraud.  You have no idea how stunned I was to discover that a 2 point blip in my triglyceride lever in 2011 is going to stick with me for life.  From now on, no matter how good my blood work is, Aetna is going to say I have a pre-existing condition.  As a result, rather then pay 100% of the routine physical costs, Aetna is only going to pay a percentage.  Excuse me, Aetna, don't shit on people just to feed your bottom line!  What is really sad was my provider informed me that I was like a lot of other people.  One little blip and you have a pre-exiting condition.  It may never show up again, but Aetna doesn't care.  What they do care about is saving themselves $23 bucks on a blood test that is no different from the standard blood test given as part of a routine physical.  My provider told me Highmark Blue Cross does the same thing, shit on their customers (that's not exactly how she put it, but it's what she meant).  Their idea of fair coverage is to nitpick and nickel and dime you so there's as little expense to their bank account as possible.  They're in the business of making money, not defining fair.  Do they care what your out of pocket expense is?  Hell no.  They see you as either a good investment or a bad investment.  A good investment is an individual who pays more while they pay less.  A bad investment is one with no pre-existing conditions.  A good investment has regular payroll deductions with out any costs.  A bad investment gets sick.  Because of their inherent preference to greed rather then fair coverage, Aetna sucks.

Gerber's Term Life Charade

If you're like me, you've seen the ads for the Gerber Life College Plan, however we may not be having the same reaction.  In my opinion, the commercials are so much false advertising.  It isn't until you go in and look at the website do they let you know what you're really buying is term life insurance.  Wait... what was that?  This isn't a savings plan?  It's term life insurance?  Damn right!  Which means (and they tell you this on the website) they're going to ask you questions about your health.  On the website, they also inform you the plan you choose can pay out from $10 thousand to $150 thousand upon reaching maturity.  Nice, right?  Sure, they just don't tell you what you monthly payments are going to be.  I'm going to be that to hit that $150 thousand mark they're going to be pretty damn salty.

Corrupting an image?

One of the things I always do when hitting a product website is check the reviews.  I was surprised there were on 23, 2 being negative.  You would have thought that with all the years Gerber Life has been around there would have been many more than that, of course maybe a lot of those who buy into it don't have an opinion, at least one they think they can share.

What I really don't like is that they are trying to snooker people into buying term life insurance.  Instead, the words "saving for college" are mentioned several times during the commercial.  Surprise, there are other ways to save for your child's college education.  Very few of them force you to lock yourself into a 10 to 20 year term life insurance plan.  And, believe it or not, many of them have a better rate of return.  So, if you are interested in saving money for your kid's future, go to your bank first.  Believe it or not, odds are they'll give you the better deal.  

There ain't no gold in them there dental plans!

Another funny thing which happened to me when I was making my bi-annual dental visit was my dentists suggested I replace several aging fillings with crowns.  Now I will be the first to admit my teeth are old, and it's true some of the fillings my even be considered relics of some dental dinosaur period, but I'm and not about to fork over a boat load of cash to replace them.  You see, he first brought up the subject of crowns about two years ago when one of my molars cracked under the weight of a vintage filling.  Not being one to be easily snookered in, I said, "hhmm let's wait."  What I did do was check out my dental plan to see what was actually covered.  Notice I said 'dental plan' and not insurance.  Too many confuse the two.  What you purchase through payroll deductions is a plan and it is quite specific on what it covers.  The plan I purchase from Met Life has 3 levels that you could label 'good, better and best.'  I have the good plan.  It does not cover crowns.

Nor does it cover root-canals. It does cover fillings completely, as long as they're only on one side of the tooth, after that it only covers a percentage.  This means that if you have a little cavity that's mostly on the top of the tooth with just a teeny bit on the side, you're going to have some out of the pocket expenses.  I know this to be true since I had one.  

In my plan, crowns are covered at the top level, or 'best plan.'  Of course, you are limited to one crown. Also, at that level, you are required to pay a  hefty deductible, just like in real insurance.  Add the deductible ($1000) to the total of my yearly payments ($820) and subtract that from the total cost of the crown and Met Life's expense is between $50 and $100 dollars.  Now I know there are some who will argue something is better then nothing.  Horseshit.  According to my dentist I have 5 teeth that will need crowns, sooner or later.  Of course I didn't buy insurance, I bought a plan that is minutely specific on what is and what isn't covered.  My plan does cover extractions, which indicates to me Met Life would rather the tooth be pulled then fixed.  Now isn't that a sorry thing?