health care - too much of a good thing
Many years ago I was in the military. Health care was a no brainer. You went to the base hospital or clinic or whatever and they took care of you and you never saw a bill.
The wife is a health care professional. When we moved here we still used the military health care system, because it was free, even though she worked for a fairly prominent hospital in town. When I left the Navy though, we used her health care plan. It was better than most, but not exactly free. Then I got a real job, and signed up for the health care plan. Huge mistake (lumberyard public service message - don't ever have two health care plans in the same family). We couldn't get anyone to pay for anything. Her insurance company wouldn't pay until they saw what mine did, and mine wouldn't pay until they saw what hers did. Nobody got paid and we had angry doctors looking at us for money. After one year of too much of a good thing, we just stuck with hers.
Over the years, health care being what it is, the wife would come home from her annual benefits meeting all pissed off. All the costs have gone up and her plan wasn't as good as it used to be, and she'd want to see mine. Then she'd realize it's not just her. That's happening to everyone, and relatively speaking, her plan still ain't so bad.
We still use hers, and it's with all that backdrop that I go into today's health fair at work. It's geared toward people who use the health care plan, trying to get stats from it to say we're getting healthier (or not) as a company, so we can get a cheaper plan next year. Those of us who don't use the plan are sort of left on the side. We don't do all the stuff the other folks do, because we don't fit into the calculations. We still get to go, and we get some benefit from the thing. I'll get a free flu shot, cholesterol screen, PSA and a few minutes with a counselor based on a questionnaire I did a week or so ago...and I'm all about the free stuff...so I'll go and get poked and measured. Hopefully all it does is confirm what I hope is true...that this exercise binge I'm on is actually making me healthier. After all, hell started freezing over yesterday.
The wife is a health care professional. When we moved here we still used the military health care system, because it was free, even though she worked for a fairly prominent hospital in town. When I left the Navy though, we used her health care plan. It was better than most, but not exactly free. Then I got a real job, and signed up for the health care plan. Huge mistake (lumberyard public service message - don't ever have two health care plans in the same family). We couldn't get anyone to pay for anything. Her insurance company wouldn't pay until they saw what mine did, and mine wouldn't pay until they saw what hers did. Nobody got paid and we had angry doctors looking at us for money. After one year of too much of a good thing, we just stuck with hers.
Over the years, health care being what it is, the wife would come home from her annual benefits meeting all pissed off. All the costs have gone up and her plan wasn't as good as it used to be, and she'd want to see mine. Then she'd realize it's not just her. That's happening to everyone, and relatively speaking, her plan still ain't so bad.
We still use hers, and it's with all that backdrop that I go into today's health fair at work. It's geared toward people who use the health care plan, trying to get stats from it to say we're getting healthier (or not) as a company, so we can get a cheaper plan next year. Those of us who don't use the plan are sort of left on the side. We don't do all the stuff the other folks do, because we don't fit into the calculations. We still get to go, and we get some benefit from the thing. I'll get a free flu shot, cholesterol screen, PSA and a few minutes with a counselor based on a questionnaire I did a week or so ago...and I'm all about the free stuff...so I'll go and get poked and measured. Hopefully all it does is confirm what I hope is true...that this exercise binge I'm on is actually making me healthier. After all, hell started freezing over yesterday.
Labels: It's all about me
John put this out here at 8:12 AM
2 Comments:
Health insurance companies are the DEVIL.
and the results...overall I'm healthy. The one thing that struck me was the body fat measurement. They ask you how much you exercise beofre you step in their little gizmo. The woman that did it had a much nicer way of saying this, but when I take all the bullshit filters off it, what she said was..
"For a 50 year old guy, you're not fat, but for a 50 year old guy who works out as much as you say you do, you're fatter than you should be."
Like I said, her version was more polite, almost complimentary...but I saw right through it.
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