Insurance is a scam

My rant today was initiated by my prescription service.

I hate insurance companies. They are the worse form of bureaucracy imaginable. Actually, I should qualify my statements...I hate medical insurance companies. I've dealt with several varieties over the years, and can state that the HMO concept could only have been conceived by an evil, evil person. You are required to jump through all their hoops, but they have no obligation to provide reasonable, rational services.

At the end of July, I order 2 prescription refills through my mail-order prescription service. The refills were shipped August 2. Through an error on the part of the post office, instead of my pills arriving in MY mailbox, they ended up at my son's apartment in Kennesaw, Georgia. Since he and his wife were in the process of packing their household goods to be moved to his new post in Hawaii (he's in the Army), my pills inadvertantly ended up on an Army transport, on the way to Hawaii. No idea when they will see the light of day again. I've explained this to my insurance company (Pacificare) and their contracted prescription service (Prescription Solutions). But, since it's not time to refill the 3 month supply yet, any refills I get till October 8 will not be covered by my prescription insurance. So when I go to my local pharmacy (having given up on meds by mail), I not only do not get the advantage of ordering 3 months at a time, I have to pay full price, not just my co-pay. The advantage of meds by mail was that you got 3 months for the price of 2. I called my insurance company about the problem, and was told only the prescription service could waive the refill date. The prescription service says that the insurance company makes that determination. I guess I could go to the post office and ask them to pay for the refills, but I suspect the med insurance bureaucracy might even be surpassed by the postal one.

Insurance seems like such a scam. You pay outrageous premiums for car insurance, and if you ever need to file a claim, they increase your premiums. How can that be right? House insurance is the same. Plus, they can arbitrarily decide they don't want to cover you anymore. Oh - and as far as car insurance, it's against the law not to have it. So they have government supported piracy going on. I feel really sorry for the folks down in the Katrina path, when they go to file claims and find out all the ways their insurance companies can weasel out of paying up. Some companies will probably just declare bankruptcy - easy for businesses these days, but not for the victims of the hurricane that have lost all. Thanks to our congress and president for passing that new bankruptcy law...

So - do you wanna ask me how I really feel about insurance now? LOL

Headline News? No Thanks.

Okay, this has been bugging me for a few months now. I used to like to watch CNN Headline News. For years you could watch for 1/2 hour and get the jist of what was going on in the world. Then they changed so they "recap" the headlines every 15 minutes. But all you get is the headline, practically only soundbites. Then, early this summer, they changed yet again. Now they have an HOUR of showbusiness "news", then an HOUR of Nancy Grace grilling people about how guilty someone is in a court case that is still being tried - or better yet - hasn't even gone to trial yet. Then there's the HOUR of news that is suppose to be in depth, but still covers - you guessed it - showbiz and court news. Then for the next 4 hours they repeat those 3 shows. So not only are you getting more and more re-hashed news during the day, but the evening prime time hours aren't "real" news at all. They might mention that we lost more soldiers in Iraq, or that Karl Rove is up to more shenanigans, but only a mention mind you. I guess they think people don't want to know about those things. Only about sensational, celebrity filled stories, or stories about cute little animals having adventures. Congress passed a bill today? Okay - a mention that it passed, but nothing about the contents.

If I want showbiz news, I'll tune to E! channel. If I want court news, there's always Court TV (Nancy Grace has at least one show on there also). And I guess to get "real" news I'll have to switch to a "real" news channel, like MSNBC or something. Bottom line - CNN is no longer my "most trusted name in news". I actually learn more about what happened some days from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Online Radio Stations

I finally finished listening to the 41 disk book "Storm of Swords" by George R. R. Martin. I hope his next one isn't quite so long, but each book in the series is longer than the last.

Anyway, while I listened to the book, I couldn't listen to my Launchcast radio, which is what I usually do while poking about on my computer. I actually pay for this radio station, but for all the enjoyment I get from it, it is well worth the $40 a year. I get to rate each song that plays, also the artist and the album. I can mark a song to say I never want to hear it again. But the real joy has been discovering new artists, or hearing songs from so long ago that I'd forgotten I ever knew them.

The first time I realized that this radio was a find, I heard the song "All My Trials". I knew it was by covered by Peter, Paul and Mary a long time ago, because my sister had the songbook for it. But the music was keyed very high, and it was so difficult to sing if you weren't soprano. So I was surprised to hear the PP&M version sung in a low key. I'd strained my voice on that song for so long, and could have spared myself if I'd just tracked down the record when I was young. (Yes, I listened to real vinyl records - 45's, 78's and LP's or 33's.) It was one of mom's favorite songs, and we 3 girls had to sing it whenever we were all there together.

I've also heard music from Broadway plays I didn't even know existed (not living near NYC). Like "Assassins", which is about Presidential assassins. Neil Patrick Harris sings about John Wilkes Booth. Who knew Doogie Howser could sing? But it's a great song.

Anyway, I love listening to all kinds of music, and this radio station is great, because it customizes to what you want to hear. I tried AOL's station, but it isn't nearly as much fun, since you have to pick a genre station.

Do I really want to do this?

Somehow, in trying to post to a friend's blog, I ended up getting sidetracked into creating my own. Like I have anything going on in my life worth blogging. Maybe I can use it as a book review blog. I've been doing lots of reading this summer.