Thursday, August 2, 2012

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)  Ran across this great photo essay "What if all Olympic sports were photographed like Beach volleyball?" 

2.)  Staying up too late watching the Olympic coverage every night - and making an effort not to see all the spoilers on the internet all day.

3.) Hearing a lot of bad news about Facebook lately. Apparently the people who do the budget projections for the state of California decided that all the new millionaire employees of FB would cash out their stock and get taxed on it boosting the state's income. They certainly bought into the hype. Today the stock price for FB is almost half what it was at the offering and now the projections are dire. The schools will be hard hit, yet again.
Then another article caught my eye - collections agencies are now using Facebook to stalk and harass people. They are contacting the "friends" listed and letting them know that their friend owes money. Nice. A lawsuit is in the works.



4.)  Got a beautiful needlepoint kit last December and have been working on it ever since.  Now that I am nearly done I am obsessed with finishing and have taken it with me to the Friday night Concerts in the Park.  People have seen me working on it all summer and are now commenting on it!

I went out to Cost Plus when they had throw pillows on sale and bought a few to match it. So excited to have it front and center on the sofa!

5.)  The decision at work was to go with a High Deductible Health Care Plan - which I had before and appreciated because the monthly premium was so low.  Not the case with this plan.  It is a $2000. deductible but the premium is still over $1000. a month for my family plan - if we need major care, it's great, covered at 100% once the deductible is met.

So now my "free" physical turned up something in the blood test which requires more tests - not free. So I have been inquiring about the out of pocket cost to me.  I have been inquiring for 2 weeks.  Apparently in the history of this medical group, no one has ever asked for the cost up front.  One department sends me to another for codes, etc.  The doctor doesn't know, the lab doesn't know, the billing office doesn't know.  Yet if I just go in for the tests I am sure they will quickly figure out how much to bill me.  Sigh. Those folks who think we have the best health care system must have some kind of plan I have never had access to.

4 comments:

knittergran said...

The needlepoint is BEAUTIFUL!
And the healthcare billing problem---exactly what is wrong with the US system. Turn everything over to for-profit ins. companies and wait for them to figure out how to cover as little as possible. Good luck!

lisahgolden said...

Your pillow is gorgeous!

Sigh. The health care system in this nation is such a mess. I'm sorry you have to jump through hoops for what should be simple info.

trash said...

Loving that cushion. It is always fun to craft in public I think, especially if people get to watch stuff grow.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

I am one of the people who DO have the greatest healthcare this country has to offer; it's because I work for a HUGE company (Washington Post Online), so my premium is about $400 a month for a PPO that gives me amazing flexibility in choosing doctors.

If I lose my job? I'd probably have a COBRA payment of $2,000/month for that plan.

Universal Healthcare is the answer.