Get Your Grump on Thursdays - Was (What's chapping my @ss today?)

[dashDustin]

my $180/mo, completely adequate insurance plan through Humana will be phased out in June. I've been pricing new plans, and a shitty, high deductible plan (2x what my current deductible is) is $345. To get something similar to what I have now, I'm looking at $500. Company insurance is $400/mo. I've got 5 months to figure out how I'm going to afford that.

[David Tollefson]

One more for today because it just happened. As I was heading out for the lunchtime MTB ride, my co-worker said "Don't slip in the ice." Well, sure enough... Fourth time through a particular corner, the front end washed. Sure, it was icy, but I'd already been through that corner three times no problem. Gonna have a good bruise on my hip and elbow...

But the bike is fine.

[mwynne]

New headphones arrived: Don't work
New tires arrived: Not the size I wanted
Tripped walking to work (didn't even slip on the ice): shattered the jar of coffee grounds in my bag

[dbh]

Roman candle duel...nice

My brother and I preferred bottle rockets as our dueling weapon of choice. You could build bunkers in the sand on the beach and reenact WWI. Amazingly, all of our limbs are intact.

[David Tollefson]

Okay, I know it's not Thrusday, but dammit...

Doing my normal lunchtime MTB ride and pushing some trails into the woods, I meet up with two site services guys. They were checking out one of my single track trails, a point where it crosses a fire road. We talk a bit, one of the guys is the area manager. Says that I'm not really supposed to be out there, and not cutting anything down. They get in their truck, I head into the trail. A rock in the middle of the trail. I should have seen it coming. A little further, a branch across the trail, knee high. It's deadwood, so I just loft the front wheel into and and break it. 10 yds further, a tree across. Again, dead, so I pull it off. 10 yds further, another log... I turn around and chase them down. "In the name of safety" they added obstacles, hazards... And now that they know the trails are there, and who I am, it will just continue. A year and a half of cutting trails just flushed down the toilet. Sure, I knew it could happen some time, but it still sucks.

[davids]

Okay, I know it's not Thrusday, but dammit...

Doing my normal lunchtime MTB ride and pushing some trails into the woods, I meet up with two site services guys. They were checking out one of my single track trails, a point where it crosses a fire road. We talk a bit, one of the guys is the area manager. Says that I'm not really supposed to be out there, and not cutting anything down. They get in their truck, I head into the trail. A rock in the middle of the trail. I should have seen it coming. A little further, a branch across the trail, knee high. It's deadwood, so I just loft the front wheel into and and break it. 10 yds further, a tree across. Again, dead, so I pull it off. 10 yds further, another log... I turn around and chase them down. "In the name of safety" they added obstacles, hazards... And now that they know the trails are there, and who I am, it will just continue. A year and a half of cutting trails just flushed down the toilet. Sure, I knew it could happen some time, but it still sucks.

I'm confused - who created these trails? On whose land?

[Chad]

my $180/mo, completely adequate insurance plan through Humana will be phased out in June. I've been pricing new plans, and a shitty, high deductible plan (2x what my current deductible is) is $345. To get something similar to what I have now, I'm looking at $500. Company insurance is $400/mo. I've got 5 months to figure out how I'm going to afford that.

In my most non-partisan voice, the ACA has done nothing but drive up the cost of the insurance through my employer. This year's increase, 35%, efff me.

Who do you blame? Overpriced Rx's, hospitals overcharging, shitty underwriting, forcing people to insure, driving young healthy folks to not insure? I don't know the answer, but I know that for me, and the majority of folks I know, the ACA was not it.

I voted for Obama, my complaint is not aimed at any one person.

Sorry to pile on your grump, and it's not Thursday, but health insurance in general is one that irritates, angers and confuses the shit out of me.

Have a great week!!

[guido]

Actually the ACA has does a lot to reduce costs and it increased the number of people with health insurance by over 20 million.

Unfortunately it is not in the best interest of Insurance companies, drug companies, providers or hospitals to reduce prices so it could only get so far.

The only way to truly control health care costs is to get the profit motive out of the equation. Without that we will keep paying higher costs.

Repealing ACA will only make it worse.

[Chad]

I'm not arguing against the ACA as a whole, I'm only referring to my personal experience and those I have spoken to about it. Whatever costs have been reduced have not led to any reductions in the cost of health insurance that I've seen. Small sample group, I know, but it is difficult for me to get excited about all the good it has done, for everyone but me.

"The only way to truly control health care costs is to get the profit motive out of the equation. Without that we will keep paying higher costs." I couldn't agree more.

[guido]

It is very hard to live in an under served insurance market. Without meaningful competition it can't work even as intended. I wish you luck finding a solution that works for you and yours...

[bigbill]

Actually the ACA has does a lot to reduce costs and it increased the number of people with health insurance by over 20 million.

The only claim that can remotely be made is that ACA reduced the rate of increase of costs, it didn't reduce costs. Many of the 20 million were added to Medicaid which is called insurance to make the numbers look better.

My share of insurance has more than doubled in the last 4 years to maintain my plan offered by my employer. $225 in 2012 to $525/month now. My cost had to go up to avoid the "Cadillac tax" my employer would pay. Next year I'll lose my company insurance because I'm retired military and can't have an HSA when PPO is eliminated. So I guess I'm in the ACA sucks camp. I also do taxes at United Way via the VITA program for poor and elderly so I see how it is applied. Things look different at that level when you see the realities versus pretty graphs in a pro ACA article.

[bigbill]

Here's my grump, I'm on what should be my last night of project management (12 hour shift, 7pm to 7am). There is no one scheduled for tomorrow night and there is still testing to do. FML.

[Corso]

Bought a used car from a friend for my daughter. Only has one key. So I call the local Honda Dealer he bought the car from new, and always had it serviced by-to inquire about getting a new key made, and becoming a new customer. Service department phone line kicks into voicemail. So after several attempts, I leave a detailed message-as instructed so “we can get back to you quickly”. Several days go by… So I email the Service department, requesting they get back to me. It’s been a week, still no word.

BUT I did receive my first email from them, as they added me to their email newsletter list. I know it must be an automated list, but what kind of service is this?

[joosttx]

My neck and shoulder are telling me its time to get my shoulder scoped again. I hope they are lying.

[teleguy57]

Not a huge grump, but a small whine.

Had great skiing snow until Monday, when rain/freezing rain, now followed by three days of unseasonably warm (mid-30s F, which is forecast to continue or be even warmer for another full week). Ice has made classic skiing miserable; temps are great for getting on the roads, but still much sporadic ice (where you least expect and often can't see it) and lots of fog which makes inattentive drivers even more of a risk since they're not looking for cyclists this time of year. Would like to either ski or ride, but skiing sucks and the riding is a bit dicey.... It should be winter, or not!

Ok, whine over. I'll take advantage of the temps, put on lots of lights and keep my eyes open.

[defspace]

I've been trying to get data from a client. It's been over a month now. I finally got an email today. I have utterly no clue what it's supposed to be.
To translate into bike:
Hey Client, what's your saddle height?

Subject: Front saddle reach
Body: Hi, sorry that took so long. My handle bar height is it is a Trek.

[Matthew Strongin]

I've been trying to get data from a client. It's been over a month now. I finally got an email today. I have utterly no clue what it's supposed to be.
To translate into bike:
Hey Client, what's your saddle height?

Subject: Front saddle reach
Body: Hi, sorry that took so long. My handle bar height is it is a Trek.

I love this post.

Here's how my day is going.

Client: We need all these features in June. We don't actually know what they're supposed to do. How many people do we need?

Me: It will take us until July to hire people to start work on this.

Client: So I can't get it in June?

Me: Sure you can. June 2018.

[monadnocky]

A day late. So sue me.

Hey... all you docs, psychologists, social workers, Master's level therapists, and so on:

When I send you a release of information requesting information about a shared patient, it's not a pretty-please-when-and-if-you-have-the-time type thing. It's a legal demand for medical information that you are obligated to follow up on. Especially egregious since I've called two of you now, offering to make it as easy as possible for you (i.e., send me a two paragraph treatment summary and not the whole file, we can even talk about it on the phone).

That was three weeks ago, two faxes, and numerous phone calls.

OK, you got it.... I'll simply indicate in the (court-ordered) evaluation report that you didn't send records. And I'll mention you by name of course.

[doomridesout]

Our dog is now a year and a half old, we've had him since he was two months. We've been starting to trust him leaving him alone out of his kennel. Last weekend we were going to be gone for about eight hours. A little bit too long to feel like he wasn't going to get into trouble. We left him in his kennel. Lo and behold, he puked, muscled the crate apart, shat by the door, and shat on the carpet. OK, that was too long to leave him, he got anxious.
Today, we leave him out of crate for about three hours. My wife left work for a few minutes to check on him and found an anxiety turd on the couch. She cleaned up, put him in the kennel and returned to work for a few hours. Getting home, it was like a shit bomb exploded in his crate with him.

I realize this might paint us as bad dog owners, but we need to be able to leave him alone without worrying that he's going to explode with shit. It's clearly separation anxiety. I hope it's just the fact that the rain has precluded him getting the exercise he needs lately...

[TMB]

I'm not arguing against the ACA as a whole, I'm only referring to my personal experience and those I have spoken to about it. Whatever costs have been reduced have not led to any reductions in the cost of health insurance that I've seen. Small sample group, I know, but it is difficult for me to get excited about all the good it has done, for everyone but me.

"The only way to truly control health care costs is to get the profit motive out of the equation. Without that we will keep paying higher costs." I couldn't agree more.

And guess what the primary target is for those who say that Canada unfairly profits under NAFTA? The health care system. That single payer, no profit motive system, that is what has a great big bulls-eye on it by the anti-NAFTAers. The system that they continually say provides an unfair corporate subsidy.

Bullshit.