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Health Insurance All my life, I have been lucky enough to have great health insurance. I've been to the doctors numerous amounts of times and never had a surprise bill. I paid my monthly dues through my work paycheck (or my husband's after we got married). And that was that. Even after delivering my daughter a year and a half ago, I never had to pay an extra dime. The insurance covered it 100%. Things have changed since them. My husband went part-time so that he could pursue his own business. Where he works gave him a temp position, so the only way we could get insurance was to go on COBRA. It really wasn't a big deal since they agreed to help pay for it by paying him a little more salary since COBRA is so expensive. It was still the great insurance that we had. Well, that all changed in July when his company signed a new contract with the health insurance company. Our monthly payment went up over $200 more a month and the coverage went down! We now have a $250 deductible AND we have to pay 10% of everything! It sucks! Especially since I am always going to the doctor because I am pregnant. And here's the thing that really makes me mad. I received a statement showing that my insurance was billed $700 for an ultrasound that I had a couple of months ago. When I was recently at the doctors, they were explaining to me that I had a balance due that I was unaware of. She said that it was for the ultrasound. She explained that the insurance paid $180 for the ultrasound and $213 was being applied to my deductible. What makes me mad is that if I didn't have insurance, I would be expected to pay $700 but the insurance company just pays what they want to...and that's okay?!? I am dreading the bills that will be flowing in after this baby is born... Posted by Sharon Return to Sharon's Cyber Scrapbook Friday, September 26, 2003 My Turtles Need An Aquarium! I thought that I would take a shot in the dark and post this here. I have 10 weeks left until my baby is born and my turtles are still occupying the new baby's room. I am looking for a 55 to 75 gallon, glass aquarium preferably with a stand that has doors to conceal the pump behind it. I am not quite ready to buy one of these new, since they are so expensive. So, if you or anyone you know in or around the Pittsburgh area are selling one, please email me with the information. Posted by Sharon Return to Sharon's Cyber Scrapbook Monday, September 22, 2003 Do You Believe In Ghosts? Click Here Posted by Sharon Return to Sharon's Cyber Scrapbook Friday, September 12, 2003 More On My In-Law's Situation As if the situation wasn't bad enough... The city has been working on their line for the past few days. They found a major blockage in the sewage line that they have to fix. While trying to go about that task, part of the street caved in!!! This is really starting to sound like a scene from a movie! Posted by Sharon Return to Sharon's Cyber Scrapbook Monday, September 08, 2003 Never Call Roto-Rooter My in-law's have been taken advantage of...BIG TIME! You see, they are both in their late 70's and probably a bit naive to how some of the things work around their house. (like a lot of us are...) One day, they discovered some water in their basement around one of the walls. Instead of asking their children what they should do, they just called Roto-Rooter to come and take a look. Well, I believe that Roto-Rooter saw the chance to make some bucks off of this poor, innocent couple. While they were there, they ran one of those cameras down their sewage drain and showed them on the screen that they had some breaks in their line under the house. They used scare tactics, telling them that fumes could blow through the furnace system and emit poisonous gas through out the house. (mind you, all they had was a little water and it was no where near the sewage system.) Apparently, whatever else Roto-Rooter told them scared them enough to sign a contract on the spot agreeing to $19,000 worth of work!!!! Unfortunately, they didn't tell anyone about this until the work already began. Let me tell you a little more about this to make you sick to your stomach. This house is over 100 years old and if they were to sell it, they probably couldn't expect to get more than $30,000 for it. The city recently labeled their neighborhood a "blighted area." There is a new cancer center that was built across the street from them causing all kinds of new developments to be built near by. Chances are real good that in the next couple of years that the city will come in and buy out the houses to demolish and sell the land to developers. And since it is considered a "blighted area" they won't have to pay them any more than the house is worth. After the family found out what happened we were all furious! Unfortunately, there is not much that we can do at this point. The work still isn't complete, after 3 weeks. Now the city had to be called in because apparently 40 feet of their line is crushed. Who is to say that isn't what they were showing my in-law's on the screen? You should see their yard, there are piles of dirt and tubes all over the place. There are holes in the ground. It's a total mess. Roto-Rooter actually had the nerve to try and collect the rest money from them before they even completed the work. So, my whole point to telling this story, is to protest against Roto-Rooter. My husband and some of his uncles are going to fight as much as they can to try to at least recover some of the money. At this point, legally we have no chance since the contract was signed. I want to make people aware of how unethical this company is running. Please, if you are having any type of plumbing trouble, call someone else. You know what, call at least two people. Don't get taken advantage of. And certainly don't call Roto-Rooter. Oh, and the water that was in the basement that inspired them to call...it was there again the other day despite all of the work that was done. Grrrr..... Posted by Sharon Return to Sharon's Cyber Scrapbook Thursday, September 04, 2003 Benny Hinn If you work a 9 to 5 job, chances are good that you've never caught Benny Hinn on television. In the morning, I usually take a half hour to channel surf and relax before I get my daughter up for the day. On several occasions, I have caught this guy's show and cannot believe my eyes. He is one of those faith healer, Christian evangelists. His shows are usually taped in front of a crowd of at least 20,000 or so. The entire show consists of people with health problems coming up on stage while he shakes his hand at them or hits them on the head and makes them fall and they are miraculously healed! Can you believe that people buy this crap? It is the most hilarious thing I have ever seen! The funniest part is that there are 20,000 who paid to get in to see this strange dude "heal" these actors...err...I mean people. And to top it off, he has some sort of accent resembling the Count from Sesame Street. I do have to give the guy credit though, it is funny to watch because it is so silly. Don't get me wrong, I believe in the power of healing and all, but it lies within ourselves. Some psycho who waves his hand at you isn't going to fix your problem...unless you really believe that he will. And then in the end, it's still just yourself who is doing the healing. Not Count Evangelist. I do believe in a lot of things that I am sure a lot of people think are crapola too. So, I guess they feel the same way when they see John Edward doing readings on television. (They are all thinking, sure a guy who talks to dead people...and I buy it right up! :) ) Geez, but at least he isn't throwing people around on stage and screaming, "Praise the Lord!!" What can I say, I can't stop myself from watching a couple of minutes of it, because it's just so funny to see all of these people in awe of such a silly display of insanity! (note: My appologies to anyone that reads this that does believe in this guy's show...I don't mean to be so critical...I'm just quite amused, actually!) Posted by Sharon Return to Sharon's Cyber Scrapbook |
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