Does it Really Save Anything to Have Medical Insurance?

A few months ago I finally got health insurance for the first time in five years.  I also got vision, dental and life insurances as well.  The company I work for also gave every employee $1000 towards their deductible of $1500.  So, I decided to rush out and use my insurances as quickly as I could.  I got my eye examination and of course had to get a new pair of glasses.  I chose the basic frames that were allowed on the plan and once it was all said and done it still cost me almost $200.


Next came the dentist appointments.  $567 dollars later, I got four wisdom teeth removed, one filling, three sets of x-rays, one filling and about 8 prescriptions.  Each dentist claimed the last dentist's x-rays were not good enough so I had to pay for another set.  Amazingly enough, they all three looked the very same.


Then came the medical appointments.  The initial visit to a little medical center in San Antonio started out by the office charging my "free company money" $60 and I got to see the doctor for 15 minutes.  She wrote me out four prescriptions and two medical procedures to go have done.  I later found out that I still had an additional remaining balance of $97 with them after this one visit.  I went and had the blood tests done and later received a bill for $57 for "my part" of the billing.  I also had to go and have an additional medical test on more private matters and surprisingly enough, that procedure was covered 100% by my company which I thought was pretty cool.  But then I was told that the results of that test came back with some possible complications and that I needed to go back and have another TWO test done.  When I showed up for that appointment, I was told that I needed to pay them $295 for an ultra sound which was 10% of the actual cost.  When I told them that I did not wish to have the ultra sound done, the woman looked at me with an expression of shock on her face and asked, "Well, don't you want to know if it is cancer or not?"  I laughed and told her that an  ultra sound WILL NOT reveal whether or not you have cancer and that she was out of line for even insinuating that I even HAD cancer.  I was so angry by this point that I just canceled my appointment all together and walked out.


So almost a thousand dollars later and not to mention the $480 per month I paid for this insurance coverage which it was over a three month period, I had spent just about $1500 and got a pair of glasses, one filling, four wisdom teeth removed and a bunch of drugs for pain and help me sleep and antibiotics.  So, I decided to just check to see how much it would have cost me to get these things WITHOUT insurance.


One pair of glasses with an eye exam ..................................... $100
Four wisdom teeth removed using the scale based on income...$500 (Income based)
Doctor's visit at a clinic w/prescriptions for 4 drugs..................$  50 (Income based)
One dental checkup and one filling..........................................$  75 (Income based)
One blood test and personal checkup ....................................$100  (Income based)
So the GRAND TOTAL is:                                                   $825
Which is FAR less than the premium I paid for the past three months of $480 x 3 =$1440


Now, if we look at the SIMPLE math, IF I had NOT paid for insurances and went to get these procedures done, my cost would have been approximately $825 BUT I chose to pay for insurances and paid out $1440 for the insurance alone and then an additional $1500 FOR "MY PART" of these services?  So, I spent $2940 for services I could have paid $825 for.  Can you do this simple math?  Yes, I got ripped off for over $2000 in three months time.  Doesn't that just make you want to run right out there and go buy some insurances?


I decided that I just didn't care enough to know which disease or cancer the doctors were going to diagnose me with like all my co-workers who are all undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.  I started listening to those sitting around me as they were all telling their stories of woe and how they have cancer or how their spouses have cancer or their friend or or or ...  The more I listened the more I realized that the doctors have us all buffaloed!  CANCER is the #1 highest paying disease in America!  And if you don't have it now, go see a few doctors and by the time your test results get back, you too can have this wonderful disease.


REALLY people?  I cannot believe  that our doctors of today are that caught up in big business to lead the American people down this Cancer pathway to HELL so they can get their kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies.   They call this their future.  Really?  They take your future AWAY from you and start pumping you full of poison to guarantee that they HAVE a future?  And you believe them?  Amazing!  Simply Amazing!

ASK for it and Maybe YOU Will Get IT

Each day, I take time to really listen to my co workers and family and friends.  I noticed one day that there was not a single person my day that actually had a nice or positive thing to say.  It was a shocking revelation.  That is what led me to start keeping a tally of conversations I would overhear or was a part of.  The tally was simple, it consisted of positive, negative, complaint and complement.


For an entire month, from March 15th to April 15th, I had heard 187 conversations.  Of that 187 conversations, 169 of them were negative complaints.  That was shocking to me.  Then it dawned on me that most of the complaints I could recall were always about something the person did not get.  Whether it was a nice birthday present or a promotion or the rebate they were promised.  At first I thought that this must mean that all people generally just like to complain.  But is that true?  Do they complain about anything just so they have something to talk about?


Years ago, I had read a book that taught you the art of asking for anything and getting it.  So I decided to expand my research for a week and as I heard complaints about how this one or that one didn't get this or that, I would ask one simple question, "Did you ask for it?"  Shockingly enough, the answers ranged from a simple NO to "Well, I tried".  Do people really think that the world is just going to GIVE them what they want and that the world KNOWS what THAT is?


Is the concept of asking for what it is that you want in life that difficult to understand?  I watched a couple of my coworkers try their hand at asking for what they wanted.  I laughed so hard I literally fell out of my seat.  That little mishap created an even larger laughter.  Needless to say, I didn't make any friends that day.  But really, does any human being with a brain cell really think they will get ANYTHING by being demanding and mean?  REALLY?


There is an old saying that you can catch more bees with honey than you can with vinegar.  So the next time you want something, try being kind or sweet and simply ASK for whatever it is you want and just maybe you will get it.  What a concept?

Gas Prices and the Cost of Going to Work

Have you ever wondered how much you would save by NOT going into work?  I thought about that today and the number I came up with literally shocked me.  Check this out.  This is a typical day of just getting up and going to work for eight hours and coming back home.  


1. Round trip to work 45 miles and at 15 miles to the gallon, that means I used 3 gallons of gas and at $4 a gallon that figure comes out to $12
2.  I took a shower, washed my hair and blew it dry, gelled my hair and put on my cologne, dressed in my jeans and nice shirt so you figure with the cost of the clothes, that cost was about $36
3.  I drank 2 large cups of coffee before hitting the shower and figured that cost was about $3
4.  I made my cup of coffee and forgot it on the counter so I bought one at work which cost me $2
5.  I could not resist the danish and bowl of fruit and that sat me back about $4
6.  Noon time rolled around and I joined my co-workers for lunch and that cost me $11
7.  Sleepy from eating lunch, I had to have another cup of coffee so there was another $2
8.  Quitting time finally rolled up and I realized I was out of cigarettes so I picked up a pack for $6
9.  Finally home, I whipped up dinner which consisted of chicken patties and potato salad which cost me about $8
10. My cell phone kept vibrating while at work today and I had 7 voice mails I had to return calls to.  The daily cost of my cell phone $2


The cost was $86 for ONE day of going to work.  Can you believe that?  And that did not include the air conditioner I had to leave on at 90 degrees so my house would not melt while I was away.


Then I started thinking how much I had to make per hour just to be able to GO to work. You work 8 hours in a day and you have to pay at least 33% to taxes, so if you made $10 per hour, you would be losing money as you would only make $80 and then the taxes would be 26.40 so your left with $53.60 which would mean that I would have had to pay $32.40 just to work each day, providing I would forget my coffee each day and go to lunch with my co-workers and smoke!  Then I bumped it up to $15 an hour which came up to $120 then minus 33% which is $39.60 I would still be losing money as I would clear only $80.40.  Is that amazing or what?


So what does this tell us?  I know what it tells me!  It tells me that the prices we pay to simply live life is just getting IMPOSSIBLE to support.  And where do you think this is going to lead us?  Especially when you hear on TV that the average wage of American workers is dropping, where are we heading?  Do any of us take the time to do the simple math or are we all so busy running from one responsibility to another to just make ends meet that we can't even find a calculator?


What to do?  I know what I started doing.  I started preparing my lunch which now costs me an average of $4 per day.  I stopped smoking,  I have my instant coffee at my desk for those mornings I forget my coffee.  I stopped going to the cafeteria all together.  I now have a new sense of value to my wardrobe and I am now more kind to my clothes.  I also posted a ride share post-it at work and have two other fellow workers that live near me that share the ride to work AND the expense.  With these simple changes, I can now go to work each day and KNOW that I get to actually bring home a paycheck and stop chasing last weeks debt.  Try this, you will shock yourself.

Mystery Meats of Fast Food

Have you ever taken the time to really look at the meat in that sandwich you ordered? How about that taco? How about that hamburger from that very popular MM sign? It is pretty scary stuff!


A few weeks ago, we sat out to visit a few fast food places and order up one sandwich or taco from each place and just take some time to look it over and taste just the meat. It was appalling to what we found. A "hamburger" we ordered LOOKED like a hamburger(small but looked okay) and then we both took one bite of just the meat. HOLY COW! That was NOT beef! I have never tasted anything like it and not really sure exactly what it really was to tell you the truth.


Then we stopped in for a taco. Once we FOUND the meat which was hidden under all that cheese and a mountain of lettuce, we both took a sample and just about gagged. That was the MOST disgusting mix of "meat" I have ever put in my mouth. We both felt a bit sick after that one.


After a few stops to use the bathroom along our journey, we decided to steer away from beef and try our hand at chicken. I am here to tell you folks, nuggets are definitely MYSTERY meat! What is that sticky stuff between the shreds of meat anyway? On the other hand, the broiled chicken sandwich had NOTHING to hide and was extremely tasty.


So, the next time you stop on the way home to pick up fast food to feed your family, save a nickel and just buy some rat poison, it will be no different except for the fact that the rat poison will just kill you faster.

Government Shutdown? REALLY?

When I heard on Friday, that the Federal Government paid out Welfare checks and then heard that the military did not get their pay, I KNEW that the Federal Government was NOT going to close.  Yet we all sat around Friday night and Saturday morning glued to our TVs waiting to hear whether or not our government closed their doors.  Even though I knew in my heart that the Fed doors were not closing, I still had to sit and watch it with my own two eyes and listen with my own two ears to make sure.  The panic in all the faces of the people I work with, hearing the little old lady in the grocery store line who was buying up hundreds of dollars of staples like rice, water, flour, canned goods and the sort, stand there and preach to me about how the big depression is about to happen and she was going to be ready.  I felt embarrased as I had merely bought a loaf of bread and some vegetable oil.  As I listened to her and looked at my two items, I wondered, "How would I be able to live on bread and oil?"

Bread and Oil, Looks pretty good to me!