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Posts Tagged ‘dentist’
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Usually on my ride to and from work each day I’m listening to Sirius XM . If there is nothing good on Howard 100 or Howard 101, then my next stop is AltNation on channel 21. I like AltNation because it’s a nice mix of standard alternative and contemporary alternative rock mixed together. Makes for nice listening music when you’re driving home after a long day at work or when you’re on your way to work when you’d much rather be asleep.
The other day I heard a song called “Fireflies ” by an artist named Owl City . The song was sort of weird in that the lyrics almost didn’t make any sense. Some guy was singing about catching fireflies and keeping them in a jar – weird. Anyway, aside from lyrics that made me go, “hmmm…” the sound of the song was almost whimsical, if that adjective can be attributed to a song. I was intrigued and added the song to my Sirius XM alerts – meaning that whenever the song was played on any channel, my radio would beep and tell me which channel I could switch to in order to hear the song.
A few days went by and the radio didn’t beep “Fireflies,” but I was able to bring up the video on YouTube. It’s crazy. It’s a guy (who apparently calls himself “Owl City“) sitting in a room with a variety of light-up toys blinking on and off. Weird, but sort of funny.
The video was so crazy that I decided to listen to the entire Ocean Eyes album and I loved it. It’s really a type of electronic/emo sound, but the lyrics in the songs are so out there that I can’t help but enjoy it. The dude sings about going to the dentist! The dentist! Ha! Then there’s another song about him being a worm lowered into the ocean on a hook to have a party with his undersea friends.
What might be most interesting, though, is that I found this album to be incredibly calming when I listened to it. And that’s sort of funny to me because I generally hate the electronic/emo type of music. I don’t know – something about Owl City’s music just seems to calm down the rage a bit. It’s a nice change, actually. I found myself listening to the album as I was designing websites for Usable Web Solutions, LLC and it helped me to focus – very nice indeed.
So if you have a few extra bucks built-up on iTunes or if you have a few minutes and you can get over to YouTube, then I suggest listening to this guy. He’s pretty good and I think you’ll enjoy it.
Posted in Book, DVD, Movie, & Media Reviews | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Over the past few Fridays I’ve been making appointments with a variety of my doctors. I’ve seen an optometrist, a dentist, and my general care practitioner. Also, I’ve been back and forth to the pharmacist a few times to get some prescriptions that I need. This Friday I’m going to see a nutritionist, too. But I have to tell you, while I’m going to visit these various care providers, I’ve noticed that my insurance pretty much sucks in all respects.
Below is the bulk of a text of an e-mail that I sent to one of the leaders at my job. The purpose was to explain all of the problems that I’m having with the insurance – frankly, some of this stuff is insane…
Prescriptions: The most aggravating issue that I have is the prescription coverage. My doctor prescribed a certain drug for a condition that I have, but he gave me free samples to use first. Once the free samples were completed, I tried to get the prescription filled and the pharmacy told me that the insurance company didn’t cover the medicine (first they said I wasn’t in their system – a recurring theme as you’ll see). Instead, I have to take two generics – the free samples that my doctor gave me were working very well, too. I don’t mind taking the generics, but now I’m inconvenienced with taking two pills instead of one.
Additionally, I tried to fill the generic prescriptions and one was approved with no problem while the insurance company wouldn’t immediately approve the second one. They wanted additional information from my doctor, which the pharmacy requested. The Pharmacist said that the process should take no longer than 2 – 3 business days, so given the upcoming holiday, I might not be able to get my medication until after Labor Day. [Note: I wrote this e-mail on Wednesday, September 2nd]
Gym Reimbursement: The insurance company has a Healthy Lifestyles program that I am enrolled in. This program offers $150 for reimbursement of gym membership expenses if you go the gym 120 times in a given year. When I switched to my new gym in March I asked if it was covered in the program and they said yes. On a following call with the insurance company, they told me that the visits to this gym would only count if they were made in between certain times of the day (basically when we’re at work). That effectively kills my ability to claim this reimbursement and it makes their program useless.
Request for Information: In one of these calls to the insurance company, I asked them for a package of information that detailed all of my benefits because I, unfortunately, lost the package that the secretary gave me when I was hired (I lost it in the move to Tinton Falls). They sent me a package for those members who are 65+ years old living in Somerset County. I called them back and told them that they must have the wrong guy and that I was 28 and living in Monmouth County while being employed in Mercer County. They apologized and sent out a new package…the same package as the first time. So I threw out both packages since I’m not a senior citizen living in Somerset County and gave up trying to ask them for a listing of my benefits.
Delta Dental: When I went to the dentist two weeks ago, I had to wait an hour before I could be seen by the doctor because the assistant was told by Delta Dental that I wasn’t in the system. Apparently, she called a few days prior to my visit and I wasn’t in the system then, either. I gave her our office contact information, but I was in the dentist’s office at 8am for an 8:15am appointment so there wasn’t anyone in our office who could help that early on a Friday morning. After waiting on hold and going back and forth with the insurance company, I was magically found in Delta Dental’s system and able to see the dentist at 9am.
Optometrist: The insurance company subcontracts their vision coverage to a vision company. I went to the eye doctor about four weeks ago and it took them over an hour to figure out how to bill me AFTER I had seen the doctor. They were on the phone with the insurance company who took no ownership over their contract with the vision company and said that I wasn’t even in their system (they eventually found me). So the eye doctor’s office called the vision company, who said to contact the insurance company. This went back and forth until someone finally got on the phone and figured out what to do and how to bill me.
Pearle Vision: When I was getting my glasses at Pearle Vision, the person helping me pulled up our company’s specific plan with the vision company and it cited that we had a really great plan that covered some parts of the equipment (great discount on lenses). Then when he called the insurance company to get some confirmation number, they wouldn’t speak to him and put him through to the vision company, who bounced him back to the insurance company, who ultimately said that we had no equipment coverage. The folks at Pearle Vision were baffled since their information (which had been updated about two weeks earlier) clearly showed all of the equipment coverage that we should be getting on our plan.
This is where my e-mail ends. However, there is an addition to this mess…
Nutritionist: It turns out that my nutritionist visit (which is essentially preventive care – the stuff that everyone in America should be engaged in) is not covered either. You see, my nutritionist is not registered as a medical care provider and thus can only enter a certain billing code to the insurance company. Well, my plan doesn’t accept that billing code – they only accept nutritionists that bill as medical offices. So I have to pay for this visit out of my pocket.
Here’s my question – if I’m paying for health insurance and I have all of these needs that aren’t being met by the insurance company…why am I paying for health insurance again?
Posted in United States Politics | 4 Comments »
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Going back and re-reading some of my posts over the last few weeks makes it pretty apparent that I’m finally taking a long-overdue interest in my health. Between the optometrist visit, the dentist visit (including follow-ups), and the doctor visits, I’m trying to get myself in the best shape possible. Part of this is because I haven’t been to these various doctors in so long, but I’m really going to these places because I have health benefits and I feel that I should use them…before the government finds a way to mess up healthcare.
Speaking of healthcare, one of the subscribers to this blog (by the way, have you subscribed to the blog yet? If not, go to the top of this page and subscribe there!) sent in his proposal to reform healthcare. It’s interesting, to say the least. Frankly, I think there is merit in the proposal, which is copied below from a recent op-ed:
A proposal to reform medical care and save the federal and state governments and the American taxpayer billions over the long run.
Federal and state governments would pay all costs of a medical school education for students who otherwise would not be able to afford a medical school education. No student would be excluded, provided that upon completing medical school, the doctor would be obligated to provide a percentage of their time and practice for treating low-income patients deemed eligible by federal and/or state governments.
The doctor would be obligated to treat a small percentage of eligible low-income people for free (office visits only). The percentage and number of years of obligation to do so would be decided by peer review. The less money provided to the students for their medical education, the smaller the percentage of their obligation for treating the eligible poor.
Participating doctors would not bill Medicare, Medicaid, insurance companies for the treatment of the eligible poor, thus saving federal and state governments billions of dollars in the long term.
The cost of the free medical school education provided by federal and state governments would be offset by the savings achieved by not having doctors bill Medicare, Medicaid and the insurance companies. Students in any stage of medical school would immediately be eligible to participate.
Doctors would have the option to treat eligible patients in their office, at hospitals or clinics. Clinic space could be provided for out of office visits.
The same premise can be applied for health providers and caregivers willing to participate under the same above rules and obligations. The federal/state governments would defray all cost to all eligible health providers and caregivers to open up their medical practice/office. Doctors, labs, chiropractors, and therapists would be eligible under my proposed program.
The potential saving to the federal/state governments from non billing by participating caregivers would be enormous.
Regarding unnecessary diagnostic tests that are ordered by doctors out of fear of medical malpractice, a meeting of the minds could be convened among federal and state policy leaders, bar association representatives, medical insurers, and health providers, to come to an agreement of understanding as to limiting diagnostic tests deemed unnecessary.
Joseph P. Martino
Millburn, New Jersey
What do you think?
Posted in Random Entries, United States Politics | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 21st, 2009
For the first time in way too long (over a decade), I visited the dentist today. What could have been a gigantic disaster actually turned out to be not half bad. The dentist commented that I have beautiful teeth and that I must have impeccable home care…which I do. I brush my teeth in the morning and the evening and gargle at both times. Plus, I floss once or twice per week (when I remember).
The dentist also commented that my gums look very healthy. Part of that has to be the fluoride from the water that I used to drink when I was young growing up in New York and part of it has to be genetics (my Father had strong teeth).
However, even with my awesome teeth, the dentist recommended that I get some fillings for my molars and that I get two cavities filled in. Again – not really that bad of a diagnosis considering that I haven’t been to the dentist in ages. I’m pretty content. Anyway, that’s the start of my weekend so far – a generally great report from my dentist!
Posted in Random Entries | No Comments »
Sunday, August 9th, 2009
A few days ago I posted an entry talking about how my stomach was annoying me and I was wondering if it was acid reflux or an ulcer or something. Well, that prompted me to go to the doctor to get checked out and it was a pretty good trip.
By the way, this is a new doctor for me so I went there a few minutes early to fill out the requisite paperwork – which wasn’t so bad. Also, my appointment was for 9:30am and I was called into the examination room at 9:32am. Talk about fast and speedy!
The nurse took some of my blood for blood work and then took my blood pressure, which was exactly where it should be. The first sign of good health was that I didn’t have high or low blood pressure (I normally have low blood pressure). The doctor then came in and talked to me about my stomach and since I hadn’t had the annoyances in the last week, he thought that it might not be a big problem. However, just to be sure that it didn’t have anything to do with my heart, he gave me an EKG. I never had one of those before, but it’s an extremely quick little procedure.
The nurse told me that this procedure checked to see if there was plaque build-up around my heart and whether or not my heart was beating correctly. Again, I was happy that the test showed no build-up and that my heart was beating normally. More good news. The doctor wound up giving me some preventive medication for a twenty day period. I’ll go back and talk to him when the medication is complete, but I don’t have any symptoms of the heart burn or a possible ulcer any more.
Since I was in the mood to see doctors on Friday, I went over to the optometrist to get my eyes checked. You’re supposed to get an eye exam every year or every other year if you’re younger. It’s been six years since my last eye exam, so I thought it was time to get back to the doctor. Again, this was a new doctor for me and while I had a very pleasant experience at the general doctor in the morning, I had a horrendous experience at the optometrist.
I went to the “Eye Doctor” next to the ShopRite in Neptune, Monmouth County. It was the worst pre-examination experience that I’ve ever had at a doctor’s office. I arrived at 3:15pm for a 3:30pm appointment – I figured I would have some paperwork to fill out (which I did) and then there would be a small wait before I saw the doctor. Oh no…
My paperwork was completed by 3:20pm and I wasn’t called in to see the doctor until 5:00pm. I repeat. My paperwork was completed by 3:20pm (for my 3:30pm appointment) and I wasn’t called in to see the doctor until 5:00pm (1 hour and 45 minutes after I arrived). Folks, it was pathetic. I’m not sure why the place was running so slow or if it was a problem of overbooking, but the atmosphere was just as bad as the wait. For nearly two hours I sat in a “waiting room” listening to vagrants on the outside of the doctor’s office hooting and hollering in public – like ANYBODY wants to hear that crap. It wasn’t so much better on the inside with kids running around and adults hollering inside the store like children. It was like I scheduled my appointment during the time when they let the animals loose.
What was most perplexing about the entire experience was that the optometrist was amazing. He ran a number of tests on my eyes that I don’t remember ever having before. And (just as in the morning) I received a completely clean bill of health for my eyes. The doctor did give me a new prescription for my glasses, but the funny thing is that the prescription is for a lesser strength lens than I currently have. In other words, my eyes have gotten better over the last six years! Ha!
In the next week or two I’m going to try to get to the dentist. That way all of the major appointments are taken care of and I can wait another year or two until I go back for another check-up!
Posted in Random Entries | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Big thanks go out to my buddy Brian for sending me the link to FMyLife.com. The “F” stands for fuck and, as you might surmise, the website focuses on people saying that their life sucks – in other words, “Fuck My Life!” The website is basically filled with user-generated content about shitty situations in a person’s life. For example, I came across this one a while ago (and I couldn’t stop laughing):
Today, I was working at the library. Some punks thought it would be funny to shit in a book, close it and return it in the drop box. The fact that it was sitting outside in the ninety degree heat for a couple hours did not help the stench; it was everywhere and I had to clean the mess. FML
Ha ha ha!!! Who shits in a library book?!
The “FML” at the end of each quip is the person saying “Fuck My Life!” If you go to the site, you’ll see that there are two options for the readers to vote on the various FMLs – either you can tell the person that their life really is fucked (in other words, whatever they’re writing about really is a shitty situation) or you can tell them that they deserve what they had coming to them. For example, this person deserved what they had coming to them:
Today, while watching The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh with my 5 year old, I realized why the kangaroo’s name is Kanga, and why her son’s name is Roo. Kanga-Roo. Get it? Yeah. I didn’t until today. I’m 47. FML
See? Who couldn’t figure that out?
You also have the option of writing a comment on the post and it appears that some people really get into some back and forth spats in the comments. Anyway, here are some other quips from the site that I got a kick out of:
Today, was my wedding. After eating, I had an urge to fart. I let one rip just before my husband and I were called to do the garter dance. He seductively tried to use his teeth to remove the garter and came out from under my dress dry heaving. I dutch ovened my husband in front of everyone. FML
Today, my little cousin came to visit my family. I haven’t seen him in a while so I figured he missed me. Thinking so, I tried to hug him. While going in for the hug, he punched me in the balls and called me a faggot. FML
Today, the dentist sneezed in my mouth. FML
Today, I was at walmart when my stomach began to hurt. I quickly waddled to the restroom in pain. As soon as I got in the stall, a huge crap exploded out of me. The child in the stall next to me started crying. When her mom asked what was wrong she said that I’d “killed her nose”. FML
Go over and check out the site – I guarantee that you’ll enjoy it!
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology, Entertainment, Jokes & Humor | 2 Comments »
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