By Daniel B. Kline
While the doctor's office blamed the insurance company and the insurance company blamed the doctor's office, I went without the stomach medicine I have taken for nearly two years. It seems that my doctor lacked the form and the fax number for the giant insurance company that dominates this particular state and the insurer was completely unwilling to simply call the doctor to get them the relevant info.
Even after I did all the leg work and sent the form to my doctor's administrative assistant along with the fax number, nothing happened. The doctor's office claimed they sent it and the insurance company claimed to not have it. Either way, I'm dealing with an acidic stomach caused partly by not having these pills and partly by the stress of dealing with the health care industry.
My saga started nearly two weeks earlier -- well before I ran out of pills. Having made the mistake of switching insurance companies I needed a prior authorization form to take the medicine I had been taking for nearly two years. This form would show that I had already tried a much cheaper (at least for the insurance company) over-the-counter product allowing me to go on taking the prescription stuff that actually works.
Since I had tried this completely ineffective OTC product, I assumed getting approval with nearly two weeks to go would be relatively easy. Unfortunately, I had not quite prepared myself for the pass-the-buck laziness that dominates the health insurance industry.
The insurance company first told me that the doctor would have the needed form and could simply fax it over. Upon calling the doctor, they said they had no idea what form I was talking about and that the insurance company would need to send it.
Ultimately, I found the form on the insurance company Web site and faxed it to my doctor who proceeded to do nothing with it that day because the person responsible for filling out forms was busy. And, while I'm sure she was busy, I'm of the belief that you don't go home until every last customer has been taken care of.
Since apparently toy store managers care more about customer service than medical office personnel, nobody stayed late to fill out my form. When they ultimately did call me it was to inform me that I had never in fact taken the required OTC drug or at least that they had no record of me taking it.
Since I had taken the drug and it had been prescribed by a former member of their medial group this seemed hard to believe. The non-helpful, too-busy-for-me office worker who eventually hung up on me even asked me if I had records of taking it since they could not locate one.
While I keep very few medical records, not being a doctor's office and all, it did take me approximately 48 seconds to get the pharmacy I use (the one I had on record with this doctor) to fax them the prescription dates. During all this I also got to speak with my doctor who had no particular sympathy for the fact that I was going without a medicine that greatly aided my physical comfort.
Fortunately, after not taking this medicine for a few days my stomach actually returned to normal and though I now have an active prescription that my insurance company will pay for, I am not taking this drug. Still, I would not want to actually get sick and need my doctor and my insurance company to agree on anything or actually do some work on my behalf.
Daniel Kline's work appears in over 100 papers weekly. When he is not writing Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby New England's largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby.com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Public always falls for silly scams
By Daniel B. Kline
While the recent reported discovery of Bigfoot's remains turned out to be a scam, I'm absolutely telling the truth when I officially announce that the Loch Ness Monster has been living in my bathtub. Smaller than you might imagine, he's actually pretty friendly and keeps the UFO who lives in my closet company.
Of course, the only photos I have of him are blurry and from far away. He's a wily little creature and simply won't stand still for a picture. Plus, since feeding a mythical sea monster costs a lot of money, I can only afford one of those old cameras that uses a flash cube and takes lousy pictures.
I can tell you, however, that if you sign up for my new Web site, lochenessinmytub.com, at $39.99 a month, you'll get 24/7 video coverage of Nessie and access to his blog. I'll throw in some paparazzi shots of the monster out clubbing with Paris Hilton and special access to embarrassing pictures of a chubby monster in a bikini when it vacationed at South Beach last summer.
Only the latest in a long line of unbelievable scams that at least some of the American public has fallen for, the Bigfoot hoax preys on our willingness to believe the ridiculous. Americans seemingly have an endless love for things and creatures that no rational person actually believes in.
Whether we're searching for Bigfoot, having ghosts exorcised from our homes or paying psychics for their take on the future, we're a decidedly gullible people. Perhaps we simply want to believe in the fantastical or maybe we're just really easy to trick, but the American public gets taken in time and time again.
Fortunately, being scammed so many times has made a number of us at least a little cynical. The instant the Bigfoot story broke (carried by dozens of major news outlets) folks began to question whether it was a scam.
Perhaps the alleged discovery of a deceased Bigfoot and evidence pointing to a colony of Bigfeet was simply clever marketing for a new movie or perhaps a caffeine-packed Bigfoot energy drink. Whatever people assumed, at least some of us questioned why Bigfoot would make a sudden appearance and why the people who found him would slowly dole out details.
It seems that having spent a summer avoiding the woods due to fear of the Blair Witch has wised up at least a few of us and we won't be quite so easily fooled this time. Nope, fooling us requires some sketchy DNA evidence, letters from scientists with questionable credentials and a number of big words used at a press conference that sound like something a person telling the truth would say.
It seems utterly amazing that the alleged discovery of an imaginary creature would garner mainstream press, but with the budget cutbacks in most newsrooms, it's probably easier to cover a made up story than a real one. Realistically, it's not like you'll have to spend any money tracking down quotes when your best possible source would come from a guy in a Chewbacca costume and you can find plenty of those at your local comic book convention.
I'm not so much skeptical when it comes to the existence of Bigfoot as I am 100% certain that no Bigfoot exists. I'm also equally certain on Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Jonas Brothers and the Tooth Fairy. You also won't find me worried about the Wolfman, Count Dracula, Count Chocula or any sort of mummy. In addition I'm pretty sure that CookiePuss is just an ice cream cake, not a delicious space creature, and that Cap'N Crunch holds no actual military rank despite his heroism in the war against the Soggies.
Daniel Kline's work appears in over 100 papers weekly. When he is not writing Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby New England's largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby.com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com.
While the recent reported discovery of Bigfoot's remains turned out to be a scam, I'm absolutely telling the truth when I officially announce that the Loch Ness Monster has been living in my bathtub. Smaller than you might imagine, he's actually pretty friendly and keeps the UFO who lives in my closet company.
Of course, the only photos I have of him are blurry and from far away. He's a wily little creature and simply won't stand still for a picture. Plus, since feeding a mythical sea monster costs a lot of money, I can only afford one of those old cameras that uses a flash cube and takes lousy pictures.
I can tell you, however, that if you sign up for my new Web site, lochenessinmytub.com, at $39.99 a month, you'll get 24/7 video coverage of Nessie and access to his blog. I'll throw in some paparazzi shots of the monster out clubbing with Paris Hilton and special access to embarrassing pictures of a chubby monster in a bikini when it vacationed at South Beach last summer.
Only the latest in a long line of unbelievable scams that at least some of the American public has fallen for, the Bigfoot hoax preys on our willingness to believe the ridiculous. Americans seemingly have an endless love for things and creatures that no rational person actually believes in.
Whether we're searching for Bigfoot, having ghosts exorcised from our homes or paying psychics for their take on the future, we're a decidedly gullible people. Perhaps we simply want to believe in the fantastical or maybe we're just really easy to trick, but the American public gets taken in time and time again.
Fortunately, being scammed so many times has made a number of us at least a little cynical. The instant the Bigfoot story broke (carried by dozens of major news outlets) folks began to question whether it was a scam.
Perhaps the alleged discovery of a deceased Bigfoot and evidence pointing to a colony of Bigfeet was simply clever marketing for a new movie or perhaps a caffeine-packed Bigfoot energy drink. Whatever people assumed, at least some of us questioned why Bigfoot would make a sudden appearance and why the people who found him would slowly dole out details.
It seems that having spent a summer avoiding the woods due to fear of the Blair Witch has wised up at least a few of us and we won't be quite so easily fooled this time. Nope, fooling us requires some sketchy DNA evidence, letters from scientists with questionable credentials and a number of big words used at a press conference that sound like something a person telling the truth would say.
It seems utterly amazing that the alleged discovery of an imaginary creature would garner mainstream press, but with the budget cutbacks in most newsrooms, it's probably easier to cover a made up story than a real one. Realistically, it's not like you'll have to spend any money tracking down quotes when your best possible source would come from a guy in a Chewbacca costume and you can find plenty of those at your local comic book convention.
I'm not so much skeptical when it comes to the existence of Bigfoot as I am 100% certain that no Bigfoot exists. I'm also equally certain on Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Jonas Brothers and the Tooth Fairy. You also won't find me worried about the Wolfman, Count Dracula, Count Chocula or any sort of mummy. In addition I'm pretty sure that CookiePuss is just an ice cream cake, not a delicious space creature, and that Cap'N Crunch holds no actual military rank despite his heroism in the war against the Soggies.
Daniel Kline's work appears in over 100 papers weekly. When he is not writing Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby New England's largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby.com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Being "friends" no longer means what it once did
By Daniel B. Kline
The Internet makes it possible to never lose touch with even the most casual of acquaintances whether you want to or not. That kid who sat near you in third grade mostly picking his nose? He's about two clicks away along with that girl who wore the same outfit everyday and the teacher who seemed a little too close to his underage female students.
If you know someone's name or any sort of identifying personal information you can remain forever linked with them in the imaginary world even if you were never really that connected in the real one. Through the magic of Facebook I'm now "friends" with a number of people who barely acknowledged my existence in high school. Fortunately, this friendship involves very little actual communication and seems to serve no point other than allowing both parties to claim another Facebook friend.
I never see my new friends, don't have to actually speak with them and in many cases I'm not actually sure I remember who they are. I may occasionally type a note to one of these people or attempt to let them know what I'm up to, but in most cases these friendships require less effort than talking Lindsay Lohan into having one more drink.
For the uninitiated who have no idea what I'm talking about, let me offer a quick primer on Facebook. A Web site that's part phone book, part semi-exclusive club, Facebook allows you to link up (or become "friends" with) anyone you vaguely know. Becoming friends requires both sides to agree and once you are friends, you can exchange notes and access each other's profiles.
Unfortunately, making friends on Facebook begets making even more friends. As you connect with people you only sort of know, the people who sort of know them think they might know you and pretty soon your connected with a large group of people who wouldn't recognize you in real life.
At first this seems great as your early group of friends includes people you actually like and enjoy catching up with. For me, this has included old camp buddies, high school and college pals and a number of people I always liked, but somehow lost touch with.
As your network grows, however, you start getting friend requests from people with whom you have a pretty tenuous connection. I've admittedly stared at my friend requests list trying to come up with how I know someone only to discover that perhaps we went to the same school a few years apart or maybe we met once, 15 years ago through a mutual friend. These might be nice people and perhaps they remember me more than I remember them, but, having not thought about them in years, if ever, I feel no particular need to know what they're up to now.
Facebook and other social networking sites mean that causal friendships now last forever, but real ones might be a little harder to make. Why actually connect with a person for dinner or a movie when you can write on their wall or send them a virtual flower.
Though I enjoy some of the people Facebook has brought back into my life, I'm actually pretty happy with my non-cyber friends. These folks actually have my phone number, occasionally see me in person and don't consider sending me a text message a for of intimacy.
I am, however, a little concerned that compared to many people I have a pretty sad amount of online friends. So, I'll consider the fact that you're reading this a declaration of friendship, so if you hit me up on Facebook, I'll confirm you as my friend and then we can quickly get back to not knowing who each other is.
Daniel Kline's work appears in over 100 papers weekly. When he is not writing Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby New England's largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby.com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com.
The Internet makes it possible to never lose touch with even the most casual of acquaintances whether you want to or not. That kid who sat near you in third grade mostly picking his nose? He's about two clicks away along with that girl who wore the same outfit everyday and the teacher who seemed a little too close to his underage female students.
If you know someone's name or any sort of identifying personal information you can remain forever linked with them in the imaginary world even if you were never really that connected in the real one. Through the magic of Facebook I'm now "friends" with a number of people who barely acknowledged my existence in high school. Fortunately, this friendship involves very little actual communication and seems to serve no point other than allowing both parties to claim another Facebook friend.
I never see my new friends, don't have to actually speak with them and in many cases I'm not actually sure I remember who they are. I may occasionally type a note to one of these people or attempt to let them know what I'm up to, but in most cases these friendships require less effort than talking Lindsay Lohan into having one more drink.
For the uninitiated who have no idea what I'm talking about, let me offer a quick primer on Facebook. A Web site that's part phone book, part semi-exclusive club, Facebook allows you to link up (or become "friends" with) anyone you vaguely know. Becoming friends requires both sides to agree and once you are friends, you can exchange notes and access each other's profiles.
Unfortunately, making friends on Facebook begets making even more friends. As you connect with people you only sort of know, the people who sort of know them think they might know you and pretty soon your connected with a large group of people who wouldn't recognize you in real life.
At first this seems great as your early group of friends includes people you actually like and enjoy catching up with. For me, this has included old camp buddies, high school and college pals and a number of people I always liked, but somehow lost touch with.
As your network grows, however, you start getting friend requests from people with whom you have a pretty tenuous connection. I've admittedly stared at my friend requests list trying to come up with how I know someone only to discover that perhaps we went to the same school a few years apart or maybe we met once, 15 years ago through a mutual friend. These might be nice people and perhaps they remember me more than I remember them, but, having not thought about them in years, if ever, I feel no particular need to know what they're up to now.
Facebook and other social networking sites mean that causal friendships now last forever, but real ones might be a little harder to make. Why actually connect with a person for dinner or a movie when you can write on their wall or send them a virtual flower.
Though I enjoy some of the people Facebook has brought back into my life, I'm actually pretty happy with my non-cyber friends. These folks actually have my phone number, occasionally see me in person and don't consider sending me a text message a for of intimacy.
I am, however, a little concerned that compared to many people I have a pretty sad amount of online friends. So, I'll consider the fact that you're reading this a declaration of friendship, so if you hit me up on Facebook, I'll confirm you as my friend and then we can quickly get back to not knowing who each other is.
Daniel Kline's work appears in over 100 papers weekly. When he is not writing Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby New England's largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby.com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Big oil prospers on our struggles
By Daniel B. Kline
While Exxon Mobil reported the most profitable quarter ever for any business, I celebrated the fact that a gallon of gas had slipped below $4 at my local gas station. As they looked for sacks to put their $11.7 billion in, I searched through my couch cushions for spare change to top off my tank.
I'm sure, however, that Exxon Mobil executives feel my pain and plan on spending most of their windfall profits on finding ways to lower prices at the pump. I'm also pretty sure they're devoting a portion to developing alternative fuels, creating more efficient engines and building houses for magical fairies.
Realistically, if oil companies make more money when barrels of oil cost more, they have no incentive to help bring down that cost or help us find ways to use less oil. It's absurd for us to assume that these companies care about anything beyond how many more billions they can pocket while regular folks make decisions like should I fill up my car with gas or buy groceries?
There's something incredibly perverse about profiting off the misery of others. I'm all in favor of making money and no company should apologize for doing so, but most businesses have some investment in maintaining a relationship with their customers, even if only to avoid losing that customer to the competition.
Even companies who disdain their customers and have very weak competitors (my cable company comes to mind) must make some effort at retaining clients because if pushed hard enough everyone has a breaking point. Oil companies, however, have no real competition as our government has made it absurdly easy for them to consolidate, eliminating any real options the public had.
Not only has our government done nothing to lower oil prices, they actually do things that keep them high. Congress has made oil industry consolidation easier than getting a pizza delivered and President George W. Bush has shown there are few places he won't invade for his pals in Big Oil.
The worst failures, however, have to be our two laughably incompetent presidential candidates. Though oil prices may very well be the most important issue facing most Americans, neither Barack Obama nor John McCain has anything useful to say on the issue.
McCain's big idea involves a gas tax holiday. A holiday more like Arbor Day than Christmas, the gas tax holiday involves suspending federal gas taxes for a few months while hoping that oil companies and gas stations pass those savings onto consumers.
But, while McCain's program seems merely ineffective, Obama's seems downright dangerous. The naive, inexperienced Democrat wants a windfall profit tax on oil companies to fund $1000 fuel rebates to struggling Americans (read that anyone poor enough to vote for a Democrat). Obama also wants to maintain most of the bans on drilling for new oil in this country, guaranteeing that even if oil companies didn't simply add the new tax to their prices, nothing would change in the long term.
Neither candidate has articulated a clear vision to end America's dependence on foreign oil. Instead of calling for increased drilling, more nuclear power and offering incentives to develop technologies like hydrogen fuel cells, we get party line rhetoric and gimmicks.
If I ran an oil company now I'd be sitting on the porch of my big house smoking a cigar, adjusting my top hat and monocle while laughing at the incompetence and corruption that made me so rich. Sadly, since I'm not an oil company billionaire, all I can do is weep a little at the lack of vision and dearth of real ideas that has brought us $4 gasoline and an ongoing energy crisis.
Daniel Kline's work appears in over 100 papers weekly. When he is not writing Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby New England's largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby.com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com.
While Exxon Mobil reported the most profitable quarter ever for any business, I celebrated the fact that a gallon of gas had slipped below $4 at my local gas station. As they looked for sacks to put their $11.7 billion in, I searched through my couch cushions for spare change to top off my tank.
I'm sure, however, that Exxon Mobil executives feel my pain and plan on spending most of their windfall profits on finding ways to lower prices at the pump. I'm also pretty sure they're devoting a portion to developing alternative fuels, creating more efficient engines and building houses for magical fairies.
Realistically, if oil companies make more money when barrels of oil cost more, they have no incentive to help bring down that cost or help us find ways to use less oil. It's absurd for us to assume that these companies care about anything beyond how many more billions they can pocket while regular folks make decisions like should I fill up my car with gas or buy groceries?
There's something incredibly perverse about profiting off the misery of others. I'm all in favor of making money and no company should apologize for doing so, but most businesses have some investment in maintaining a relationship with their customers, even if only to avoid losing that customer to the competition.
Even companies who disdain their customers and have very weak competitors (my cable company comes to mind) must make some effort at retaining clients because if pushed hard enough everyone has a breaking point. Oil companies, however, have no real competition as our government has made it absurdly easy for them to consolidate, eliminating any real options the public had.
Not only has our government done nothing to lower oil prices, they actually do things that keep them high. Congress has made oil industry consolidation easier than getting a pizza delivered and President George W. Bush has shown there are few places he won't invade for his pals in Big Oil.
The worst failures, however, have to be our two laughably incompetent presidential candidates. Though oil prices may very well be the most important issue facing most Americans, neither Barack Obama nor John McCain has anything useful to say on the issue.
McCain's big idea involves a gas tax holiday. A holiday more like Arbor Day than Christmas, the gas tax holiday involves suspending federal gas taxes for a few months while hoping that oil companies and gas stations pass those savings onto consumers.
But, while McCain's program seems merely ineffective, Obama's seems downright dangerous. The naive, inexperienced Democrat wants a windfall profit tax on oil companies to fund $1000 fuel rebates to struggling Americans (read that anyone poor enough to vote for a Democrat). Obama also wants to maintain most of the bans on drilling for new oil in this country, guaranteeing that even if oil companies didn't simply add the new tax to their prices, nothing would change in the long term.
Neither candidate has articulated a clear vision to end America's dependence on foreign oil. Instead of calling for increased drilling, more nuclear power and offering incentives to develop technologies like hydrogen fuel cells, we get party line rhetoric and gimmicks.
If I ran an oil company now I'd be sitting on the porch of my big house smoking a cigar, adjusting my top hat and monocle while laughing at the incompetence and corruption that made me so rich. Sadly, since I'm not an oil company billionaire, all I can do is weep a little at the lack of vision and dearth of real ideas that has brought us $4 gasoline and an ongoing energy crisis.
Daniel Kline's work appears in over 100 papers weekly. When he is not writing Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby New England's largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby.com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com.
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