Month: October 2014

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Been Head Down working

Healthcare reform

Tuesday I got a call from my normal doctor. I was expecting it…

The office staff called to tell me that the Doc wants to see me again. I look at the calendar and it’s been over a year. In truth I was expecting this call, the Doc is good about making sure he’s not just renewing prescriptions without seeing his patients.

While I’m on the phone with the staff, I remember that the insurance card I’ve been carrying around has proven to be completely useless and before I set up an appointment I ask them if they can verify that the insurance card will be honored.

Affordable Care

The staff says sure, and I give them my card number. About an hour later, they call back and tell me that they can’t accept this flavor of insurance. Yes, it’s a PPO but it acts more like an EPO and they’re not part of that network. They also told me to contact one of the attorney’s involved in the class action lawsuits against Anthem and to contact the Insurance Commissioner. Can you say this is a problem they’ve gotten tired of dealing with??

MickeyObama

I make the appointment anyway, By December I’ll have either come up with a real insurance carrier or I’ll not have insurance at all. Either way I’m going to see my doctor.

After a decade of him taking care of me I have no desire to have that relationship destroyed. There are damn few people I trust with my life outside my family. My Doctor is one of those people.

After getting off the phone with the Doctors office, I call Anthem and ask them what the hell is going on? Once again I’m assured that I have a PPO plan, once again I ask “If this is a PPO plan then why can’t I simply go to any physician that takes Anthem insurance?”

That’s when I get a lot of dancing around about how PPO plans have changed and that there are no PPO plans available in California because of ACA. I’m told that Cedars Sinai is now taking the PPO plan that I have and that Anthem negotiated with Cedar’s to make sure patients weren’t being excluded.

In other words, let’s put some more lipstick on this pig.

CoveredCA

After much discussion the Anthem representative tells me that I can’t make changes to my plan until open enrollment. I comment that since I’ve been unable to get any medical care under this plan I’ve been wondering if I wouldn’t be better off with a simple catastrophic injury plan.

The representative begins to tell me that if I had a catastrophic plan I might not be covered for hospitalization or emergency room visits. I retort that the definition of a catastrophic plan is a plan to provide those services. The representative does finally concede that perhaps, given my difficulties with their PPO plan I might consider a catastrophic plan during open enrollment which begins November 15th.

I spend the rest of the day researching my options…

Sigh, why can’t we just get the goods and services we pay for?

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And now I know how personal information get’s released

IMG 0351

Thursday I was sitting in a Starbucks next to an insurance guy.

That isn’t a big deal. What is a big deal is this; He kept leaving his machine to walk outside. And  leaving the computer up & unlocked talking to a VPN connection (I think) to the home office.

When I first sat down the machine was unattended for at least 20 minutes and I could see the guys corporate email.

If I happened to be a hacker it wouldn’t have taken me too long with his machine and I’d have been able to download tons of private client data.

He was looking at Client profiles on a web page that has a ton of personal data plainly visible.

I mean DUDE at least lock your screen!

Heck if I’m running my machine on battery, the screen dims and computer locks within 4 minutes of inactivity.

I’m really surprised at the carelessness of this guy and several other people in the room.

And don’t even get me started on the unsecured WiFi signals my computer is seeing.

I swear! All it would have taken is 3 – 5 seconds with a flash drive and this guys computer, and several others in the room would have been sending me all their account information, and all their corporate data too.

I always try to teach my clients about security and how to make it at least more difficult for bad guys to get at their data.

For example, I was using my phone hotspot instead the Starbucks WiFi. I was connected to the ONE authorized connection my phone will allow. Why should I expose my email passwords and logins to a network that I’m not familiar with?

I suppose I’m a little strange. But I can’t see making it EASY for a bad guy to screw me!

Perhaps I should start teaching Operational Security to corporate clients.

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Finally! A dentist I really like

Exam

I’m sitting in a Starbucks having a Cafe Moca.

I just had my teeth cleaned and went through a full exam without the sword of a root canal hanging over my head.

Now that I think about it, a Cafe Moca right after a teeth cleaning might not have been the best idea but what’s done is done.

Oh well!

I can say this, the new dentist is awesome! The office is called Winning Smiles and they’re dang good. Of the two root canals I’ve had in my life, the one Winning Smiles did was fast, (in & out in a day. FINISHED). The staff is kind, and they know their stuff. The root canal specialist is without question one of the best.

Dr Finazzo is personable, gentle and concerned about the patient. And he’s a totally straight shooter. He’ll tell you what he thinks is best for you and he’ll give you options.

If you’re near the Fontana area it is totally worth it to go to Winning Smiles.

These folks deal with the local hockey team. Think about that for a moment…

Winning Smiles

If you’re looking for an awesome dental office… 

Go see Winning Smiles!

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In our never ending quest for instant gratification…

DirectorPiersonYet another head rolls.

Director Julia Pierson resigned yesterday. One DAY after scathing congressional questioning about a security breach during her tenure as Director of the Secret Service.

She’d been on the job for a little over a year. The Media is attempting to paint her as somehow responsible for PRIOR security breaches dating back to 2009. 

The things she could be reasonably held responsible for are; the breach of the White House on Sept 19th, where NO ONE was injured and no threat to the President occurred. This White House breach should never have happened, but that’s another story.

Then there’s the revelation that the president was in an elevator with a CDC security guard who honestly shouldn’t have been working at the CDC!  There’s the tendency to assume that a security guard working at a federal facility that contains PLAGUES would be someone that you don’t have to vet too closely. The assumption may be flawed.  As humans,  we want to trust each other. Trust is more likely among law enforcement especially if one officer is wearing a uniform.

I find myself asking how demanding/forcing the Director to resign is going to help the situation. In the ensuing chaos of her departure doesn’t that further degrade the morale of the agency? In addition to the procedural issues, morale and high turnover rates among the agents have been cited as ongoing problems for years. 

I think we’ve become too quick to demand resignations. I’d personally like to have seen how the secret service would correct it’s mistakes. But now we’ll never know if the problem originated at the head of the agency, or if it was somewhere in middle management. Unfortunately, a new Director will have to spend time figuring it out all over again.

I wonder what breach of Presidential security will happen while the new Director is trying to get a handle on the issues, and if he or she will have to resign too.