Le professeur de trail
We are still in a multi day rain event here in the east. It's just plain gross outside. But I got in a 6+ mile run last night between the rain drops.
QOTD: What's your health insurance like?
Ours is ok I guess. I do complain about deductibles, co-pays and our insurance botching payments, etc but we have a new option for 2016 which is a Health Savings Account. I like it because we can invest pre-tax dollars in the savings account and it can roll over year to year. My work also contributes to it. The really nice thing is we can use it for DS and his very near future orthodontics. As long as we don't have any huge medical procedures, we should be ok.
Have a great day!
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Only got in 3 yesterday, running to/from a school meeting. This weather is just killing my motivation. Today is better though, lots of fog, which I really like. And the sun should return tomorrow. Plan for today is a strength class at lunch, and 6 miles tonight with the running group, which on Wednesdays, has relocated to a local brew pub.
qotd: We're on DH"s fed plan and it works for us. We have 'medium' coverage PPO, which I really like. With 4 very active members of our household (read, we know our local urgent care and PT clinics well) we are covered for the most part. We also have a good dental and vision options that we also participate in. After a root canal earlier this year, I was thankful for the dental insurance.
Tim
Still fighting a sore throat, so will probably run on treadmill again today instead of running in the cold heavy rain. If it lets up, I'll get outside.
QOTD: The disaster of the Affordable Care Act is coming through strongly in PA. Many plans, like United Health, have been dropped from the ACA, and locally 45% are losing their current plans and will have to re-up (with higher rates). Highmark Blue Shield dropped 4 plans, including mine, and my best plan option would have gone up 28%. Luckily DW took a big promotion and I jumped on her insurance, but I had to stop providing insurance to my employees and instead gave them raises. When I showed them the costs, they understood. I'm totally in favor of universal healthcare, but the fixed co-pay system that is in place is not doing anything to help the majority of people.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
Pretty nice here, if you like damp, wet, and grey. At least it's not cold. I plan to get some sort of 6-8 mile run in at lunch. If things stay quiet at work, I will get the Lady out to the trails.
QOTD: I renewed mine last month and total cost for me is around $5500 a year. That includes medical (PPO), dental, and vision. The $5500 includes the amount we dump into the HSA to meet deductibles and copays. Same insurance we had this year and I can't complain too much but I have not had any major health issues myself (running or other) so haven't had to test the waters for specialists, MRI's, etc. My wife has regular appointments and medication expenses and we have used up most of HSA and our other costs have been minimal so far. If I recall, the deductible is about $2500, max out of pocket $3800, and then everything is covered after that if you stay in network.
In dog beers, I've only had one.
Ran a couple of rainy miles this morning before daylight.
QOTD: I get most of my health care done at aid stations during ultras. I had my gall bladder removed at mile 55 at Cottonmouth. I had a colonoscopy halfway through the Mt. Cheaha 50K, and I had a heart valve replaced at an unmanned aid station at Cajun Coyote back in 2011.
We have Blue Cross/Blue Shield. We like it, but the co-pays have gone up significantly. I have a deduction that comes out of my check and is on a debit card to cover most of the co-pays. We ran a little short last year because my daughter had to have a surgery with a higher than normal deductible. But we can also use the debit card at the dentist, which helps because our dental insurance is pretty crappy. Basically, the plan is: You pay us a premium, and we will take care of two cleanings per year. Anything else is pretty much on you. Thanks for your business.
LB2
Set up the bike trainer last night so I'll probably try that out today. Planning on splitting time between that and the elliptical, do some strength training, then off to the big city for a night of fun and games (also known as work). If someone, somewhere has some sunshine please send it here.
QOTD: I currently have a HSA and for the most part I like it, but then I don't use it very often. I think the deductible is $1500 or $2000 for individual with the company putting in $1000 of that. I've had it for two years now so I have enough saved up that I'd have to have a catastrophic event to deplete the funds. The first year the administrator wasn't the best but they changed to Highmark and it's actually run pretty well now. My last employer had us under a HRA. It's much like a HSA except the employer more tightly controls it. In some ways I liked that better. Health insurance is a pain and my opinion is that it's made that way to keep everyone confused and the costs up.
I predict that in 10 years the health care system will have collapsed, a victim of it's own greed. I see too much waste. Too much is put into trying to increase billing reimbursements, not efficiencies. When I really sit down and ponder the scope of the problems before us, I wonder if mankind has ever faced as complex of a challenge.
Refurbished Hip
Good morning! I went ahead and ran 7 miles last night. My hip is cooperating right now, so I'll take it! SRD today, aside from a doggie walk.
Shitty weather here too. Kind of a wet snow. Made the morning commute slower going than usual.
QOTD: Not too bad. No deductible. Co-pays, which can add up after a while, but I didn't pay a dime for my hip surgery, so that's something. I wish the monthly cost was lower, but I know a lot of people pay a lot more.
Running is dumb.
8.7 miles this morning. It was much more pleasant today at 48° and raining than yesterday's 39° and rain.
QOTD Every year our union gives us worse benefits at A higher cost for health insurance. When I started with the company In 2001 everything was covered, medications were reasonable and there was no deductible or co-pay. Today I have a 90/10 plan, with a $300 cash deductible each year and pay 20% - 40% for prescriptions. Realistically the insurance is good and the cost is not too bad and for that I am grateful.
Endless trails
Afternoon, trailers.
I was out this morning at first light tromping through the woods on my trails, got
a little sidetracked by a nice little ridge section I can add to my system. How long
do trails need to be before they are named? or maybe I should just blaze them
by color. Talk about a quality problem!
QOTD: We have pretty good insurance from my CG service, a manageable deductible
and moderate co-pays. DW has used it far more often than I have. We did just start a
Health Savings Account through her work, so we'll see how that pans out. If it were up
to me I would get regular chiropractic adjustments, monthly massages, and a nutritionist.
But since my insurance doesn't cover any of that I do have the option of getting as many
drugs as I want.
Sue
Had a nice little 5.38 this morning. Upper body gym at lunch and maybe another 4 to 5 after work with the running group. Looks like the rain is moving in. My dog Jack stopped at a oak tree that looked like three trees with on base. He stuck his head in the middle and stated making slopping noise. He already found a piece of pizza crust on the road (it's trash day) so I was like now what are you eating. Well the tree had a natural bowl in the middle and it was filled with water. That gave me a little chuckle. He must of smelled the water as we were running by.
QOTD: I use it as little as possible. But glad it's there if something major happened. I hate how I have to see my regular doctor to get a referral to a specialist (the gynecologist...really thats a specialist!) before being able to see him. While there I asked her to write me a note so I could have a stand up desk (everyone else in the office is getting them) and she said no because she has never treated me for any problems. I was pissed and told her I don't see the doctor for pain problems! I hadn't seen her in 2 years!!
05/13/23 Traverse City Trail Festival 25K
08/19/23 Marquette 50 dns 🙄
Did 8 on flat roads.
QOTD: Our is high deductible, high premium.
I plan to run after work today. Probably stay on the flat bike/hike path. We've had some crappy weather here for a few days, but the front has come though and now its clear and cold - nice.
qotd: the company offers a menu of Blue Cross/Blue Shield options, I'm on their POS (that's "point of service", not "piece of shit" ..... although some might say differently). We pick various coverage we want balancing costs vs. coverage, deductible, out-of-pocket limits, etc. that also includes life, accident insurance, etc. it isn't bad. Of course for a long time everything was completely covered cost-free, but they started charging us and it has gone up alot over they years. But we can play with the options by lowering the monthly costs, but having much larger deductions when used (which would be good option if you don't use it much).
AT mentioned a lot of real issues with the Affordable Care Act, but in contrast my older kids were covered longer under our plan due to it, my DD would have been dropped by now and having to buy her won, but she's still included in our plan - for now.
tbd.