coffee klatch
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Monthly Archives: November 2014
that racket called health insurance
Usually a post like this would end up on my breast cancer blog. But health insurance in the USA is a somewhat universal affliction.
I am one of those people who am not thrilled with Obamacare. I have always had health insurance and I still do not see the long term efficacy of the Affordable Care Act….unless of course everyone in Washington DC stops playing politics and things like reforming the actual insurance companies occurs. (A gal can dream, right?)
Thus far it has been more aggravation, increased costs, and abject confusion. And I am one of those people who has always had health insurance. So why do I feel punished by the Affordable Care Act more than helped?
Insurance companies must now publicly justify any unreasonable rate hikes, says the government. But that isn’t saying they can’t charge the unreasonable rate hikes does it? And it “keeps young adults covered”, and well while swell back in the insurance dark ages as a young working adult….I had and kept health insurance.
It ends denial and such on pre-existing conditions. Well o.k. if Obama says so…I still think the insurance companies have trap doors and escape hatches yet to be discovered.
The Affordable Care Act is a long and convoluted document which makes the Dodd-Frank Act (Wall Street reform in layman’s terms) seem like a light beach read(well maybe it is because how is that “reform” working out, anyway? )
This time last year (2013) my insurer (Aetna) said come this time this year (2014) all of their prior plans were going bye-bye, and we would have to choose one which was ACA (Affordable Care Act) compliant. Well my holiday is over and my day of Obamariffic reckoning is here.
First I got the letter that I knew was coming but still left a pit in the bottom of my stomach: my current health insurance plan was being canceled. I am a 3 year breast cancer survivor, so anything which messes with coverage at all makes me very nervous.
So after a few conversations with Aetna, I chose my plan today. I had to make sure all of my doctors and hospital system were in the plans I was looking at. Once again I had to apply. (You would think if you were an existing subscriber some basic data would automatically populate but no it doesn’t). So I got my little letter of acceptance. I stuck it with my certificate of prior coverage also issued by Aetna.
Now comes the kicker.
What kicker? Pay now, pay more now.
So my new insurance is considerably higher. It has no more dental, and won’t cover the basic annual eye exam and an annual pair of glasses. There is also a deductible hump to be covered. My shiny “gold” plan isn’t all bad, but I am not all comfortable, either.
What else? Oh super fun: I get to pay my current premium December 1st and my new plan premium December 15th. I guess it will be a Merry Christmas indeed….for the insurance company.
Grrr.
I get that I have to pay for the new plan premium, but couldn’t they do that on say December 31st? As it stands right now it’s like “honey guess what you are getting for Christmas? Double December insurance payments!!”
So exciting said NO one. EVER.
I keep waiting for health insurance to get less complicated and even out in price. All it does is get more confusing, more layered, more expensive.
Health insurance is another thing ruined by politics.
Sorry for the rant. I just think we deserve a level playing field and the Affordable Care Act without truly reforming insurance companies misses the mark somewhat, doesn’t it?
And for more interesting reading check out the article in The Atlantic dated today November 20th. (CNBC too) Also an interesting read? The Forbes eBook on Obamacare, and a CNN online article from yesterday. The video is fascinating.
At the end of the day, do we next as Americans have to worry what impact the recent national elections will have on all of this hot mess called Obamacare??? And then where will we be? The ordinary human equivalent of a push me-pull you? What happens if the darn thing gets repealed? Somehow, I think that would create an even larger mess.
Who’s on first? Who the heck knows……
chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey chim chim cher-ee!
Very true and we have an awesome gentleman who took tremendous care of us so I thought I would recommend him —- John Wisnewski of Let There Be Light Chimney Sweep. I am posting his card.
I will note that I am not being compensated for this review. We are happy customers. If he checks your chimney flue, have him check the one for your heating system as well.
Thanks to him and his honesty, we avoided a potential issue with not much fuss. You see, we learned the hard way that heating companies might do a great job cleaning and servicing the heater, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they get into the flue for the heating system and really check. We haven’t been in this current house for that many years yet, and well, when he removed the pipe to the flue in the basement there were years and years worth of debris in the base of the flue…very much preceding our tenure in the house and the two heating companies that we knew of who had serviced the heater had not cleaned this out either.
Let Their Be Light Chimney Sweep is also Angie’s List rated. Now he is also Chester County Ramblings Rated 🙂
silly goat
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#snowvember
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contentment
“There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.” -George Sand
“Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels.” – Bertolt Brecht
Today, sipping tea in my little house in its own big woods on a chilly November day, I am content. There is no place on earth I would rather be.
Today is also a bittersweet day as it is a day on which my family lost two wonderful people. Yes, on the same day a couple of years apart. My cousin Suzy and my father.
Thanks for stopping by.
the great granola experiment
So this morning a member of my cooking group posted about making homemade granola. It got me thinking about trying to make a batch myself. I love granola, but the fresh granola that is available at any of the local farmers’ markets has been climbing in price to a point that I can’t justify the cost for what it is.
Now my mother has a granola recipe that she has used for years, but I just don’t like it. Too many ingredients and too many nuts and seeds. So I went hunting for a recipe I liked better.
I found two recipes I liked and combined them. One recipe is from epicurious.com and one recipe is from Real Simple.
Here is how I combined them:
Preheat your oven to 300°F
Ingredients
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup shredded UNSWEETENED coconut
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white raisins
1/2 cup dark raisins
4 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
Directions:
Mix everything EXCEPT for the raisins together in a large mixing bowl.
Line a rimmed baking sheet or jellyroll pan with a piece of parchment paper.
Spread your mixture from your mixing bowl evenly on the pan.
Place in preheated oven (300°) . Bake until a golden toasty brown color approximately 40 minutes. Make sure that you stir the granola around on the cookie sheet approximately every 10 minutes while you are baking. You need to do this to make sure the granola bakes evenly. This is also why you have to use a jellyroll pan or another kind of baking sheet with a big enough lip or your granola will end up all over your oven.
Once granola is cooked, bring out of your oven and cool in the pan for about 20 minutes to half an hour. Stir in your raisins. Allow granola to come to room temperature and store in airtight containers. I like using canning jars for this purpose.
Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by!
mail trucks and fog do not make beautiful music together…
A friend of mine e-mailed me this photo. Taken on top of Valley Forge Mountain on Diamond Rock Road, about 1/2 hour ago. I hope the postal service worker is o.k. Please be careful out there this evening!
(And yes the person who snapped the photo was a passenger in the vehicle in which they were riding.)
chutney season
Today when I was taking down what was left of my tomato vines in the garden I had a bunch of green tomatoes left over, and I decided to make chutney.
Chutney is basically something that is semi-pickled that has a sweet and vinegary finish to it. In other words it’s spicy condiment made of fruits or vegetables with vinegar, spices, and sugar. Chutney has its origins in South Asia/India.
There are many recipes available that are easy to follow. I have been making chutneys much like fruit butters for years that I pretty much do it in my head.
This chutney consisted of eight medium and small sized green tomatoes small chopped / minced, two large apples peeled cored and minced, one chopped red onion, 1 cup golden raisins, 1 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons mustard seeds, 1 tablespoon pickling spice, couple of dashes of ground allspice, cloves, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, two whole cinnamon sticks, some grated fresh ginger, a couple teaspoons of salt, three ribs minced celery, 2 cups of minced sweet orange peppers that I had gotten at the farmers market, one minced jalapeno pepper seeded, and one minced medium hot pepper that I grew in my garden.
Tossed everything into a pot gave it a stir and turned on the stove and brought up to a boil and then reduced the heat, covered and simmered for 50 minutes.
I then put the chutney into sterilized jars. I did not give them a hot water bath. When my jars have cooled I will refrigerate and they will last a few months in the refrigerator, but realistically will be gone by the end of the holiday season.
I like to serve chutney not only with main courses of poultry and pork, but with cheese and crackers as an appetizer. Green tomato chutneys are especially delicious with turkeys at Thanksgiving.
soul of an old farm house
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