{"id":1387,"date":"2012-07-30T16:45:56","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T21:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/?p=1387"},"modified":"2012-08-19T19:46:11","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T00:46:11","slug":"unintended-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/unintended-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"Unintended Consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unintended Consequences<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the US health care system, the people are represented by three separate yet equally important groups; the doctors who treat patients, the employers who offer health care benefits and the insurance companies who administer them.\u00a0 This is their story.\u00a0 Donque Donque (start Law and Order theme song)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Actually, many people wish that could be their story \u2013 affordable health care coverage offered by a stable and well-endowed employer.\u00a0 However, for an increasing number of us, decent health care coverage has emerged as an elusive dream, resulting in gerry-rigging and scrambling around in a stunning display of unintended consequences.\u00a0 This is our story.<\/p>\n


\nNick and I are both consultants associated with companies that do not subsidize health care benefits.\u00a0 While we are both happy in our jobs, the rising cost of our health care coverage is a nagging issue and has prompted both of us to investigate other arrangements.<\/p>\n

Unintended Consequence No. 1:\u00a0 Employment decisions are based not on the job or career opportunities, but primarily on access to health care insurance.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Nick had some preliminary discussions with another consulting company that did not offer health care benefits, but they claimed that they had come up with a nifty workaround.\u00a0 They advised us to join the Independent Cattlemen\u2019s Association (ICA) of Texas and get health insurance through them.<\/p>\n

Unintended Consequence No. 2: Two life-long Midwesterners, with no ranch, no cattle and not even a hat would consider joining a Cattlemen\u2019s Association. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Cattlemen\u2019s Association states that it is \u201cthe premier representative of the cattle industry, providing an effective legislative voice for all cow\/calf ranchers with the vision to accept and promote changes impacting their well-being.\u201d\u00a0 For a moment I thought that \u201ctheir<\/em> well-being\u201d might refer to the cows and calves and not the ranchers, but that was just the vegetarian in me talking.\u00a0 Membership is a great bargain, ranging from $20 to $1,000, and comes with a variety of goodies, such as T shirt, cap, an unspecified \u201cspecial
\ngift,\u201d and an aluminum gate sign for your ranch.\u00a0 And, of course, you can also sign up for their health benefits. \u00a0Basically, we could team up with the cattlemen and help spread the risk across a larger group.\u00a0 I had a colleague once who said that he got his health benefits by joining some sort of bee-keepers society. \u00a0Frankly, if I had to choose between the two societies, I would choose the bees over cows, I just feel more simpatico with bees and I can use the honey.<\/p>\n

Unintended Consequence No. 3:\u00a0 I would be willing to become an apiarist and be stung \"\"<\/a>by bees on a routine basis in exchange for stable health care benefits.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are other types of affinity groups, for example a Chamber of Commerce might offer health benefits to local merchants, thus grouping together a number of small businesses.\u00a0 This would seem to make sense, since this is the basic premise of insurance, i.e. spread the risk across as large a pool as possible.\u00a0 However, in practical fact, this arrangement usually doesn\u2019t work since there is no contribution from an employer to keep the premiums down.\u00a0 Without this sort of subsidy, small businesses with young healthy individuals \u2013 perhaps a mountain bicycle shop \u2013 will get a better rate if they get insurance on their own.\u00a0 At this point, they don\u2019t need a group to spread risk and share costs, and they don\u2019t want their premiums to subsidize, for example, the elderly couple who own the shoe store across the street.\u00a0 With the departure of the healthy sector, the remaining businesses in the group will see their premiums rise.\u00a0 Of course, the small companies that initially departed will return if one of their employees has a significant illness and they need to seek shelter in a larger group.\u00a0 Pretty soon, the affinity group is attracting only the least desirable and group goes into a death spiral of punitive premiums.\u00a0 Yes folks, this is our health care system.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m looking for an insurance plan that will take Nick and I warts and all, no questions asked.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it, we\u2019re all going to be a little dinged up as we close in on 60 \u2013 \u00a0a bad hip, shoulder or knee here or there, perhaps a clogged artery, and hopefully, at most, a minor but nerve wracking brush with a biopsy.\u00a0 Based on age alone, we\u2019re nobody\u2019s idea of a good prospect to share healthcare costs, most likely we\u2019ll only add to the burden. \u00a0In the metal, we are the dross, in the wheat we are the chaff. \u00a0The insurance industry considers us millstones and they can hardly wait to offload us onto Medicare at age 65.<\/p>\n

Unintended Consequence No. 4:\u00a0 <\/em>The only insurance actively soliciting our business is some sort of paltry life insurance designed\u00a0just to cover our \u201cfinal expenses.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re both basically healthy, except that Nick had a little episode with a bulging disk in his lower back that required surgery.\u00a0 It was nothing really \u2013 really nothing more than the spinal equivalent of trimming a hang nail, although admittedly the hang nail was inconveniently located.\u00a0 Completely successful surgery with no sequela over the past 10 years, but BANG! what we\u2019ve got now is a permanent wart on our medical record referred to as \u201ca preexisting condition.\u201d\u00a0 Our new BFFs, the Cattlemen, would exclude any claim for anything to do with the entire<\/em> spine, which could be a good foot and a half away from the original surgery.\u00a0 The take away message here is to only use your health insurance for the really big stuff, don\u2019t submit claims that will establish a pre-existing condition that will follow you for the rest of your life<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unintended Consequence No 5: \u00a0<\/em>Even though you are spending a fortune on health insurance, try not to use it.\u00a0 However, once a pre-existing condition is on your record, go and see that chiropractor or physical therapist for those back twinges as much as you want.\u00a0 It can\u2019t hurt your long term insurance prospects any more than it already has.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We ultimately decided that we could not accept the Cattlemen\u2019s half-assed offer, and\u00a0opted to limp along with what we have.\u00a0 I also have a suspicion that they would have kicked out of their Association anyway, based on an incident that happened to Nick almost 25 years ago.\u00a0 We were feeling slightly restless, wondering if our predictable paths of suburban life and corporate jobs were just a little too safe, so on a lark Nick decided to fly out to Great Falls, Montana to interview for a job at an advertising agency, the state\u2019s largest. \u00a0\u00a0We had vacationed in Bozeman, Montana many times and loved being near the mountains, and with Montana State University in town, the town seemed very vibrant with many cultural opportunities.\u00a0 The major flaw in our logic was the assumption that Great Falls would be like Bozeman\u2013 the same kind of innocent mistake East coasters make when they come to the Midwest and are surprised that they can\u2019t see across Lake Michigan.\u00a0\u00a0 The first clue was that Great Falls was not near the mountains, and the second clue was that the city was circulating a petition to ban the TV show NYPD Blue.\u00a0 Apparently the lurid plot lines and bare butts were too much for this conservative town.\u00a0 But Nick pressed ahead and went through the usual interview process, discussing background, prior experience, etc.\u00a0 And then the interviewer announced that since some candidates exaggerated their experience on their resum\u00e9, Nick would have to pass an intelligence test.\u00a0 Now Nick had some pretty snappy East coast credentials based on college and business school and his prior clients represented the epitome of market driven companies.\u00a0 So perhaps this intelligence test was just a way of putting him in his place, but there he was dutifully filling in an answer sheet with his two number two pencils.\u00a0 Once the written part of the test was completed, the interviewer announced that the last portion of the test would be an oral spelling quiz.\u00a0\u00a0It was at this point that Nick clearly knew that even if he aced the spelling test, Great Falls would never work out.<\/p>\n

Most of the words were gimmees, like \u201ctriangle\u201d or \u201cantique,\u201d but there was one stumper:\u00a0 \u201cheifer.\u201d\u00a0 There were two main questions in his mind.\u00a0 First, one \u201cf\u201d or two? \u00a0Based on his German roots, he knew how to spell hasenpfeffer, and that had two \u201cf\u2019s,\u201d but \u201cheffer\u201d just didn\u2019t look right. \u00a0The second issue was the \u201ci.\u201d \u00a0He knew it must have one but where?\u00a0 Somewhere in the dusty depths of his brain he remembered the grammar rule \u201ci\u201d before \u201ce\u201d except after \u201cc.\u201d\u00a0 But then he remembered all sorts of exceptions. There is the word \u201cscience\u201d for example, and the word \u201cweird,\u201d both in flagrante to the mnemonic (now there\u2019s a great spelling bee word).\u00a0 So was it going to be \u201chiefer\u201d or \u201cheifer?\u201d\u00a0 Even scribbling the word a few times on a piece of scrap paper did not give him a good vibe, so in the end he just guessed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d said the interviewer sadly, \u201cyou spelled heifer wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes it really matter?\u201d asked Nick.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell around here it does,\u201d said the interviewer.<\/p>\n

So even if the Cattlemen don\u2019t care if we have a ranch, cattle, or hat, I do think that they\u2019d be horrified to know that not only do we not\u00a0how to spell heifer, but we are also a little unclear as to what kind of cow it is.<\/p>\n

Unintended Consequence No. 6: \u00a0<\/em>I now know that a heifer is a female cow that has not given birth.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The missing words in the following poem are anagrams (i.e. share the same letters like spot, post, stop) and the number of asterisks indicates the number of letters.\u00a0 Your job is to solve the missing words based on the above rules and the context of the poem.\u00a0 Scroll down for answers.<\/em><\/h6>\n

Access to health care is an ******** component of the American dream<\/p>\n

But our healthcare system is a ridiculous and ruinous scheme<\/p>\n

Doctors, employers and insurance are a frustrating health care ********<\/p>\n

Through which we must all wheel and deal and wrestle and wrangle.<\/p>\n

Beware of submitting claims for trivial annoyances or for a back that aches<\/p>\n

Since ******** the insurer to a pre-existing condition is a grave mistake<\/p>\n

If they see a later claim ******** to the spine, lickety split they\u2019ll just deny it<\/p>\n

So if you end up needing surgery, now you\u2019re without a paddle in a creek full of shit.<\/p>\n

And to get a better plan, you have to think about ******** your career<\/p>\n

Yes folks, this is our health care system that Republicans hold so dear.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Answers:\u00a0 integral, triangle, alerting, relating, altering<\/p>\nFollow Liza Blue on: \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>Share: \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unintended Consequences In the US health care system, the people are represented by three separate yet equally important groups; the doctors who treat patients, the employers who offer health care benefits and the insurance companies who administer them.\u00a0 This is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-such-is-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iVc8-mn","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1395,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}