Secrets of the City

I can concur with the MinnPost articles on nonprofits — post 9/11, the financial fortunes of many nonprofits (including ALAMN) have trended downward, and the near future is not looking much better.

I still cannot get to any linke from The Rake.

Works for me.

Clearly, someone is manipulating the Internets to keep me from finding out who is sexy.

@Kevin. What if you try the addresses in google and look at their cached pages? I have no idea if they’d be up or not (doubt it) but it’s worth a try.

Perhaps I don’t get love from the Capitol servers.

But I think the future for a lot of nonprofits is going to be even more brutal than is predicted there. Wages, once adjusted for inflation, have only increased about .6 percent in the last eight years. And now that credit ain’t so easy to come by, people don’t feel flush enough to make donations. Sure, there’s still the upper crust, but the penny from the many will always outweigh the pounds from the few.

Kevin- They’re trying to keep it a surprise so you’ll be shocked when they show up at your door presenting you with lavish gifts for being the sexiest.

I’d settle for a color printer that works.

Could be worse, at least your A/C works!

Maybe not. If there were no A/C, then we’d really find out who’s hot.

And smelly. Something tells me that the older folks up there might get a bit ripe.

I was dreamily recalling the wonderful three days last summer when the AC went out in my office building. I tolerate heat well, but the server had to be cooled so we shut it down and went home. Sigh. Now I’m melancholy for broken AC.

Tho it was fun with everyone walking around barefoot, in shorts, camisoles, progressively slinkier clothing… you are right Kevin, you learn who’s hot when it is hot.

And smelly. Something tells me that the older folks up there might get a bit ripe.

You ain’t kidding, Rich, it reeks over here.

Alie,

How well do you know the ins and outs of medical insurance?

Mnblrmkr, I know government plans (Medicare and MA) very well, but I’m not as versed on commercial plans.

Tho it was fun with everyone walking around barefoot, in shorts, camisoles, progressively slinkier clothing… you are right Kevin, you learn who’s hot when it is hot.

Don’t have to tell me about it. There was a THREE WEEK stretch in 2006 when the outside temperature hovered around 100 that my office had no A/C.

shoot. I’m trying to figure out what my situation is, and HR hasn’t been able to answer yet, and I haven’t heard back from the clinic either.

Basically, last week, the day after I was green lighted for surgery by the Drs., and they start the prior authorization paper work, we get a memo at work announcing that the company will be switching carriers on July 1. Since there is really no way I’d be scheduled before that date, the authorization needs to go to the new carrier, according to HR. What we’re not sure about is will we have to wait until after July 1 to submit the request to the new carrier, or if they can submit it to the new carrier before that date.

Do you know who the new carrier is? If you know that, you can google the customer service line and see if they could tell you.

I worked for an HMO for a number of years, mnblrmkr, and I can tell you that if you give any health plan (unless you are a member of Congress) the slightest reason not to pay a claim, they will opt for not paying. Many plans offer financial rewards to employees who find any rational to deny a claim.

That said, I thought I was ready for all the “nickel & dime” charges after my surgery. I wasn’t!

Good luck!

PS: The teevee is reporting that Sen. Kennedy came out of his brain tumor surgery fairly well today — it was a fairly high-risk precedure for a man his age. Now comes the chemo and radiation.

I don’t think our CEO and BoD would be too happy. A couple of years ago, the company dumped our Dental provider because people were getting hassled to much on claims.

If I don’t hear back from the clinic in a day or so, I’m going to call again, this kind of situation can’t be unheard of, so they should have an idea how they will proceed.

I’m just hoping that we don’t have to wait until July to do the request, since that would probably delay everything until late August.

mnblrmkr, don’t send anything you don’t have to. I’d hate to see you get stuck with a pre-existing clause…

I don’t think our CEO and BoD would be too happy

Sound like you work at a decent place, David. Let me know if they need a communications type.

mnblrmkr, don’t send anything you don’t have to. I’d hate to see you get stuck with a pre-existing clause…

That shouldn’t be a problem…HIPAA, for one. And as I understand HR’s memo, the new plan is basically the same in coverage, co-pays, etc. except for a few things (mental health will be covered limited by visits rather than by hour, 31 days instead of 34 days for pharms.). If it weren’t for the timing, I probably wouldn’t even be really noticing the change.

Bob, I have been happy here. It’s amazing how productive happy employees can be.

Pre-existing condition clauses don’t apply for commercial employee health plans, Alie. You generally only get that uber-screw if you’re self-insured.

Oh, alie,

The clinic takes care of the prior-authorization, so the only things they send should be audie related. In fact, I don’t think they even have anything other than audie related records.

You can get caught in pre-existing in an employee plan if you don’t join in your initial open enrollment period (when you first start), and haven’t been insured otherwise.

True enough. But that’s not the situation at hand, is it?