Reviews by Cole » insurance

Exercising Freedom of Expression

Cole — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:05:40 +0000

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I sometimes make cracks about not having insurance — it does suck — especially because the insurance I previously had, through the military was top-notch. It was so much better than any insurance program I was eligible for or involved in prior to that. On more than one occasion, I used that insurance for birth control refills as local Walgreens, which were then part of of the pharmacy provider network that for Express Scripts.

Express Scripts, if you’re unfamiliar, (I was!) is the organization that is the middle man between pharamacies and employers like the US military (which uses insurance through the umbrella company Tricare) and, despite Walgreens’ willingness to not raise and drug prices and to match any other pharmacy’s price for drugs that is in the network, Express Scripts refused to deal. You can read more about Walgreens and Express Scripts here.

What this means is that many service members and their family, along with other employees of businesses that relied on Express Scripts, will have to go elsewhere to purchase medications will have to find other pharmacies if they don’t or can’t afford to pay out of pocket for their prescriptions. Of course, that’s just not a suitable option for many people, especially those in small towns, remote areas or with mobility problems. Walgreens is trying to help its customers by offering discounts ($5 for individuals, $10 for family) for enrollment into the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens You can still save on thousands of medications by joining this club.

Even if you’re not a Walgreens customer (I rarely use them these days; although, I just dropped by one last night), this is a pretty serious issue and you probably know someone who is. If you think this action on the part of Express Scripts is incredibly shifty, you can contact your local news outlets. You an also hook up with Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook to let them know that you appreciate their support and support them in this issue.

Home, Home on the Range

Cole — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:42:45 +0000

I never figured I was much of a house person. Too much room. Too many places I might want to be. Too much extra space to fill with furniture and decor. Shopping and paying for homeowners insurance. More areas which need cleaning. But after spending some time at Jenn’s, I’ve kind of come around to the idea. There are definitely perks, like having your own washer and dryer in your home (and not having to pay in quarters!) or having a garage. And having front and back yards where you can have patio furniture, grill out or decorate for holidays is pretty alluring, too.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not entirely sold on the idea and am in no position to go out and buy a house, anyway but I am coming around to the idea and it might be a goal sometime in the future. And when/if that time comes, I am sure I’ll have a lovely time with maintenance and repairs, homeowners insurance and neighbour’s kids and dogs. Like any residence, there are perks and disadvantages to the situation.

One small step

Cole — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 01:34:03 +0000

..Senate passed the health care bill. There’s certainly a lot missing but I guess change comes slowly most of the time. It’s great that insurance companies will not be able to screw people over based on pre-existing conditions and many more people will have health care so they can spend their time worrying about other things and that smaller injuries and illnesses don’t balloon into lethal ones. I’m sure it’ll take a while to go into effect and there will be many things which need tweaking so some folks might still need a solution for temporary insurance coverage (like short term health insurance NC) but it’s something..

Already?

Cole — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:06:46 +0000

A close friend of mine (yea, that’d be Ashe) is dealing with the consequences of her father’s heart attack. It makes you think, really. I asked if they had insurance to cover the bills because there’s certainly been many racked up in the past week or so. It makes one really wonder about cheap insurance. It also makes me wonder if this is just the start of parents passing away in my generation. I don’t think I’m ready to deal with that yet.

To Your Health

Cole — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 04:42:00 +0000

There have been a few discussions on Lavish, lately about health and the cost to maintain good health. Naturally, these discussions have included thoughts on insurance – both federally and privately provided and the pros and cons of “the system” – as it were. It really gets you thinking about how you will pay for medical costs (and, in my case, even if I would) so while I may not spend a whole lot of time thinking about term life insurance, it’s something worth considering every now and then.

Spam Mail

Cole — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:55:00 +0000

We get a lot of spam mail. Physical mail. And they’re pretty good as disguising it, too. As much as I’d like to toss it, sometimes I just have to open it to see if it’s worth keeping. A lot of this junk mail is car insurance quotes. Everyone thinks we’re overpaying. That may be the case, don’t know. But we also don’t have a car anymore so who needs free insurance quotes? I don’t know if I avoided this harassment before because I didn’t have a car or if it’s just really bad in Texas. I’ll blame Texas.

Have a safe trip!

Cole — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:04:00 +0000

you could say I’m a jet setter, I guess, having made 3 round trips to Japan as well as flying home twice, now. I don’t really feel like it. It jut seems like travel has become apart of my life. I used to be nervous in airports and while I don’t love them now (they will always be an inconvenience), I never bat a lash as I enter them time and again. So, if that fits the definition than I guess I am quite the traveler. Still, I wouldn’t scoff at some nice travel insurance quotes because things can and do go wrong. Murphy’s law and all.

What’s your life worth?

Cole — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:47:00 +0000

This past summer, my mother’s brother in law died and he had decent life insurance which went to my mother’s husband. He was able to pay for his brother’s funeral as well as make repairs on their mother’s home and pay off hospital bills as well so it really did go far but not everyone is so lucky. Whether insurance is simply too hard to obtain or keep or a person is uneducated about it, it can be an awful surprise to try to make ends meet without it.

After hearing that our car had been totaled, you can bet that matters of money shot to the forefront of our minds so it’s a good thing that we don’t have to worry about paying for affordable term life insurance or anything – at least for the time being when Ryan is in the military. What the future holds, who knows? I certainly hope it’s good to us.

Reality

Cole — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:48:00 +0000

4 days ago, while heading out of town with Wendy, I was caught between the trailer of a semi who had cut me off and a car in the passing lane. With nowhere to go, I had to swerve to miss the trailer which would ultimately do more damage. Luckily, no one was hurt and our auto insurance was up to date and they have been very cooperative. Unfortunately, I was informed today that our car is considered totaled. Trying to look at the bright side, insurance will pay off the remaining balance on the car and we’ll have a bit left over. However, when Ryan gets back, we will have to look for another car again. I feel like utter crap, you can bet but I know we’re lucky – that it could have been so much worse. Still, it really makes me grateful that we had insurance and I definitely have a greater appreciation for insurance whether it be car, home insurance, life insurance or whatever.

Are you insured?

Cole — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:22:00 +0000

The economic situation of the country isn’t the best right now and a lot of people are feeling the pinch in different ways. Gas has been a popular topic but health insurance has also been right up there and I think we’re all curious if the next president will institute some sort of universal health plan. Luckily, we have health insurance provided by the military and it hasn’t let us down. Then again, we’ve never had any major illness or serious accident, both of which are things which can illustrate the flaws in family health insurance. Still, it won’t last forever and I’m pretty aware of that.