The state of our world...

This post is going to touch on a few things that have been irking me about the world we live in. Please bear with me.

I had a routine pap smear back at the end of February. I figured it was all taken care of, as usual, by my health insurance. I consider my health insurance pretty darn good. I received a bill from the hospital which does the labwork, and it was for $120! Somehow, the hospital said that my insurance didn't cover some of the diagnostic tests. So, I got on the phone last week to my health insurer, and found out that the doctor needed to use a different code and resubmit the charges.

OK - not really making sense to me, but ok. So, I call the hospital - I've had lots of problems with them before, so I hate calling there. In talking to them, I find that the tests that my insurance didn't cover were the gonorrhea and chlamydia tests that they do along with the pap smear test. Now, I'm quite certain that those same things were covered last year, so I'm a little confused. I then called the doctor's office and spoke with the billing person there, because the hospital said that I would have to speak with them, since they consider it a "screening". Now, screening is preventative, right?

Sure is. The problem is, my insurance doesn't cover those tests under my preventative! They will only cover STD testing if there's a "medical reason" for them. Now, I have to say that it makes me wonder how those tests are not considered preventative. If my "good" insurance won't cover it, what about people with minimal insurance or none at all? How in the world are people supposed to know if they have STDs without screening?

Strange...and we wonder why 1 in 4 women have an STD.

On Friday, gas went up to $4.18 at the Speedway here in Lansing. I had kind of expected this to happen. We've been hearing from lots of people regarding gas prices (surprised, aren't you?). Well - what a lot of them don't seem to understand is that I pay the same prices for gas as they do. And, I have been making attempts at altering my driving habits. I won't be going to Muskegon as much as before, and I won't be driving as much during the week as I used to.

The increase in gas prices has really made me start to look at how our society depends on our motor vehicles. As I was driving this weekend, granted it was a holiday weekend, I saw tons of SUV's, trucks, motorhomes, boats, etc. It's quite interesting to me, because I really wonder if people will stop depending so much on their cars and trucks. Will they switch to public transit? Will there be more investment in public transit? Will our roads be made safer for other forms of transportation such as bicycles?

I wish I could answer these questions. What I do know is that gas prices aren't going down anytime soon, if at all. I expect them to rise over the summer. I also don't expect anyone to be able to do anything about it. I know that sounds pessimistic, but I hear from people asking their government to do something about the gas prices.

I'd like to remind everyone that we live in a free market society, which means prices will pretty much do whatever they want. Part of that free market society frowns on government getting involved with private business. What the government can do, which won't alleviate prices anytime soon, if at all, is invest in green energy, ethanol, and other things that will begin to lift our dependance on foreign oil.

Which reminds me - Ford, GM, and Chrysler - could you all make some higher gas mileage cars so I can buy a UAW made car on my next purchase? Yes, I do look at the stickers. Yes, I am conscious of gas mileage. And, I want to support American workers.

Whew! I think that's enough from me today! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

A Random Rambling?

This morning on my way to work, I started thinking about how there are some men out there that bully women around, and I suppose that it’s a good day to think about that, because it’s V-Day. I always look at today as being more of a day to bring awareness to stopping violence against women and girls around the world.

Well, I think that I started thinking about why some men feel they need to be so intimidating. Is it because they are so threatened by a smart woman? Do they feel as though in order to be masculine they must berate anything feminine? Is it because they grow up in a culture that glorifies women as sex objects and nothing else?

Why is it when a man is assertive to get what he wants, it’s a good thing, but when a woman is assertive, she’s a bitch? There are all these questions that I have, and they all come back to society. If we start changing how our children are brought up in society, then maybe we’d have a chance. The problem is, everything is based on how much money is made, and sex and sexist things sell. It’s shoved in our face all the time – watch TV for one hour, and you’ll see.

Now that I have posed all these questions, I am off to go do some other things.


Currently Reading: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

An issue of humanity...

Yes, it’s an issue of humanity.

The budget issue is an issue of humanity. You may wonder why I say that. Over the weekend, I attended the Michigan Policy Summit, which was put on by the Michigan Prospect. We talked a little bit about health care, education, and clean energy – how these things all have implications of humanity behind them. I think everything the government does should be backed by humanity.

Tuesday, I sat through a presentation about cutting the budget. It totaled $1 billion in cuts. It made me physically sick, to say the least. The programs proposed to be cut were clearly the ones that many of our citizens use. I know that we get a lot of people who don’t want their taxes raised, and I can respect that. But what they don’t realize is that if funding is cut for things like the Department of Community Health, Department of Human Services, and the School Aid Fund, to name a few, the people of Michigan will not have much to offer. These cuts would be across the board and cut everything from libraries to child protective services to Medicaid services to home caretaker relatives. I understand that not everyone uses these programs. Seriously, I get that. However, we all benefit from these things. They make our society better – by providing quality education to all kids, our workforce is stronger. By providing health care to all, our kids have a better shot of learning in school and our workforce is able to go to work and is more reliable. Our libraries offer books, programs, videos, CDs, and other various things for the whole community to use.

Our society shouldn’t be about how to make the next dollar. It should be about providing our citizens with the tools they need in order to thrive in our state, not just merely survive. Sure, profits are a good thing – they drive business. But, if our people aren’t taken care of, those profit goals are harder to attain. We need to start investing in our people – ALL of our people. It’s the right thing to do.