Grrr! I'm steamed...

My physical therapists' employer dropped my insurance as of this month. My co-pay the first time for "out of network" was $52. The next one was $63, the difference being how long my therapist actually worked on me before turning me over to the gym. I figured I'd just deal with it because I was almost done with PT.

I saw my spine doctor again yesterday. I'm going to have that second set of injections the last week of June and I'm to continue with another six weeks of PT.

A clue as to why things changed halfway through our contract year came in a letter last week. Our medical plan is a private PPO through Hewlett-Packard. The letter stated that they'd been absorbed by Pacific Care and our coverage shouldn't be affected. Ok, so maybe Pacific Care didn't have a contract with my PT? I checked the providers on the website to bring a list of possibilities to my current PT so he could help me by pointing out ones with the same philosophy as theirs. Oddly, theirs was still listed. I figured the health care people hadn't had time to update the website yet, so I called. No, they had my PT still listed as "in plan."

I called the billing office of my PT and had to leave voice mail. Later, they called me. They'd tried to talk to my insurance company and were hung up on. The deal here is they've suddenly started paying HMO amounts for PPO patients. The PT office can't afford that. They take a loss on HMO rates which is why they don't accept HMO patients.

My next step is to call my insurance company again to demand an explanation as to why we even bother paying the extra money to have a PPO if all we're going to get is HMO service. HMO's kill people in my opinion. The bottom line is more important than human lives. You have to find out EVERYTHING about your illnesses and possible treatments then confront your doctor with them so they know you'll cause problems if they don't give you proper care. They killed my uncle by not telling him the cancer in his abdomen needed to be dealt with right away. They killed my dad by dilly-dallying around delaying the start of treatment until his Hodgkins got into his bones.

We pay for a PPO despite our financial difficulties so we get good medical care and our insurance company is turning us into HMO patients behind our backs! What, are they lining their pockets with the extra cash?

There is something very wrong with this. I wonder if all my doctors will drop our plan, too.

NASA wildlife sightings

There's a jack rabbit that hangs out near our building. When I see him as I go by, I speak softly to him. He's starting to be less afraid of me. He still runs most of the time but he stops when he's far enough away to watch me pass. Sometimes he just goes into frozen "There's nothing to see here. You do not see a rabbit. You see a rabbit-shaped rock. Move along..." lol. I'm tempted to buy rabbit treats to make friends with him, but I know that's a bad idea. I'll just dream about that. I love wabbits! I tell myself he won't be as soft to touch as my Bunzi and Cleo were. They were a breeding experiment with lop and "fryer" rabbits. Huge squishy lap boys, they were.

On the way out on Friday, I took the long way to go out the front gate. It's only the long way since the Air Force decided someone from our building was speeding behind the wind tunnel and locked a gate so we couldn't get to our parking lot that way. Now I have to come in the north gate or drive an extra 1/4+ mile to get around the wind tunnel if I want to park in the lot. Nobody said anything or posted a slower speed sign. They just locked the gate. Dumb asses. Now I often forget when Thursday is to drive the long way to see my favorite security guard. He brightens up my whole day. He's worth the extra mileage! Someone said if Mr. Green doesn't cheer you up, you need professional help. With PT, I forget which day it is all the time. Today I didn't have it because I'm trying to figure out what to do with my insurance company. Today I'll see Mr. Green!

Anyway, on Friday as I drove around the big lawn by the administration building, I noticed two jack rabbits nibbling the lawn under a big pine tree. Wow! I've only seen them solo in the past. It's a gorgeous pine tree I keep meaning to photograph. Boy I wish I had my camera handy. To get that tree with two jack rabbits under it would have been wonderful! But I bet they would have run if I stopped. They were about the same size, full-grown. I wonder if they're mates or related?

And Monday when I was walking between buildings I noticed a little dark bird in the shadows, about sparrow-sized, standing on a fallen leaf on the lawn. As I approached, it flew a little farther away a few times, always landing on another leaf. I've never seen a bird do that. What a silly bird! I wonder if it's afraid of the grass? There are gophers, moles and ground squirrels all over the place but they wouldn't attack a bird! They are hunted themselves by a blue heron I've seen around. Oh, he's pretty. :)

I keep seeing "Don't feed the cats." signs around but have yet to see a cat.

Gotta get ready to go. I'm going to see Mr. Green today! :)))