major REO Speedwagon jones

I woke up this morning with an REO Speedwagon song in my head. Not just any REO Speedwagon song, but the absolute best one, the one I always attribute to Chicago, since Chicago was my favorite band at age 9 and I therefore think that all great 80s rock ballads are by them. Sadly, they’re not. They’re mostly by REO Speedwagon. And sometimes by Journey.

So, this morning I popped awake at 6:15am, with YOU GOT ME STEALING YOUR LOVE AWAY, CAUSE YOU NEVER GIVE IT! booming through my head. Unfortunately, I don’t have any REO Speedwagon recordings, not even dubbed on tape. (Yes, I just used the word unfortunately with regard to our household’s lack of recordings by early 80s arena rockers.) My love of these bands dates from the days in elementary school when I went to bed with my clock radio, permanently tuned to Z96, crooning me to sleep. That was well before I had a cassette player, let alone any money to spend on music. You might also rightly assume, based on the number of times I’ve been persuaded to accompany him to Skinny Puppy shows (3), my partner shares this notable omission in his music collection. Which means, by 7am, I’ve been belting out the same two mistranscribed lines for 45 minutes now (YOU GOT ME CHASING THE YEARS AWAY, BABY WE CAN’T RELIVE IT) with absolutely no relief in sight, because, well, quite frankly, Napster is illegal now.

Problem not solved, I made my partner suffer through I MAKE YOU LAUGH, BABY YOU MAKE ME CRY all through breakfast and kept on with IT’S TIME FOR ME TO FLY I’ve got to set myself free TIME FOR ME TO FLY Baby, that’s just how it’s got to be on the walk to the mailbox and library. Luckily for him, it was raining so I wimped out on walking him all the way to the metro. Luckily for all of us, except maybe the teenagers next door who are likely trying to sleep in after talking in the street until the middle of night, LastFM came through in a pinch.

I wish I could tell you this sad tale of woe had a happy ending, but it doesn’t: after playing the song something like fifteen times in a row, the website cut me off and is now only giving me the 30 second teaser! If clearing my cookies or cycling the modem and getting a new dynamic IP address doesn’t work, I fear this means I may have to go see them in concert. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that: so far, cookie clearing has done the trick!

major REO Speedwagon jones

trials and tribulations: BlueCross

I never thought I would reach the point where I would be telling people to run the other way from BlueCross. Yet here I am: after 6 years as a BlueCross subscriber, I recommend getting any other coverage available to you. Which is saying a lot, given that they have one of the largest networks of health care providers and offer some of the most extensive PPO plans around. To be fair to BlueCross, the first two years were great. The customer service people were helpful, the prescription coverage was excellent, and claims were approved and paid in about two weeks.

About three years ago something changed, and everything positive about the company disappeared into the ether. Customer service became just like every other company: a complete crap shoot. The prescription coverage became worse and worse, until my out-of-pocket cost for my daily medication had eventually increased twenty-fold. And, most frustrating of all, BlueCross began to make errors on every single claim I submitted. The process for being reimbursed for covered services became a nightmare of calling again and again, providing the same information over and over (provider name, diagnostic, medical license and tax identification numbers), and endless resubmitting.

Honestly, I would have continued to live with all of that had BlueCross not started, in November of last year, to deny me coverage based on an internal BlueCross employee error. In October, I switched from my COBRA coverage to paying as an individual subscriber for the same plan. At the time, I had to demonstrate that I’d had continuous coverage for the previous 4 years in order to remove the standard waiting period for coverage of preexisting conditions, which I did. Hunky dory, everything’s fine, we truck along with the same frustrations already enumerated above. In November, someone at BlueCross did something — trust me, if I could get a clearer or more specific explanation out of them, I’d share it — that changed my starting date of coverage and activated a waiting period. I promptly received a nonsensical bill from them and my claims starting being denied. I called, they told me I needed to get a statement from them and fax it back to them — major errors resulting in the wrongful denial of service can apparently be made but not corrected internally at BlueCross — and then they would remove it. I did so, they did so, hunky dory, right? WRONG. Despite being assured over the past six months by a half dozen customer service agents and managers that the waiting period has been removed, it is in fact still active, and my claims are still being wrongfully denied. As of today, I’ve been waiting two weeks for a return call confirming that it’s been corrected. I’m not holding my breath.

I, of course, have done what any sane person would do in this situation: changed my insurance company and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Next up: the Maryland Insurance Administration. I’ll keep you posted.

trials and tribulations: BlueCross