12
December
2007
Being an American that is.
A couple of weeks ago, I was going through immigration at the Edmonton Airport with my mother-in-law and the boys. The immigration agent was very gruff, as he asked how long we were going to be in the States for, until he found out that we were US citizens. He said,”oh, you’re American”, at which point he basically just stamped us through. Even my mother-in-law who is a Canadian Citizen, was stamped through without any questions.
On the flip side, Drew had to have stitches the other day. We had no problems with our insurance (our Canadian supplemental insurance covers us anywhere around the world) at the ER. But when I called my old Dr.’s office to make an appointment to have Drew’s stitches taken out we ran into some trouble. First my mother-in-law called and apparently it was taking me too long to get our card because the nurse told her to have me call them back and then hung up on her! She seemed pleasant enough when I called back but then we ran into the insurance issue. First she couldn’t put our address in the system because it wouldn’t take Canadian addresses (I’m guessing she just didn’t know how to change it). Then she asked me for my insurance info. We both knew it was out of country insurance, so I assumed she wanted it to contact the company. Instead she told me, in not so nice a way, that the office didn’t accept that insurance. No, really? I thought that was a given. The issue was how to get my insurance to cover it. I explained to her that my insurance would cover everything in full and then she got snotty with me and told me I had to call another number to get it approved. It would seem that we have to get approved before they will see Drew. I understand that the office itself probably doesn’t deal with billing and that there is another office to deal with that. But was the attitude really necessary? Last I checked I was still a human being even though I choose to reside outside of this country.
I was once again reminded how good we have it in Alberta…and how messed up the US system is. It’s actually not good enough just to have insurance, you have to have the right insurance. It’s just another way that the wealthy get better care. The better insurance you can afford or the better job you have (which provides better insurance to its employers), the better care you will get.
(Hey Toby and Chloe, let’s talk about this one when I visit!)
Posted: Family, My Mon/Fayette Expressways
12
September
2007
Okay, so I haven’t gotten to post any Mon/Fayette Expressways in awhile. I guess I was due.
Tonight Mike was trying to book a ticket back home for an event he has to attend. We decided it would be a good time to use our Northwest Miles since we can’t use them at Christmas or in the summer (that’s a whole other post!). He finally found some flights that he could use our miles on (all the better flights wanted 37,000 miles instead of the usual 25,000). He found a flight he thought was reasonable even though he already had to stop twice and leave and arrive at awful times, but that’s what you expect from airlines, right?
When he went to book his flight and typed in his address in Canada, the number of miles he had to use jumped from 25,000 miles to 32,000 miles! When he was booking the flight and they thought he was residing in the US it was 25,000, but when it became known that his address was in Canada, the cost jumped 7,000 miles! Now maybe I’m being rash or quick to get angry, but does this seem ridiculous to you? I fly on their airline several times a year. They’re happy to take my money and give me sub-par service, all of which I can actually live with, with only a small amount of complaining. But an exchange rate on miles? Really? Everything you read, says 25,000 Continental US and Canada. To make matters even more exasperating they won’t even take our credit card to pay the fees that they charge to process a ticket using Miles. It has to be a credit card issued to someone residing in the US! I’m just dumbfounded at the ridiculousness of this.
Friends who know me well, I’m sure can picture the frustration seething at the surface. Wouldn’t it be fun to sit and talk with me about this? Ha ha! This, my friends, may be the next Mon/Fayette Expressway. 
Posted: Miscellaneous, My Mon/Fayette Expressways, My Stuff
15
February
2007
We’ve been having a little bit of trouble with our insurance company. Now let me first start out by saying we have excellent care and more than I could ever imagine is covered without me having to think about it. The trouble we’re having is with our supplemental insurance. My complaint is not with what they cover (although I would really rather they forego the acupuncture and pay for massage therapy), but that, well, they (or their computers) are just stupid. This past October Bran was in the ER with pneumonia. We left the hospital at 4am and tried to get his prescription filled, the pharmacy couldn’t get it to go through and at 4am there was no one to call. The next day, in a state of exhaustion, I went to our local pharmacy. They couldn’t get it covered, either, so I just paid for it. I think it was a whole $16. Amoxicillin has been around for so long, you’d think it would be even cheaper than that. Anyway, I talked to the “people” at the University to get it fixed and they apparently did.
However, we ran into problems again last week. The boys had their first ear infections and were not happy wandering through the grocery store for an hour, simply for the pharmacy to tell me that Bran’s could not be covered again. Arghhh! (maybe I do say that alot) 
The pharmacist was nice enough to have the pharmacy eat the cost since, well, in his own words, ‘amoxicillin is so cheap.’ I called our insurance company to find out what was wrong. Because they are twins we now have to include their middle initial when filling a prescription (We used to have to give them separate birthdates… Drew was born a month earlier according to their computers… So, I guess it’s an improvement). The pharmacist put a period after the “N” and that, my friends, was the big mistake. Apparently it screwed up the whole system such that even after a phone call, they couldn’t verify Bran as the correct child and fill his prescription.
A period…
Now why couldn’t the person on the other end figure this out? Maybe it’s not just the computers… I’ll give them one more break since we’re not your “normal” family, though I may dread the next time I have to get a prescription filled for Brandon.
Posted: My Mon/Fayette Expressways
15
November
2006
I’ve added a new category I thought I should explain. When we were living in Pittsburgh I became very passionate about a local issue, the proposed Mon/Fayette Expressway extension into Oakland (my neighborhood). So whenever I have a rant about something my friends sometimes joke that it’s just like the MFE. While many issues don’t strike the same chord of passion within me, I thought this would be the perfect heading for my rantings. Besides I really don’t like the word rant…
If you’re interested in learning more about why the Mon/Fayette Expressway strikes such a chord with me check out these websites.
Posted: My Mon/Fayette Expressways
15
November
2006
Since we can’t vote in midterms it was somewhat anti-climactic. Although Presidential races are too, since when do they ever really count the absentee ballots? But I was glad to hear that so many people voted. Just before leaving Pittsburgh we became much more interested in our electoral system and pro-voting. We even managed to encourage some of our friends to vote for our candidate (he lost with less than 1% of the vote, but I’m sure we made a difference!) Anyway, just when we were all ready to participate more fully in this democratic institution…we leave the country and can’t vote at all. So now we do our best to “encourage” others to vote.
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that PA and OH both changed hands and sent Dems to Washington. After 12 years it’s time to have a change. But with a 2-party, 3-issue government, can anything new really happen? Will Kyoto ever pass? Will senators stop being persuaded by big business and lobbyists rather than their constituents? Will abortion laws change? Will same sex marriage be legalized? Will American’s rights continue to be violated in the interested of anti-terrorism? Will there still be racism/classism/genderism? Will we ever look outside our own interests to places like the Sudan and Sri Lanka? What was it that King Solomon said?…”There’s nothing new under the sun.”
As much as I’m happy for the change in government, I’m also pessimistic. Until we move away from our white, rich man’s, two-party monopoly not much new is going to happen. We’ll see, maybe I’ll eat my words… It’s not as if a lot is being accomplished in Canada’s minority government either.
Posted: My Mon/Fayette Expressways
