RevUp

Our PCP suggested that my wife and I get RevUp. 

https://getrevup.com/ Based solely on our PCP's recommendation, we agreed. We didn't realize at the time that RevUp is a "remote care" service located in Solana Beach CA. 

I'll be 79 this year and my wife will be 77. Currently we live independently in our own home. Thanks be to God. We realize that there may come a time when we're unable to live independently in our own home. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Back to RevUp. We didn't know the cost when we got RevUp. We were told that medicare would pay for most of the cost. Then the bills came. For $198 a month we both get a 10 + or - minute phone call from RevUp. That's almost $5,000 a year! Medicare pays 72% and we pay the rest. Needless to say, we decided that RevUp is NOT for us.

Unless you live by yourself, have serious health problems, and you aren't independently wealthy, then, in our opinion, RevUp is NOT for you.

I did learn a lesson with this episode with RevUp. In the future I will be monitoring our PCP's recommendations MUCH more closely. 

Dear DOGE

Elon Musk

Department of Government Efficiency

Washington, DC

Re: junk mail

Dear Elon,

Now that you've chainsawed USAID, the Department of Education, the Pentagon, etc., I would like to draw your attention to the poster child for government inefficiency--USPS, and in particular, junk mail. 

90% of our mail is junk mail. Instead of raising the price of a first class stamp to 73 cents, the USPS should raise the rate for junk mail to $73 per ounce. 

Not only would eliminating junk mail reduce the amount of mail handled by the USPS a hundredfold and reduce the amount of junk mail being sent to landfills a hundredfold, but also eliminating junk mail would be a great service to the American people. 

A hundredfold decrease in junk mail would allow you to chainsaw USPS staff AND reduce the cost of a first class stamp to a more reasonable 25 cents.

Talk about win-win!

Sincerely,

(your name)

cc Donald Trump, White House, Washington, DC

https://flickr.com/photos/stephenvandyke/96983232

attribution: Stephen VanDyke and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

PEretiredAD

Take a look at my new blog: peretiredad.blogspot.com

AD may be the worst assault on customers yet.

fundraisers in pubic schools

My wife and I are old timers. I'm in my late 70s and my wife isn't far behind. As a kid I went to private schools and my wife went to public schools. Many of my friends went to public schools.

In private grade school we sold magazine subscriptions for fundraisers. I didn't particularly like hawking magazine subscriptions door-to-door, but I did what I had to do. My friends in public school didn't hawk magazine subscriptions door-to-door and their parents didn't have to pay tuition like my parents did. Their parents (and my parents) paid taxes for their children's public education.

It began when our four kids went to public school. First it was for supplies--paper, glue, crayons, etc. They were even required to bring rolls of toilet paper to school.

Today we got an email from our grandson saying that he was helping our granddaughter raise funds for a "fun run" to remodel and buy new furniture for her classroom. Contributors were encouraged to pledge $$$ per lap. My granddaughter's goal (she's in kindergarten) is $360!!!

WHOA!!! In this state (and many others, I suspect) public schools are typically the responsibility of local government. One would think that includes school remodeling and furniture.

The fundraiser is very sophisticated. It looks like it was put together by a professional fundraiser/snake oil vendor.

What's this world coming to?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/howardlake/3698848347/

attribution: Howard Lake and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

brutal cold, heat pump and space heaters

The cold weather has been brutal. 

In 2017 my wife and I bought a new, relatively small home with a heat pump. It's our first experience with a heat pump. The problems are:

1. the fan unit is located just on the other side of our bedroom window. It's noisy.
2. the thermostat is located in a hallway towards the back of the house. When we set it to 70 degrees, it's 70 degrees in the hallway and colder everywhere else.
3. The heat pump itself is located in a utility room that is accessed from the garage which is located inside the perimeter walls of the house. The heated air from the heat pump is transmitted by ducts located in the crawl space under the house. When it's brutally cold, by the time the "heated" air reaches the back of the house it's barely warm--and that's with "auxiliary heat" from the heat pump (electrically heated coils similar to a space heater).

To solve problems 2 and 3 I bought two space heaters (dr. heater)--one for the front of the house and the other for the back. With them the heat from the space heaters goes directly to the spaces where the extra heat is needed. No more expensive, barely warm "auxiliary heat" from the heat pump. I save a little money by paying less for the direct heat from the space heaters than paying for the barely warm "auxiliary heat" from the heat pump.

Stay warm! (and pay a little less)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cold_day_in_Lagarelhos,_Vinhais.jpg

attribution: Lagarelhos Vinhais via Wikimedia Commons

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

phone tracking

Recently, there was a push by some apps on my phone to activate GPS tracking. The weather app stopped showing my little town as my location opting to show another nearby town instead. Merlin says "Location is essential for bird ID. For Merlin to work properly, location services must be enabled." BS! What difference does a few meters make? or for that matter, what difference does a mile make? it's a small town.

I'm sure that the weather app and Merlin people have many reasons why I should turn on GPS tracking on my phone. I have two good reasons NOT to: PRIVACY and SECURITY. My wife and I are retired. She's the ONLY person who needs to know where I am 24/7, and vice versa. 

I no longer use Merlin because of their ridiculous demand that I activate GPS tracking. 

PS I also ceased my monthly contributions to Merlin.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indoor_location_services_on_mobile_phone_(10928087126).jpg

attribution: Intel Free Press, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Food Lion - recalled carrots

ATTENTION FOOD LION SHOPPERS!!!

https://www.grimmwaycarrots.com/status-history/?id=1102 

note the yellow banner at the top:

UPDATE 11/21/2024: GRIMMWAY FARMS EXPANDS RECALL DUE TO POTENTIAL E COLI CONTAMINATION

Why haven't recalled Grimmway Farms carrots been removed from Food Lion's shelves???

answer: Talk is cheap. It's easy to say that you're the best. Being the best requires commitment and hard work. Many "talk the talk", but few "walk the walk".

 

KIMECO

another botched delivery from Amazon Prime to add to:

• https://customertalk.blogspot.com/2023/10/balneolamazon.html
  
• https://customertalk.blogspot.com/2023/07/chatting-with-amazon.html

This delivery almost made it inside the house when we heard a CLUNK and saw the Amazon delivery guy driving away.

What makes this one unique is note at the bottom of the packing slip:

the tuna that we ordered was not the tuna that we received. It was also damaged. On the packing slip Kimeco stated that if there are problems with your order, then contact Kimeco directly and they will resolve them. We contacted Kimeco as requested. Kimeco didn't resolve the problems.

Kimeco "talks the talk", but they don't "walk the walk".

health care: drug companies, health care conglomerates, doctors, PLLCs, etc.

Health care in the USA is BIG business.  It's also a mess. 

Have you ever wondered about all of the prescription drug commercials on television (also insurance, automobiles, trucks, etc.)? Why are some prescription drugs so expensive (thousands of dollars per month)? Where does all of the money for these expensive tv commercials come from? From drug companies. Besides the tv commercials are we paying for kickbacks to doctors too? 

Everyone (including us) has their stories about their health care suppliers. Ours is too long to tell. However, I'll share a couple of things with you that we've learned. 

First, check out the google review and individual ratings (available through google maps) for your health care provider. Start from the bottom. High ratings may come from family or friends. The lowest google rating is 1. The highest is 5. Some health care providers have incredibly low google ratings (3 or below). 

Second, if your doctor is a PLLC or PLC, take a few moments to look up PLLC on the internet. Professional Limited Liability Companies are great for the doctor, but may not be so great for the doctor's patients or employees. Limited liability may mean that feedback from your doctor will be limited, including testing results, feedback from appointments, unanswered phone calls, etc. 

 

In short, much of today's health care business doesn't pass the smell test.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135213460@N06/21473796202/in/photolist-5LNL8c-5uvhEc-hN1djZ-5Sqz9E-oWpjmC-8hqSWY-6hz4pa-iFiov3-c5aijs-KzfYk-fwJWW8-oQVhc6-oQV7tm-4YfsC4-oQWpQk-oQVKjd-LqUe-p8onb9-4N6YBr-KzfYi-5JhY7H-Q58Tt-5uvi7X-88biBa-4XJsz3-7NxQCw-5uzDTU-22jqDM-w55JD-yHyPty

attribution: mmntz and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

HOLTER heart monitor

My wife and I are in our mid seventies. Recently she was prescribed a heart monitor to wear for 30 days. It's hard for me to imagine how other folks in their mid seventies have the physical strength and determination to use this monitor.

The heart monitor includes a sensor and a telephone monitor. Each have batteries that must be recharged. It came with six patches that hold the sensor in place. The patches have to be removed and replaced when the sensor battery is low. Removing the sensor from the cradle on the patch requires both physical strength and determination.

The patches must be positioned precisely on the patient's chest. The adhesive is like gorilla glue. We went through three of the six patches (and two calls to help) before the monitor worked properly. Each time that the patch was replaced it removed another layer of skin. An area about the size of her hand was both red and sore.

Even then the sensor didn't work properly until I used an ace bandage to apply continuous pressure on the sensor. 

I pity those who are in their seventies whose doctor prescribes one of these heart monitors. Setting it up, getting it to work properly, and changing the patches so that the sensor battery can be recharged is an immense challenge.

more problems with AARP/UHC medicare supplemental insurance

Ever since United Healthcare (UHC) switched payment for our (husband and wife) AARP/UHC supplemental medicare insurance from payment coupons to online, there have been problems paying our premiums. Today's problem is the link, "UHC", on each of our online accounts on healthsafe-id.com, doesn't show up. We tried calling the help number. We couldn't understand the help person ("Claire") because of her heavy accent. 

Could this have something to do with it?

https://apnews.com/article/tech-outage-crowdstrike-microsoft-windows-7294e6c9356050cb095dad3353e9244c

Is there anyone in the world whose "secure" private information hasn't been compromised by "secure" data websites? here's just the latest example:

https://apnews.com/article/att-data-breach-text-cell-b5cdc8d6c9e1b980cb2163f34b297dad

it's a mess.

Apparently UHC, AT&T, CrowdStrike, etc. haven't learned: 

"IF IT AIN'T BROKE, THEN DON'T FIX IT!"

 

stupid dryer vent, stupid Alan Toothman

Clothes dryers have exhaust air vents that must be vented to the outside. In most houses the vent is located near an exterior wall. NOT in this house. The laundry room is located in the interior of the house with the dryer vent some 15 feet from an outside wall. ABSOLUTELY unmaintainable for the average homeowner. 

Builder Alan Toothman needs a middle school science refresher class.

Thanks, Alan Toothman.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zenzoidman/3332708054

attribution: Samurai Appliance Repair Man and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Valley Health, Medicare, AARP/UnitedHealthCare Medicare Supplemental Insurance

I take prescription drugs for high blood pressure and cholesterol. I've been taking them for years. Each year I make a routine appointment with my doctor to get my prescriptions renewed. This year's was two months ago. During my 30 minute appointment I saw the doctor for less than 10 minutes.

A few days ago I received a message from Valley Health that appeared on their MyChart website saying that I owed them $240. This was a first.

I sent Valley Health the following message:

MyChart shows that I owe $240. as follows:

billed $359.,

insurance covered -$119,

balance $240.

 

Does the $119. "insurance covered" include both Medicare Parts A and B and my AARP/UnitedHealthcare Medicare Supplement insurance?

 

Please explain.

Thank you.

PS Part of the problem was because the claim wasn't showing up on UnitedHealthCare's website. Finally, after TWO MONTHS I received a copy of the claim in the mail.

I received the following MyChart response from Valley Health:

"Thank you for contacting Valley Health. We charged you $359.00 but Medicare said that we should have charged you $417.01. of the $417.01 Medicare paid $153.21 and applied $240.00 towards your deductible and then Medicare applied $23.80 towards your coinsurance.

Then your secondary paid the coinsurance of $23.80 but they do not pay your Medicare deductible so that is why you had a balance of $240.00. Please let us know if you have additional questions. Thank you"

WHAT?!?  

Medicare is a government program connected with Social Security. We paid into Social Security and Medicare with payroll taxes during our working years. Since when does Medicare tell a Medicare recipient's doctor that he should charge MORE for his services? Since when did Medicare become an advocate for the healthcare business? Why isn't Medicare advocating Medicare recipients?

TALK ABOUT THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG!!!

This being an election year we're hearing a LOT about inflation. Most of it is about low-ticket items--like gas, groceries, etc. 

What you DON'T hear about is HIGH ticket items like taxes, housing, transportation and medical care. 

That's because the tail is wagging the dog.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/richmondspca/10725295086

attribution: Richmond SPCA and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

government's calculations for inflation (CPI) are flawed

"The CPI represents changes in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households. User fees (such as water and sewer service) and sales and excise taxes paid by the consumer are also included. Income taxes and investment items (like stocks, bonds, and life insurance) are not included."

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/overview.htm

https://www.marketplace.org/2021/11/22/whats-included-in-the-consumer-price-index-and-what-isnt/

There you have it. the CPI only includes "out-of-pockets". Big ticket items like federal and state income taxes, state and local property taxes, healthcare costs (including prescription drugs), education costs, etc. aren't included. 

why? 

Mark Twain said it all: "Figures don't lie, but liars figure." 

https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2010/Murphygovernmentcosts.html

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_twain2.JPG

public domain via wikimedia commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Public_domain

Walmart Pharmacy and GoodRx

I'm retired. I have Medicare Parts A & B and supplemental insurance. I don't have prescription insurance. 

I live in Strasburg VA where there's a Walgreen's and a locally owned pharmacy. 

I take three prescription drugs for blood pressure and one for cholesterol. Last December I paid $144.66 (using GoodRx) for a 90 day supply from Walgreen's. 

I switched to Walmart Pharmacy. Yesterday I paid $70.14 (using GoodRx) for a 90 day supply for the same four medicines at Walmart. 

LESS THAT HALF!!!

Needless to say, I'm glad that I switched to Walmart Pharmacy. Thank you, Walmart Pharmacy and GoodRx. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/walmart3/12331640945

attribution: Random Retail and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Shentel

Dear Shentel,

Don't you think that it's a bit arrogant of you (the vendor) to be telling us (the customer) that our modem must be replaced? and that if we don't rent one from you that "you (we) will be responsible for purchasing a new modem"? What if we don't want to purchase a new modem? or rent one from you? what if we don't have a problem with our internet speed?

Maybe it's time for us to switch to Comcast.

Sincerely,

Jenny and Ray Koenig 

collusion between the IRS and USPS?

My wife and I have prepared and filed our taxes for all of our married years--we've been married for 57 years.

The IRS has made it well known that they prefer tax returns submitted electronically. Returns prepared by taxpayers and mailed to the IRS go to the bottom of IRS's processing stack. 

As with past years we sent our tax 2023 tax return to the IRS via certified mail. The USPS receipt indicated that it was mailed on March 4 and would be delivered to the IRS in Kansas City, MO in four days. Since March 8 the same lame excuse has appeared on the USPS website: "Moving Through Network, in Transit to Next Facility, March 8, 2024 ... Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility." 

Something doesn't smell right. Is the USPS colluding with the IRS to hold taxpayer prepared tax returns?

That's how it looks to us.

https://live.staticflickr.com/722/21473796202_c3076cb3ea_b.jpg

attribution: mmntz and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

inflation and prescription drug prices in 2023/WALGREENS

There's been much talk by the government and in the media about inflation in 2023. Much of it has been about gas and food prices. I did an analysis (by quarter) of the price of my prescriptions from our local Walgreen's in 2023.

DATE NAME NUMBER WALGREEN PRICE DIFF DIFF CARD

3/23/23 HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE (HCZ), 12.5mg 322565 $8.53 - - SINGLECARE

3/23/23 LISINOPRIL, 20mg 342594 $15.39 - - GOODRX

3/23/23 ATORVASTATIN, 40mg 342594 $53.95 - - GOODRX

3/23/23 AMLODIPINE, 2.5mg 342593 $34.80 - - SINGLECARE

3/23/23 TOTAL $112.67 - -

6/25/23 AMLODIPINE, 2.5mg 342593 $43.16 $8.36 24% SINGLECARE

6/25/23 LISINOPRIL, 20mg 342594 $15.39 $0.00 0% GOODRX

6/25/23 HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE (HCZ), 12.5mg 322565 $11.67 $3.14 37% SINGLECARE

6/25/23 ATORVASTATIN, 40mg 342594 $53.95 $0.00 0% GOODRX

6/25/23 TOTAL $124.17 $11.50 10%

9/21/23 ATORVASTATIN, 40mg 342594 $33.31 -$9.85 -18% GOODRX

9/21/23 HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE (HCZ), 12.5mg 322565 $16.44 $4.77 41% SINGLECARE

9/21/23 LISINOPRIL, 20mg 342594 $25.39 $10.00 65% GOODRX

9/21/23 AMLODIPINE, 2.5mg 342593 $44.59 $1.43 3% SINGLECARE

9/21/23 TOTAL $119.73 -$4.44 -4%

12/18/23 AMLODIPINE, 2.5mg 342593 $43.37 -$1.22 -3% SINGLECARE

12/18/23 LISINOPRIL, 20mg 342594 $31.91 $6.52 26% GOODRX

12/18/23 HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE (HCZ), 12.5mg 322565 $15.13 -$1.31 -8% SINGLECARE

12/18/23 ATORVASTATIN, 40mg 342594 $54.25 $20.94 63% GOODRX

12/18/23 TOTAL $144.66 $24.93 21%

1st QUARTER $112.67

4th QUARTER $144.66

INCREASE $31.99 28%

The SAME 4 prescription medicines increased from $112.67 in March to $144.66 in December--+$31.99 (+28%)!!! In the last quarter alone, the price of Atorvastatin rose a whopping +$20.94 (63%) from $33.31 to $54.25--IN JUST 3 MONTHS!!!! 

Another area of double-digit inflation is taxes. But, you never hear the media or the government talking about double-digit increases in local taxes and assessments. They'd rather talk about the gas and food prices.

According to the Biden administration inflation is under control. 

YEAH, RIGHT!!!

Balneol/Amazon

Recently I received an order that I placed with Amazon for three 3-oz. containers of Balneol lotion. The containers were in a sealed envelope that was leaking inside a small sealed box. The sealed box also contained two large plastic bubbles, one of which was deflated. When I opened the leaking bag, a large amount of the product had leaked out of the containers. WHAT A MESS!!!

Balneol used to come in containers with leakproof caps. Besides being leakproof, the smaller hole for dispensing the product was easier with the old caps. 

There's an old saying: "If it ain't broke, then don't fix it."

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SMirC-thumbsdown.svg

attribution: Cäsium137 (T.)Template from chris, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Later we got a threatening email from Amazon--an email that you can't reply to. The email threatened to charge our credit card for not returning the Balneol mess! RETURN IT?!? We told the Amazon representative that Balneol had leaked from all three containers and was unusable and nonreturnable!!!

Amazon made it impossible to talk with an Amazon employee about this problem. Why? Because it's a scam! Amazon doesn't want to hear about their and their suppliers screw-ups! They'd rather have the customer pay for them!!! as if Jeff Bezos doesn't have enough $$$$$!!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos

I was able to send the following message:

Amazon,

I received an email from you (11/28/23, 2:48 PM) threatening to charge our credit card for not returning an order that was damaged so severely as to make it unusable and nonreturnable.

When we opened the delivery box that contained the Balneol, it had leaked from all 3 containers and from the leaking plastic envelope that they were in. one of the two bubble packaging cells was punctured. One corner of the delivery box was crushed.

We told Amazon's representative that the mess was unusable and nonreturnable. We cleaned up the mess and disposed of it.

Now, Amazon is threatening to charge us for the mess??? This is outrageous! Amazon and/or your supplier, epharmastore, should give us a credit for having to clean up the mess.

So, who’s responsible for the mess? not us. We didn’t package the Balneol for delivery. We didn’t place the bottles in a plastic envelope without packaging around them to protect them. We didn’t cause the tops on the Balneol containers to leak. It was obvious when we opened the plastic envelope that the tops had become loose and leaked Balneol in and through the plastic envelope.

we're not the only ones. If you check the reviews for this item on your website under "bottles and they leaked" you'll see many. Unfortunately, we didn't see these reviews until AFTER we received the mess. Also, we have a photo of the mess on our phone but were unable to attach it. we're more than happy to send it to you if you can tell us how to do so.

Why is it so difficult to get this resolved? Why can’t Amazon’s customers speak to a live Amazon employee to resolve problems?

We resent your threat to charge our credit card for a product that was so severely damaged when it was delivered as to make it unusable and nonreturnable.

Sincerely,

 

On their form Amazon asked "How likely is it that you would recommend Amazon to a family member or a friend?"

Our answer: 0% 

******************************************

Amazon charged our credit card. Lesson learned. We know now how amazon treats their customers. We won't be doing business with amazon anymore. 

We know now that amazon doesn't give a rip about its customers. That's why you can't discuss problems with a person at amazon. Robots make for poor customer service. 

Jeff Bezos has more money than dirt. He doesn't give a rip that amazon has lost us as customers. He doesn't give a rip that customers have no recourse with amazon's "my-way-or-the-highway" rules.

Adios amazon.

"chatting" with Amazon

For most of my 76 years I've lived in populated suburbs. That changed when we moved to Strasburg, VA. Strasburg is rural. Not as many people, stores, etc. We do a fair amount of on-line shopping. 

On June 28 we placed an order with Amazon for a king-sized bag of pistachios. On July 3 we found this:

Today, July 11, I "chatted" with "Jane" at Amazon. 

The word "chat" has a different meaning today than when I was a kid. Then, "chat" meant "TALK in a friendly and informal way". I didn't TALK with "Jane" at Amazon today and "Jane" didn't TALK with me. For all I know, I was messaging with a computer.

The outcome of my "chat" with "Jane" is that my "replacement" bag of pistachios (for the bag that we never received) is supposed to arrive sometime between July 15 and July 19. I'm not holding my breath.

If in fact we do get the bag of pistachios when "Jane" from Amazon says that we will, then it will be almost ONE MONTH since we placed the order.

Talk is cheap--it's easy to say that you're the best. Being the best requires doing what you promise your customers that you're going to do.

Amazon talks the talk. But, Amazon doesn't walk the walk.