Rheumatoid Arthritis? Expensive Drugs? Check Out an HSA and CuraScript.

CuraScript and the Care Program at Central Reserve Life

My ideal service experience in the health care maze occurred with a company called CuraScript. CuraScript facilitates the timely distribution of expensive, high-end biological drugs used by patients with chronic illness.

One such drug is a “wonder drug” called Enbrel which I have been taking for rheumatoid arthritis. Getting Enbrel in a timely manner has been an expensive and often frustrating experience.

Enbrel costs $1570+ per month. With a 20% co-pay (if you're lucky) the payment is still $350 a month for just one prescripthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifion. To cut costs, I went into an HSA (Health Savings Account)a few years ago - a great money saver for chronic, expensive disease like mine where meeting a $2500 year deductible is a breeze. With co-pays my insurance out-of-pocket ran around $6000 A YEAR.

With an HSA, at 100% coverage once the deductible is met (I have a great employer), I am saving thousands of dollars a year, but there's one catch: I have to pay out-of-pocket for the prescription at the pharmacy, send in a receipt and wait for reimbursement before I can buy the next month's script.

For the first year the program of reimbursement worked well, but then my provider, CRL insurance company, switched to a new expediter to reimburse prescription claims. Since December, 2006, I have had constant hassles with poor service, suspect record keeping, and, more importantly, I have had to go weeks with no Enbrel as I awaited my reimbursement.

Normally I would be taking injections twice a week, but that may be more than you’re comfortable knowing about me. With that in mind, I won't even get into the many screw-ups at Walgreens!! (If you pay $1500 for a drug, you expect it to be ready for you as promised, especially when you're going on a long trip, right?)

Finally, in early June of 2007, along came a phone call from a RN with the Extra Care Program at CRL (Central Reserve Life). Somebody at the insurance company, after my constant calls from December through May was on the ball at least and hooked me up with a nurse manager named Jan H.

Maybe it was due in part to my threat to post an article with the headline, “Why Is My Insurance Company Killing Me?”

Jan was great. What a doll. For the first time in 20 years someone showed an interest in making sure I got top service and dependable service.

Jan became my conduit to CuraScript, an independent expediter of high-end biologics. For 3 months now, like clock work, Curascript gives ME a call when it’s time for a prescription refill.

I jokingly say that they treat me like the Queen of England. The day following the call, Enbrel is delivered to my waiting hands, all packed with ice and ready to use.

The best part? Curascript bills the insurance company directly.

With over 2,500 team members, CuraScript is based in Orlando, Fla. It has a network of satellite distribution pharmacies which makes the operation very efficient.

Curascript does not handle regular scripts, unfortunately. For more detail, however, please visit their website at www.curascript.com where you can investigate services in detail.

For now, I’m thankful someone out there formed the Extra Care Program at CRL. And I’m equally impressed and pleased that some savvy businessman saw the need for a company like CuraScript. It is clear, from the top down, that CuraScript has a mandate based on exceptional service and care, knowing their clients had enough to deal with.

According to its mission statement, “At CuraScript, we are dedicated to the delivery of extraordinary care, one patient at a time. Providing affordable, high quality care for complex chronic conditions requires cooperation among many healthcare experts. CuraScript offers a broad range of services for physicians, health plan sponsors, and pharmaceutical manufacturers to support the delivery of that care.

“Committed to our core values of compassion, integrity and quality, we measure our success through healthy outcomes, satisfied clients and clarity of vision to support the hundreds of new life-changing biopharmaceutical drugs that will help patients in the decades to come.”

Curascript does not handle regular scripts, I don’t think. I guess that would be too much to ask for in this age of drive-thru pills.

For now, I’m thankful someone out there formed the Extra Care Program at CRL. And I’m equally impressed and pleased that some savvy businessman saw the need for a company like CuraScript. It is clear, from the top down, that CuraScript has a mandate based on exceptional service and care, knowing their clients have enough to deal with.

I have no vested interest in CuraScript, but it is the kind of company that probably makes its employees feel very proud. Sometimes that kind of pride and dedication to excellence is evident even over the phone as you speak to a faceless, yet caring and professional someone at the other end of the line.

John Mellencamp, Chevrolet and that Ubiquitous Silverado Ad

John Mellencamp is a thoughtful spokesman for real America, But enough with the ad!

As a person in the music industry and a long-time follower of John Mellencamp's career, I sucked in a gasp of astonishment when I heard the first series of :30 and :60 spots for the Chevy Silverado commercials last year. On first listen, I thought it was a Mellencampesque rip-off; there was a time in the 80's when Mellencamp would never have "sold out" to an advertising company. On the other hand, when Bob Dylan started appearing in TV ads, I guess the cheese quotient morphed into "cool" almost overnight.

And it seems the Mellencamp Silverado ode will be with us for the foreseeable future. The previous Silverado ad campaign lasted over a decade.

Mellencamp commented recently that if the ad helps sell American trucks and thus re-employ disenfranchised American workers he's all for it. Judging from the saturation-level of his Silverado commercial, one expects he has single-handedly raised employment by US automakers a full five percent. I would like to know, however, whether all those Silverado bumpers and beds are all made in the USA, God bless it.

My guess is that Mellencamp, who lives in Seymour, Indiana, is no fan of Bushanomics. Unfortunately the flag-waving patina of the Silverado commercials leads one to believe he is an Indiana Red-Stater through and through. Then there's that $185 million plus Silverado advertising budget. Nice chunk of change for John. How much will go to charity? To be fair, quite a bit, since John Mellencamp has been a deep-pockets giver in the past.

But is Mellencamp a Republican? Not so, of course. Those in Indiana who know Mellencamp well have little doubt that he's a fan of the working class and the disenfranchised. And he's a good ol' rich liberal.

Funny how the Republican party has co-opted the working class, convincing many of them to vote against their own interests. Seemingly, it's all too easy. Drag out a tear-jerk tale, a schmaltzsy ending or a jingoistic song and you are guaranteed to bring moisty sparkle to the eyes of those dutiful followers of uniforms and patriotic buzz words lightly disguised as the Republican base. (To be sure, the Democratic working man has some explaining to do about the misuse of union funds, but that might ruin the point of Mellencamp's song.)

In former songs, Mellencamp has artfully warned of the pitfalls of lemming-ism. "Pink Houses" is no ode to the virtues of conformity. When John sings, "Ain't that America," it is done with a sigh of regret, rather than praise. I often think of the Tim Burton visuals in "Edward Scissorhands." His town of sparkling pink houses, blue and yellow pastel houses, all brimming with vapid suburban sterotypes goes scissored-glove-in-hand with Mellencamp's intent in "Pink Houses." Perhaps Tim Burton was a fan at one time of the young John Cougar, that fellow who once swore he would never lend his music to a commercial.

But we're all entitled to change our mind. That is one thing that does make America great. Sure, sometimes, as with the Bush years (seems like a century already), our leaders favor black and white simplicity, stubborn resolve, cowboy confidence and all those dangerous goodies of Imperialism.

Fortunately, as a nation, our collective sense takes hold and we self-correct, sliding comfortably into that gray area where flip-flopping can be viewed as prudent reflection and changing your mind might mean you have clomped on to useful new knowledge that has made you a more enlightened person.

Don't expect to see that enlightenment beacon rotating over the White House anytime soon (1- 1/2 years and counting), but the country is coming around. It always does.

As we slog through the swamp of Bush waste product grunted out by the miltary-industrial complex, we listen to the lyrics of the Silverado commercial:

"I can stand beside ideas I think are right. I can stand beside the idea to stand and fight. I do believe there's a dream for everyone. This is our country."

As we listen, we interpret meaning based on personal slant and bias where Republican and Democrat alike stake claim to "the truth." It would be almost funny except that countries fight wars over such slogans.

What exactly is being sold in the Silverado commercial? Who knows? Maybe someday we'll all be driving Silverados reinforced with plating to protect against IED's on the way to the corner pantry.


One thing's for sure - if we want to watch NFL football, we'd better cozy up to the ad.

'Mile-wide UFO' Spotted by an Airline Pilot

The summer of 1947 provided two seminal moments in UFO lore. The June 24th sightings of "flying saucers" near Mt. Rainier in Washington State by well-known businessman/pilot Kenneth Arnold and the subsequent reports of a July 2nd UFO mishap in Roswell, New Mexico.

Fittingly, on the sixty (60) year anniversary of the summer of UFO's, the wire services are atwitter with the report of a 'Mile-wide UFO' spotted by a British airline pilot.

A London newspaper reports "One of the largest UFOs ever seen has been observed by the crew and passengers of an airliner over the Channel Islands.

Aurigny Airlines Captain Ray Bowyer, 50, flying close to Alderney first spotted the object, described as 'a cigar-shaped brilliant white light'."

Aurigny Airlines captain Ray Bowyer, 50, is making no claims of extra-terrestrials. "I'm certainly not saying that it was something of another world. All I'm saying is that I have never seen anything like it before in all my years of flying," he said.

Viewed through high-resolution binoculars, Bowyer's says of the UFO, "It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area.

"It was 2,000ft up and stationary. I thought it was about 10 miles away, although I later realised it was approximately 40 miles from us. At first, I thought it was the size of a [Boeing] 737.

"But it must have been much bigger because of how far away it was. It could have been as much as a mile wide."

Both passengers of the Aurigny Airlines flight and a separate pilot flying in the area confirm Bowyer's sighting.

A few weeks earlier, Pilot Magazine carried an official air-miss report on the incident.

Ufology (yoofollowgy) has become a fascinating global cottage industry. Modern day sightings (as opposed to Biblical sightings), bubbled up during WW II when military pilots began reporting mysterious globes of light toying with their planes. In the heat of battle, such "Fool-Fighter" reports, although interesting, took a back seat to fighting a known enemy.

After the war, as life settled in, UFO sightings began. Not only in Washington State, or even in Roswell, New Mexico, but all across the West and the Southwest reports poured into wire services about mysterious objects in the sky.

For those interested in further actual reports on "flying saucer" reports during the summer of 1947, check out Project 1947 on the web.

Project 1947 contains a bundle of pages with real-time newspaper reports about the "flying saucer" deluge of 1947.

For example: Portland, Oregon Daily Journal - July 2, 1947

Rankin Report Adds Credence to 'Disks'
The report of a long-time West Coast man was added today to the growing account of "flying saucers" over the west.

Richard Rankin, veteran of more than 7000 hours in the air, said he saw the much-debated mystery disks high over Bakersfield, Cal., and going "maybe 300 or 400 miles an hour."

There were 10 in formation flying north, he told the reporter, but when "they returned on the reverse course, headed south, there were only seven.

"I couldn't make out the number or location of their propellers and couldn't distinguish any wings or tail. They appeared almost round," he said.

Rankin said he saw them June 23, but hesitated to describe what he saw until he noted others were reporting the same thing.

The UFO reports were so pervasive that even as far away as Chicago, folks lined up their new aluminum lawn chairs in the backyard and spent many a summer eve scanning the heavens for mysterious lights.

For current up-to-date information on Roswell and other UFO research, try the Art Bell and George Noory website based on their highly-rated radio broadcast, "Coast to Coast A.M." heard during the wee hours by multitudes, (www.coasttocoastam.com).
UFO
For up-to-the-minute details on the current sighting by the British pilot, visit Matt Drudge at The Drudge Report. Should the E.T.'s come, there's no way Drudge won't be first with the story.

Stay tuned and keep a weather-eye on the horizon...

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

Tomorrow I have the honor (?) of leading a discussion on the novel Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. It's been over two years since I read the novel, so I'd better start digging for some fruitful insights to share with the group. I'll let you know what I find…

The usual suspects pop up in my first google foray - I find lots of reviews that are generally well-written, but generally general as well. I remember that Jitterbug Perfume was a great read, a work that fell instantly into my mental category for "real literature." Robbins is a writer to take seriously and I'd like to find some reference matter with "meat." As I search further, I find out just how seriously Robbins is taken by sharp readers.

A most resourceful sight for those wishing to study Robbins, or any other author, in depth is http://www.rain.org, a site with the heading "National Public Internet." I ran off seven (7) pages of reference material - a complete bibliography to include review links to all Robbins' novels, short stories, translations, and articles as well as personal interviews, dissertations and graduate theses.

If you haven't read any work by Tom Robbins and you are a lit lover, you must read something by this author. As for Jitterbug Perfume it will take you on a fantastic saga spanning 1000 years. The verbal painting is vivid and lasting and the quirky journey will remain with you forever.

Rain.org is a new site for me. The range of general resources on its "learning assests" site include Camp Internet on-line courses, Rural Community technology resources, live radio, video archives, telemedicine, wellness, GIS mapping, abundant homeschooling resources and National Public Internet access. Check it out. It's a good one.

Wow! Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is a dazzler. Those who know the thread of Pirates 1& 2 will marvel at plot lines that come together beautifully and, yes, coherently.

Many ivory tower pundits-as-critics appear naïve in their attempts to cleverly comment on Pirates 3. With superficial observations that perhaps come from a haphazard viewing of the film, they reveal a hollow understanding of the cinematic universe created by writers Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, director Gore Verbinski, and, of course, Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Sparrow fans will relish the fantastic Johnny Depp scenes. Even after three films, the sight of Jack Sparrow in close-up will still take the breath away. The character is as visually stunning as ever and as consistently inconsistent as the reluctant hero audiences came to love in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

The central story line based on the high seas romance of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann is heart rendering. The true ending to the saga blossoms following the credits and is indeed a gift to fans of the trilogy.

The world of Singapore is the perfect venue for the opening adventures of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. In Pirates 1, when Sparrow quips, “Clearly you’ve never been to Singapore,” he hints at a world of seamy adventure far beyond the experiences of traditional men, even sailors of the realm.

As Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest drew to a close, the audience is promised a trip to the ends of the earth and beyond, as distant from staid English culture as possible. What better jumping off point than Singapore?

The world of underground Singapore created by the filmmakers is stunning in its palpable grit and depravity, yet ethereal and haunting as well.

Hard to imagine, but the set design, graphic art, costumes, photography, lighting and music are even more arresting in Pirates 3 than in the first two films.

In Singapore, we sense how far the Jack Sparrow rescuers have come, not only in distance, but in determination as well. Both Orlando Bloom and Kieran Knightly easily sell the audience on their authentic pirate credentials. Both are appropriately gorgeous as the larger than life lovers and both bring noble, strong resolve to their performances. It is easy to imagine that they would be pirates of legend in their own right.

As to legends, a hearty welcome back to Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barossa. Rogue that he may be, Barbossa lends a stature to the story line that was missing from Pirates 2. Barbossa is an imposing presence in size and voice, much like Rush himself. He receives much credit for the success of the Pirates 1 & 3.

Much like Rush (and of course, Johnny Depp), all actors in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise come with enviable acting credibility. Bill Nighy as Davy Jones manages pathos, despite playing a psychotic, corrupt and literally heartless villain.

As Tia Dalma, Naomie Harris is both innocent and mysterious. In many ways, she speaks a charming language only she truly understands. As odd a she appears on the surface, she is much more than she seems.

And how about the parents? Unfortunately, Jonathan Pryce as Governor Swann is not on screen long, but he does appear in pivotal scenes. Likewise Stellan Skarsgård, as Will’s father, Bootstrap Bill.

The iconic newcomer to the parental ranks is Keith Richards as Jack Sparrow’s father, Captain Teague. In a brief few minutes we sense an assurance and wisdom in Teague that lends insight into the complexity and flavor of Jack. Jack’s mum has a briefer role, but it is revealing as well. Always nice to have the “folks” around.

A surly Yun-Fat Chow as smarmy pirate lord Captain Sao Feng, brings gravitas to a role that plays nicely against the feisty nature of Elizabeth Swann. His authority as a pirate lord sets the stage for the dynamic power struggle that follows.

The adventures at world’s end are a delight to discover. Thankfully the promoters and marketers of Pirates 3 did not saturate viewers in advance with give-away scenes. By the time many fans viewed Pirates 2, they had seen the bulk of the “good stuff.” Not so with Pirates 3.

Much like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, a new mythology of people and places has been born with the Pirates’ trilogies.
Although still an earth-bound fantasy, the journey in search of Jack Sparrow and the trip back are “awesome” visually, a momentous assault on the senses.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is so full of surprises that it will be a gift from the actors and filmmakers that keeps on giving and giving to the audience. Expect fans to quickly take in, at minimum, two viewings of the movie. In order for those who have not yet seen the movie, the opportunity to be surprised we will be given away in review presented here. Get to the theater soon, before too many secrets are revealed.

Finally, as for Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, that “thing” he sets out to find at the end of the film may not be necessary. Clearly, he’s already found it.

Savvy?

All That Was Good Happened YESTERDAY. Now That's a Sad Song.

"I believe in yesterday…" Clearly I'm not the only one who believes "Yesterday," by Sir Paul McCartney, is one of the greatest sad songs ever written. Many feel it is the top pop song, period, sad or otherwise. (Many statisticians who track such things list it as the most covered song of all time.)

With the Viet Nam war raising its ugly head, angst was the middle name of many a young student. When kids first heard "Yesterday" on the radio, they trotted out and bought the 45(rpm) and listened over and over to the lilting melody, the delicate string passes and heartfelt delivery of McCartney as he searched for a place to hide away.


When someone leaves your life without telling you why or saying goodbye, truly that is the harshest hit of all.

Now, I ask you, what could be sadder than thinking that all the good that has ever happened or will happen to you has happened "yesterday"

The song lyric delicately searches with a decidedly European sensibility as melancholy pervades the melody. More than speaking to a single tragic loss or event, "Yesterday" speaks to a state of mind which offers little hope.

By contrast, in her uniquely American way, Scarlett O'Hara utters those memorable lines, "After all, tomorrow is another day," at the close of Gone With the Wind. That hook line would have been a dandy title for the song on the flip side of the "Yesterday" '45. ("Act Naturally" by Ringo is on the flip side.)

I offer no judgement on which attitude serves one best in life. Looking to tomorrow is hopeful, but too often leads to expedience and tearing down of the past; remembering the best of yesterday, although sad at times, fosters reverence for beauty, art and lessons learned.

Perhaps it's best to remember that a wee bit of both is the right blend in the teapot. I expect Sir Paul is having a cuppa' right now. Cheers, Sir Paul and thanks for a great song.

HOPE IN A NUTSHELL by Keith Cymry - book review

Wit and wisdom explode from a precarious piñata of life/ death, ying/yang, good/evil, and despair/hope in Keith Cymry's novel HOPE IN A NUTSHELL. Hope, as the author neatly states, "is the golden thread from which the world swings like a pendulum hanging from the Kingdom of Heaven." The nutshell in the title? That is another matter altogether and as difficult to explain as the concept of hope.

Cymry has as much quirky "stuff" crammed between the covers of his book as Tom Robbins and John Irving do in "Jitterbug Perfume," and "World According to Garp," combined. Case in point? How about a mystical 2000-year-old walnut coated with Arizona gold, which serves as the tale's touchstone of hope as well as its center of conflict? Add the fact that the stolen medallion comes from the City of Forever, (somewhere out there), which allows the author to expertly knit together the natural and the supernatural.

With a crazy cast of mismatched characters, from the hippie hero, Uriah Freestone, who travels blue highways of Arizona and "the badlands of gnawed skulls and scattered bones known as New Mexico," to a supernatural raven named Rocker, to an occasional Ethiopian as well as an ancient Navajo pal named Laughing Puma, the action is non-stop. And an added plus is a gem of a character, the ever-slimy Sheriff Joe Garbonzo. Garbonzo is a sweet morsel of satire offered up to Cymry's fellow Arizonians who have their own Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the troll of Maricopa County, as a dangerous irritant.

As the humans who are able to save the world, Freestone and his beloved Mary Beth, nimbly straddle the universe of us and the universe of them, the gods (little "g"). (Both worlds are peopled by the sane and the insane.) In constant conflict with both the natural and unnatural worlds, Uriah and Mary Beth are tasked with ciphering clues found on the aforementioned ancient medallion encased in a golden walnut. Mary Beth has knowledge of nuts and bolts science/math while Uriah has mastery of the ancient Celtic language and all matters mystical. Their combined skills represent a symbolic blend of science and humanity. Can they solve the puzzle in the nutshell in order to save the world or might the world drift into nothingness on the proverbial Mayan doomsday of December 21, 2012? As with Arthurian legend (immeasurably updated and brushing on Pythonesque) getting to the end goal is the fun that makes the journey worth while for hero and reader alike. Parts of the journey are quirky and absurd, parts are dramatic and tense and parts are poignant and sniffley.

In recap, to reach the end game of the story, the author weaves a tender love-story into a fantasy landscape while telling a taught suspense thriller at the same time. And he does it with language that flows in many, many instances with the best contemporary word-smithing this reviewer has come across in many a magical moon. To include all the remarkably turned phrases would cheat the author of one of the prime reasons to read his novel, but as enticement, a few one-liners are shared here:

"Tequila will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no Tequila."

"Are they trick questions? Do they move when someone tries to answer them?"

"Those eyes could launch a thousand ships," he thought. "Or at least a thousand of his own tiny mariners upon some great odyssey."

"In Las Cruces are still to be found those cheap sort of motels that once dotted the main thoroughfare of every small town in America. Nowadays the few that remain cluster in cities like rotting hope."

Continuing to speak of seedy motels, Cymry refers to them tautly as "dilapidated remnants of America's greatest generation." So much for misguided jingoism.

"Free beer was always the best beer, provided it wasn't 'Milwaukee's Best.'"

And finally, to sum up some of the insanity our hero faces, the "narrator seeks to put an eye-of-newt up the arrogant nostril of a chained consumer society whose course will ultimately lead humanity to near certain bloody, chaotic rebellion, mass starvation, and the annihilation of civilization." Clearly the stakes are high.

This novel is a quick read and, because it functions on so many levels, the experience of reading it will delight any thinking person.