on government employment

[flea]

Yesterday, among other first-day-at-new-job rigamaroles, mr. flea had to go to a police station and be fingerprinted. He also was informed that he cannot put a presidential campaign bumper sticker on a vehicle he brings to work, since he is employed by the Executive Branch. It appears he may demonstrate partisanship at home and off the clock. I asked if he could display a bumper sticker supporting a senatorial campaign (for example), and he was uncertain. Luckily we are not bumper sticker people.

He also had to swear, aloud, that he was not a terrorist and would support the US government. I had to swear a loyalty oath to the state of Georgia, stating that I would not attempt to overthrow the government (or the federal government for good measure), but I just had to sign a document and get it notarized, not swear aloud. Those federales are hard core.

This week the urgent task is to decide on a health insurance plan. I have 5 choices available to me at work, and mr. flea has at least 8 (some of which are national, and some of which are local.) I have no idea how to decide among them; even eliminating the outliers (high-deductible health savings, boutique packages) it's hard to compare them all. Many seem very much alike, but then the costs are strikingly different, and why?, who knows. Ah, single-payer coverage, how I wish for you!

And then, dental. Ugh.

Comments

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

I expect that Consumer Reports and so on have statistics on which health insurance claims department are the least evil, i.e. less likely to disallow a claim just to see if it will save them money in the long run. Worth talking to some coworkers to see if they've had particular trouble, too.

[fatoudust.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well, there go your plans to overthrow Georgia and sell it to the highest bidder.

The SO visits the Apache prison and they still haven't asked his name. But we have to get fingerprinted and background checked to work at the Apache high school.

[smonsterbite.livejournal.com]

He also had to swear, aloud, that he was not a terrorist and would support the US government.

I had to do that in Peace Corps. When we first saw the oath, we cracked a lot of jokes about missing the M-16 training and such. I was also not supposed to express political opinions, though I did to my friends.

Good luck choosing the best insurance! My Loony switched us all to PPO, grrr...

[loligo.livejournal.com]

U.S. News has extensive ratings of various health plans here.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Fascinatingly, it takes down to #26 before you get to a plan with coverage below the Mason-Dixon line, and most of the top ones are in New England. Ya think the state regulatory environment has an effect on quality? Alas, everything in GA is low down.

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Funny how that works, huh? And now MA has MANDATORY universal coverage, which may skew things even more.

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

Could you ask any of your coworkers about the various plans? They might help you weed out the ones that are only accepted by that one, 87 year old doctor who still prescribes Dr. Brown's tonics for the megrims and yaws.

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking checking with anyone cool about whatever-sympathetic doctors would be a good thing; also watch out for convenient doctors. We chose D's plan that allowed us to go to our normal doctor, two blocks from our house, and she's cool with delaying shots, knowledgeable about breastfeeding, and they've always cut me slack. OTOH, they only have the one dental policy, and the only dentist who accepted new patients is a psychobitch.

So good luck with that.

[gingerk.livejournal.com]

The good news: I'm in Georgia's top-rated plan. The bad news: It's still 53rd.