Question(s) of the Week ...

Part I: If an advertisement is more than half disclaimer, is it really an effective ad?

Part II: If an advertisement is more than half disclaimer, should you buy the product?

Part III: If an advertisement is more than half disclaimer, what has the world come to?

And the ad that prompted it all.
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Addendum: So, I seem to be having a blog identity crisis. I've once again changed the name. I need to decide on a focus for all of this. I think then I would be more likely to post more often.

Summer Sale at CurrClick!!!

One week left for CurrClick's Back to the Beach Sale! Through June 30th, you'll find a huge selection of discounted summertime titles to choose from. Discounts up to 75% OFF! From beaches to The Beatles to biomes, from novel studies to dream diaries, you'll get unbeatable discounts on books and audio, sure to entertain and educate all through the summer - whether you're at the beach or in your own back yard!


Quick ... go now ... this is a great opportunity to pick up some great car entertainment for those summer trips!!

When news isn't really news ... and when it SHOULD be.

So, I was perusing the "news" on Yahoo! today. First I was confronted with a ridiculous video showing people ostensibly popping popcorn with their cell phones. This was front-page news on Yahoo! It's bogus, folks. You can't pop popcorn, boil eggs or your brains with cell phones. I won't argue the fact that cell phones can damage your brains in other ways, but that's another blog post. I'll just leave it at: You're driving a $40,000 car; get a headset, stupid.

As I continued my journey through Yahoo! "news," I actually ran across an item that was buried in Health headlines. It's an item that hits close to home.

My 13-year-old son wears a prosthesis. He's had it for about 3 years now. He's had to have a number of adjustments, he's outgrown a knee or two, and they're still trying to find that "perfect" knee for him so that he can go run around with the Boy Scouts without wiping out every 15 mins or so as he navigates uneven ground.

Last year, the prosthetist decided that it was time to upgrade his leg and also see if they could get him into a microprocessor knee. This would provide him with more stability and a more even gait. So, they contacted the insurance company to precertify the work. I'll spare you the details, but I'll summarize by saying that after about 6 months, a LOT of research and writing on my part, many, many phone calls -- we're talking HOURS and HOURs of phone calls here -- I was finally able to get them to agree that the socket he'd already been wearing for 2 years (and that was fully funded by our previous insurer) was NOT experimental and they should pay for it in full. This didn't even guarantee that the rest of the leg would be covered ... someone there at the insurance company saw the type of socket he had, and they decided they would latch on to THAT as a way to avoid paying.

Then we had to clear the hurdle of convincing them that, yes, a growing, preadolescent boy would, indeed, need a new prosthesis more often than every 5 years -- one of the limitations set by our policy.

So, finally, I was able to convince the insurance folks that we weren't trying to rip them off by getting him the most functional leg we could. About 2 months or so later, I got the Explanation of Benefits. They paid for 100% of two components leaving us with a bill of about $14,000 to pay out of our pockets.

Again, I was faced with at least one more phone call to the insurance company. Fortunately, I had found a woman there who took up our cause back when the first battle started. I called her first when I got this EOB. She directed me to the correct individual, and we were able to resolve this problem rather quickly.

Fortunately, I am allowed the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom. That doesn't mean I don't have other things to do with my time. I homeschool both children, ferry the boy back and forth to the cancer center for treatments (2-hour round trip), make at least one trip a month to the prothetist (3-hour round trip), among other various and sundry things that must be attended to. My point is that what if I had a full-time job? When in the world would I have found the time to fight this battle? It's ridiculous, and no amputee should have to put up with it.

So, here is a news item I'd like you to read: Amputees fight caps in coverage for prosthetics. It's about a woman who wasn't getting insurance coverage for her own prosthesis. I would appreciate it if you would go out there and click a couple of times to rank that article as a 5-star article, and then "Buzz it up" on Yahoo! Maybe then, something IMPORTANT will become top news on Yahoo! instead of the sensationalized fiction their editors are so fond of pushing. I know it's not much, but I would really, really like to see this issue be more visible!! And thank you for your help!