The only site I'll ever need...

[Richard Chuggar]

Since I'm no longer in school and do not get any kind of health insurance from either of my jobs, I'm in search of some kind of plan so I can maybe figure out how many of the ligaments in my knee are still there.  Does anybody know of any relatively affordable plans, or at least a good place to start looking for them?

Get a real job.

[Weebs]

Move to Canada.

I expected nothing helpful to come from this.  I hope I'm not disappointed.

I've had to get short-term insurance when changing jobs, and I've used Assurant.  They're affordable and will cover you in case there's some sort of disaster.  I'm not sure how much luck you'll have though if you're wanting to get MRIs or whatever for your knee.  Usually those types of plans have really high deductibles.  I had the misfortune of an emergency room visit while on short-term insurance, and I ended having to pay for almost the entire thing before insurance kicked in.

At the very least, you can check out Esurance to get an idea of what some of these plans cost and will cover.  It's not a bad starting point.

I got nailed in the eye with a softball back in August and ended up going to the emergency room.  If it weren't for the fact that my eye had nearly swollen shut, I wouldn't have cared, but I got to spend 45 minutes in the ER to the tune of $500 just to find out it couldn't be determined if anything was broken unless I spent hundreds more on a CAT scan.  I still have discoloration under my eye nearly 4 months later...and the hospital hasn't seen any of their money.  I'm guessing most short-term insurance policies won't help out until I pay some kind of ridiculous deductible.

[Ivy6]

Move to Canada.

I expected nothing helpful to come from this.  I hope I'm not disappointed.

I've had to get short-term insurance when changing jobs, and I've used Assurant.  They're affordable and will cover you in case there's some sort of disaster.  I'm not sure how much luck you'll have though if you're wanting to get MRIs or whatever for your knee.  Usually those types of plans have really high deductibles.  I had the misfortune of an emergency room visit while on short-term insurance, and I ended having to pay for almost the entire thing before insurance kicked in.

At the very least, you can check out Esurance to get an idea of what some of these plans cost and will cover.  It's not a bad starting point.

I got nailed in the eye with a softball back in August and ended up going to the emergency room.  If it weren't for the fact that my eye had nearly swollen shut, I wouldn't have cared, but I got to spend 45 minutes in the ER to the tune of $500 just to find out it couldn't be determined if anything was broken unless I spent hundreds more on a CAT scan.  I still have discoloration under my eye nearly 4 months later...and the hospital hasn't seen any of their money.  I'm guessing most short-term insurance policies won't help out until I pay some kind of ridiculous deductible.

I deal with Assurant at work and they do nice, affordable short-term stuff, but ST Major-Medical is in place more for catastrophes than they are for bumps/bruises/sniffles etc...  They're really there in case you come down with a severe illness or get hit by a car.  You won't get any preventative stuff or doctor visits on a major-medical like that. You can get it, but I'm thinking it would be in the $400/month range.

[Weebs]

Move to Canada.

I expected nothing helpful to come from this.  I hope I'm not disappointed.

I've had to get short-term insurance when changing jobs, and I've used Assurant.  They're affordable and will cover you in case there's some sort of disaster.  I'm not sure how much luck you'll have though if you're wanting to get MRIs or whatever for your knee.  Usually those types of plans have really high deductibles.  I had the misfortune of an emergency room visit while on short-term insurance, and I ended having to pay for almost the entire thing before insurance kicked in.

At the very least, you can check out Esurance to get an idea of what some of these plans cost and will cover.  It's not a bad starting point.

I got nailed in the eye with a softball back in August and ended up going to the emergency room.  If it weren't for the fact that my eye had nearly swollen shut, I wouldn't have cared, but I got to spend 45 minutes in the ER to the tune of $500 just to find out it couldn't be determined if anything was broken unless I spent hundreds more on a CAT scan.  I still have discoloration under my eye nearly 4 months later...and the hospital hasn't seen any of their money.  I'm guessing most short-term insurance policies won't help out until I pay some kind of ridiculous deductible.

I deal with Assurant at work and they do nice, affordable short-term stuff, but ST Major-Medical is in place more for catastrophes than they are for bumps/bruises/sniffles etc...  They're really there in case you come down with a severe illness or get hit by a car.  You won't get any preventative stuff or doctor visits on a major-medical like that. You can get it, but I'm thinking it would be in the $400/month range.

So if I want to look into my knee and other problems like that, I'm probably better off just going to my regular physician (or a different specialist) and paying for it out of pocket?  It seems like paying for some short-term plan would be better if I think I'll need an MRI and a number of other expensive procedures, right?  I'm sure nothing is too serious, it's just a number of aches and pains in my knees, shoulder, etc. that creep up sometimes.  I'm sure it came from playing softball about 8 times a week (would have been a lot worse if I didn't lose a bunch of weight), but I want to just be sure I'm not doing any serious damage since I'm starting to workout a lot again.

[Yeti]

Move to Canada.

I expected nothing helpful to come from this.  I hope I'm not disappointed.

I've had to get short-term insurance when changing jobs, and I've used Assurant.  They're affordable and will cover you in case there's some sort of disaster.  I'm not sure how much luck you'll have though if you're wanting to get MRIs or whatever for your knee.  Usually those types of plans have really high deductibles.  I had the misfortune of an emergency room visit while on short-term insurance, and I ended having to pay for almost the entire thing before insurance kicked in.

At the very least, you can check out Esurance to get an idea of what some of these plans cost and will cover.  It's not a bad starting point.

I got nailed in the eye with a softball back in August and ended up going to the emergency room.  If it weren't for the fact that my eye had nearly swollen shut, I wouldn't have cared, but I got to spend 45 minutes in the ER to the tune of $500 just to find out it couldn't be determined if anything was broken unless I spent hundreds more on a CAT scan.  I still have discoloration under my eye nearly 4 months later...and the hospital hasn't seen any of their money.  I'm guessing most short-term insurance policies won't help out until I pay some kind of ridiculous deductible.

Isn't that shit free these days?

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Move to Canada.

I expected nothing helpful to come from this.  I hope I'm not disappointed.

I've had to get short-term insurance when changing jobs, and I've used Assurant.  They're affordable and will cover you in case there's some sort of disaster.  I'm not sure how much luck you'll have though if you're wanting to get MRIs or whatever for your knee.  Usually those types of plans have really high deductibles.  I had the misfortune of an emergency room visit while on short-term insurance, and I ended having to pay for almost the entire thing before insurance kicked in.

At the very least, you can check out Esurance to get an idea of what some of these plans cost and will cover.  It's not a bad starting point.

I got nailed in the eye with a softball back in August and ended up going to the emergency room.  If it weren't for the fact that my eye had nearly swollen shut, I wouldn't have cared, but I got to spend 45 minutes in the ER to the tune of $500 just to find out it couldn't be determined if anything was broken unless I spent hundreds more on a CAT scan.  I still have discoloration under my eye nearly 4 months later...and the hospital hasn't seen any of their money.  I'm guessing most short-term insurance policies won't help out until I pay some kind of ridiculous deductible.

I deal with Assurant at work and they do nice, affordable short-term stuff, but ST Major-Medical is in place more for catastrophes than they are for bumps/bruises/sniffles etc...  They're really there in case you come down with a severe illness or get hit by a car.  You won't get any preventative stuff or doctor visits on a major-medical like that. You can get it, but I'm thinking it would be in the $400/month range.

So if I want to look into my knee and other problems like that, I'm probably better off just going to my regular physician (or a different specialist) and paying for it out of pocket?  It seems like paying for some short-term plan would be better if I think I'll need an MRI and a number of other expensive procedures, right?  I'm sure nothing is too serious, it's just a number of aches and pains in my knees, shoulder, etc. that creep up sometimes.  I'm sure it came from playing softball about 8 times a week (would have been a lot worse if I didn't lose a bunch of weight), but I want to just be sure I'm not doing any serious damage since I'm starting to workout a lot again.

So, you're mostly thinking about shopping around for an insurance provider to pay for diagnosis and treatment of your pre-existing conditions?

Good luck with that.

[Ivy6]

Move to Canada.

I expected nothing helpful to come from this.  I hope I'm not disappointed.

I've had to get short-term insurance when changing jobs, and I've used Assurant.  They're affordable and will cover you in case there's some sort of disaster.  I'm not sure how much luck you'll have though if you're wanting to get MRIs or whatever for your knee.  Usually those types of plans have really high deductibles.  I had the misfortune of an emergency room visit while on short-term insurance, and I ended having to pay for almost the entire thing before insurance kicked in.

At the very least, you can check out Esurance to get an idea of what some of these plans cost and will cover.  It's not a bad starting point.

I got nailed in the eye with a softball back in August and ended up going to the emergency room.  If it weren't for the fact that my eye had nearly swollen shut, I wouldn't have cared, but I got to spend 45 minutes in the ER to the tune of $500 just to find out it couldn't be determined if anything was broken unless I spent hundreds more on a CAT scan.  I still have discoloration under my eye nearly 4 months later...and the hospital hasn't seen any of their money.  I'm guessing most short-term insurance policies won't help out until I pay some kind of ridiculous deductible.

I deal with Assurant at work and they do nice, affordable short-term stuff, but ST Major-Medical is in place more for catastrophes than they are for bumps/bruises/sniffles etc...  They're really there in case you come down with a severe illness or get hit by a car.  You won't get any preventative stuff or doctor visits on a major-medical like that. You can get it, but I'm thinking it would be in the $400/month range.

So if I want to look into my knee and other problems like that, I'm probably better off just going to my regular physician (or a different specialist) and paying for it out of pocket?  It seems like paying for some short-term plan would be better if I think I'll need an MRI and a number of other expensive procedures, right?  I'm sure nothing is too serious, it's just a number of aches and pains in my knees, shoulder, etc. that creep up sometimes.  I'm sure it came from playing softball about 8 times a week (would have been a lot worse if I didn't lose a bunch of weight), but I want to just be sure I'm not doing any serious damage since I'm starting to workout a lot again.

I wouldn't advise it...they may hit you with it being a "pre-existing condition" and then you flushed your premium down the drain.  Someone may know more about this than me (i really only dabble in health) but that's my feeling.

[Saul Goodman]

Intrepid Reader: Michael Moore

Move to Canada Cuba.

[Wheezer]

It looks like a pig with a cowboy hat to me.  Kind of like this image of Porky:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B5-1oeewfB8/SbK_A6L6DwI/AAAAAAAAFXA/OVpTTI94zSA/s400/fc0156_porky_pig_00_fc.jpg

You're looking at the Kool-Aid guy, aren't you?

I'm starting to think granulated garlic, but the letters on the can keep whispering "Nestle," which has to be wrong.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

It looks like a pig with a cowboy hat to me.  Kind of like this image of Porky:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B5-1oeewfB8/SbK_A6L6DwI/AAAAAAAAFXA/OVpTTI94zSA/s400/fc0156_porky_pig_00_fc.jpg

You're looking at the Kool-Aid guy, aren't you?

I'm starting to think granulated garlic, but the letters on the can keep whispering "Nestle," which has to be wrong.

I'd trust you instincts on that count. Looks like heavy, all-caps sans serif to me...



And, though Nestle didn't change their wordmark to the current upper/lower Helvetica we now know until some point in the '70s or '80s, prior to that they displayed some pretty strong serifage...

[ChuckD]

I found the same thing re: Nestle's logo. I'm guessing it's some sort of powdered drink or food product, given the rest of the contents of the foot locker.

Possible answers
Chocolate. Maybe not hot chocolate, but something like Ovaltine, perhaps.
Coffee. Instant or otherwise
Custard powder. Since it appears to be a hen on the tin.

[JD]

Since I'm no longer in school and do not get any kind of health insurance from either of my jobs, I'm in search of some kind of plan so I can maybe figure out how many of the ligaments in my knee are still there.  Does anybody know of any relatively affordable plans, or at least a good place to start looking for them?

3

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Back to cellphones...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703757404574592530591075444.html

Google to Start Selling Own Phone Next Year

BY JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Google Inc. has designed a cellphone it plans to sell directly to consumers as soon as next year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The phone is called the Nexus One and is being manufactured for Google by HTC Corp., these people said. It runs Android, the operating system for mobile phones that Google developed, they added.

But unlike the more than half-dozen Android phones made by phone manufacturers today, Google designed virtually the entire software experience behind the phone, from the applications that run on it to the look and feel of each screen.

The Internet giant is taking a new, and potentially risky, approach to selling the device. Rather than selling the phone through a wireless carrier--the way the bulk of phones are sold in the U.S. today--Google plans to sell the Nexus One itself online. Users will have to buy cellular service for the device separately.

Google began sharing a version of the Nexus One with employees in recent days, according to several people familiar with the matter. In a blog post Saturday, Google wrote that it was sharing a new device running its Android operating system with employees to "experiment with new mobile features and capabilities."

The phone is a significant escalation of Google's assault on the mobile industry, challenging both wireless carriers that sell devices as well as companies that design them.

Google became a high-profile player in mobile two years ago, when it launched Android. Google designed the software to seed its mobile applications, such as Gmail and Google Maps, and increase usage of the Internet from phones to grow its online advertising business. A number of leading handset manufacturers, including Motorola Inc., built phones running the software, some of which contain branding "powered by Google."

But the phones--many of which just hit the market in recent months--haven't sold nearly as well as Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which is capturing more interest from software developers.

Now, Google appears to want to throw its brand behind a device more directly, designing a phone without working with the wireless carriers that often dictate what features they allow on their networks.

The move could alienate wireless carriers and handset makers that offer Android phones and do not want to compete with Google. Google has repeatedly said that its goal is to have hundreds of Android phones rather than one.

The move also marks a rare foray into direct sales for Google. With the exception of an appliance it markets as a search tool to businesses, the company hasn't sold hardware in the past.

[R-V]

Via Crain's, if you live in Cook County, you may be eligible for a small rebate on your property tax hike.

[morpheus]

Via Crain's, if you live in Cook County, you may be eligible for a small rebate on your property tax hike.

Looks like it's just for city of Chicago dwellers, unfortunately.  I also liked this quote from the Crain's story:

To make it even easier, the city's not even asking you to prove your household income. You merely have to say what it is on the city's application.