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Saturday, 17 January 2009
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I’m finally insured!
So I finally got approved for insurance. A brief overview of how I did it:
- Researched a ton of plans. Used resources like about.com and Wikipedia and a lot of other Googling to figure out what “short term” coverage exactly meant.
- I discovered that short term plans have really high deductibles (at least $500). Given the short duration of my noncoverage, I determined that my health costs were going to be significantly less than the deductible, so I’d have to cough up the money for my doctor’s visits, prescriptions, shots, etc anyways. Thus, it was more important to me to find the cheapest monthly plan with a decent coverage for big accidents.
- Then I discovered that there were daily insurance plans (i.e. if you know the exact date x days from now that you’ll get insurance again, there exist plans that cover you for those x days). They turn out to be cheaper, too, because the insurance company knows exactly how long you need coverage for and that adjusts their risk calculations.
- I called up my doctor and discovered that they weren’t in the Blue Cross network, so that ruled out a Blue Cross plan (it’s too much trouble to switch doctors right now!).
- Most of my plan research was done on ehealthinsurance.com. Why did I choose them? They had the first result on Google and their site looked reasonably trustworthy and was easy to use. No other reasons, really.
- I decided to go with the HealthNet QuickNet Daily 2000 PPO plan. I need coverage for ~90 days, and the plan had a $2000 deductible with reasonable emergency care benefits. The cost? I pay about $1.05 a day, so that turned out to be ~$90 total. Hey, that’s reasonable.
- I ran through the online application which wasn’t involving at all. You barely need any paperwork on hand to fill it out. I submitted my application in 15 minutes.
- Within two days I got a notification saying that I had been approved for the plan. Here’s a tip: check your spam folder for messages. Unsurprisingly, email with “insurance” in the subject line and body gets flagged pretty easily
- HealthNet just sent me a policy packet a few days ago, and told me to wait for my cards to arrive in the mail.
So, that’s the end to a relatively painless process. Many of you have been super helpful with some tips on short term insurance. Hopefully they’ll be of some use to you (especially you graduating seniors!):
- If you were covered under your parents’ insurance, check with their employer if there is a grace period. Thanks, Bowen!
- You can check to see if you are eligible for a COBRA plan (essentially, it extends your eligibility under the plan you used to be under). Thanks, Lena!
- Check with your alumni association to see if they offer insurance. Cal grads, CAA offers discounted insurance plans with Liberty Mutual. Thanks, Charissa!
- You can pick up part-time classes at a local community college to continue your coverage under your existing plan. Thanks, James!
- Angela and Allie recommended Blue Shield plans, Tonik in particular.
- Laura points us to the SHIP website to compare coverage plans and discover how you’ll be affected as a SHIP participant after graduation.
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Tuesday, 30 December 2008
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An update, and a question about insurance
I’ve arrived safely back in the States with a minor case of jet lag, but none worse for the wear. Look for some updated photos here or on Flickr in the near future.
Meanwhile, I realize that an additional complication of graduating means that i need health insurance (since I’m no longer a dependent under my dad’s insurance plan). Has anybody had experience purchasing insurance post-graduation? Some unique things about my situation:
- I only need insurance from January till March (3 months). I start work mid-March, so I’ll be covered by a company plan then.
- I’d like my insurance to cover: 1) my monthly asthma prescription (Asmanex) and 2) travel shots/medication (various shots, malaria pills, etc).
- The biggest risk I’m going to be taking is a trip to Botswana in February (more on that later). Should I be looking for a health plan that has additional travel risk coverage?
I’d really love your input, if you’ve any experience. Thanks!
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
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Christmas in Shanghai
See more of my Shanghai photos »I am at the clothes market on Christmas Eve, trying hard not to feel foolish. It is difficult because 1) I have terrible Mandarin abilities and 2) I’m really not that interested in buying anything. The vendors believe otherwise, convinced I’m playing games with them. “Come on,” one of them whines, playfully jabbing me in the arm, “the leather on these shoes are high quality! These are totally in fashion! Why won’t you buy it?”
One of them, upon discovering I’m from America, grabs me by the arm, “Look, it’s Christmas Eve! It’s your holiday! Let me give you a present.” She proceeds to name a price. Ouch, it’s ridiculous.
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Shanghai, my Dad decides, is a colorless city. “It’s nothing like Spain or France,” he remarks. “Look, it’s all black and grey!” Really, all we can see are winter’s clouds and pollution’s haze. Dad, toting a big digital camera and photographic aspirations to proportion, comes away a bit disappointed. The city compensates at night by wearing a neon quilt for us; its dizzying arrays of lights and colors keeping us warm.
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Christmas morning enters with a shattering roar; I hear car alarms herald the intruder’s song. Hark! The doormen shiver in their long, trench coats.
It is business as usual. People walk to and fro. Lights, signs, and brands assault the landscape and the senses. 可口可乐! NOKIA! Somebody, everybody, is shouting something, selling you something, pushing cards and flyers into your face. You learn to find shelter in a steely, forward gaze.
Somebody has broken into our neighbor’s car; we see the shattered glass as we walk out into the bitter cold. The thief has, however, overlooked a stuffed animal in the back seat.
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You should see all the plastic Santa figurines, far skinnier than the canonical Coca-Cola Santa, pale-skinned and decked out in red outerwear, on sale at the tourist markets. They wear eerie gazes, plasticky smiles, unnaturally wide grins. I’m not sure how to think about it: is Santa a jolly good fellow, spreading Christmas cheer to the East as an American ambassador? Or perhaps he’s a cultural hostage, created, altered and marketed in the image of the Chinese? Perhaps he’s the love child of globalization and free trade — born in the West, manufactured in the East and sold to both.
Whatever. All I know is I can’t look at him. He’s creepy.
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Xintiandi (新天地) means “New Heaven and Earth” in Chinese, and by the looks of it, Heaven looks like an upscale shopping mall.
Christmas, my mom says, is largely a Western holiday. “They see it as a time to go shopping.” Sounds like the West.
But what does Christmas mean to them?
Salespeople in Santa hats beckon me from tables brimming with scarves and gloves. I wonder if China’s Christmas is a caricature of Christmas in the West, or the other way around.
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She clenches her teeth and wrests her baby away from the wind’s icy clutches. She’s trapped by construction cranes and chain-link gates. The cold, the cold, she cannot escape. It bleeds through her tattered clothes, her pants are stained with soot. She cannot make eye contact, but bows even lower. Her baby, swathed in a thin jacket, is peacefully asleep.
What is this place? I cannot sleep. Maranatha.
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Friday, 19 December 2008
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A Brother Like Me
The police come knocking one day on Belinda’s father’s door, looking for Mike. “I get a call from Belinda’s daddy, saying, ‘hey Mike, the police out here looking for you. You better get yourself over there and explain yourself.’ I say, ‘I didn’t do nothing!’”
Mike and I are standing in front of the food court again. He looks haggard as he relays his story.
“They got me on jaywalking charges. You know those cameras they put up on intersections to catch red light runners? Two years ago they caught me jaywalking at 3AM across an empty intersection, no cars on either side. The other jaywalking charges they say they have on me they don’t even have evidence for! Can you believe it?!”
Mike walked into the police station to see what the fuss was all about. They told him that he’d have to pay a $400 fine, or do 40 hours of community service. Incredible.
“Look, man,” Mike is weary. “They’re looking to get me on anything they can. First it’s for sittin’ on a milk crate, or playing my boombox, and now this. You know what?” Mike lowers his voice. “They’re doing a crackdown. They’re just trying to clean up, clean this place up before the holidays.”
Every semester, the Berkeley Police rounds up the homeless in Berkeley and shuffles them out before parents picking up their students can see them. It’s just how it works.
“I got a place, this church, where I know I can do my hours. But man! I can’t believe this. And my birthday’s coming up on the 23rd, right before Christmas. Hah!”
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Wednesday, 10 December 2008
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All about, you know, life.
There are big changes on the horizon. I feel like I could expand on each of these, but I’ll just bullet point them for now. They may be entries in their own right in the future…
- Now that Annie, Esther and I have all graduated, my parents have moved to Shanghai (my dad’s found a new job there). So it’s a big change for our family, and I’ve been grappling with the changes that come with it. Among the themes: the loss of home, the power of parents’ love, growing up and… yardwork.
- I’m graduating in December, and am watching my college career draw to a close. With it comes the inevitability of shifting relationships and a different lifestyle that I can no longer deny or dodge.
- I’ll take a month off in January to relax at home, then in February, Sarah and I are taking a missions trip to Botswana to visit her old missions agency. It’s a place that’s held a huge place in her heart for a long time, and I’m going with my eyes, ears and heart open to see what Africa’s all about. More on this soon — I can’t wait!
- That wild and wacky ride known as recruiting has drawn to a close, and I’m entering the working world! I interviewed widely, and was blessed with two job offers (in an economy like this one, having an offer is a blessing in itself). I had to take a good long look at myself and ask: what are my passions? What am I great at? Where do I want to live, what kind of work environment do I want to have, and how easy is it to make relationships? How much do salary and perks actually mean to me?In the end, I had to make a decision between a position at Salesforce and a position at Riverbed. It was a tough decision that came down to the wire, but in the end I chose to join Riverbed. I’ll be working as a UI designer; my team will design management interfaces on Riverbed’s family of network appliances.
I was attracted to Riverbed’s friendly engineering culture and felt that I had the greatest opportunity there to develop and exercise creative design skills. I’ll start in March, which leads me to…
- I’m in the process of searching for an apartment in San Francisco (or Berkeley). My buddy Jack and I are planning on living together, and we’re looking for a third roommate. If you’re interested… let me know!
