Christopher L. Hedges's Blog, page 7

Ineptitude (1/20/15)

The ineptitude a patient is subjected to when dealing with insurance companies and the entire financial sector of healthcare should be criminal. On average I spend 30 hours per invoice trying to resolve issues where someone simply didn’t do their job and as a result the patient, in this particular instance that would be me, has to pay the price.

I have an ongoing bill for a hospital visit that was not processed properly, and as a result it was improperly sent to a collection agency. In all fairness the two insurance companies that were fighting over who was “first to pay” dragged their feet forever. The portion of the bill that was to be covered by insurance was paid in October 2014 at which time I should have been re-invoiced by the hospital for the portion of the bill that I was responsible for. I wasn’t. In November 2014 I got a call from the collection agency saying I owed them roughly $7,000. I played 12 hours of phone tag to make sure I knew what my portion of the bill actually was, what procedure needed to be followed and then I paid the collection agency the portion of the bill that I was responsible for, which amounted to about $250.

Still the incompetence of the hospital and collection agency continued as the collection agency tried to extort me for money they were not due. Had a common person been seeking out financial compensation, that they weren’t entitled to, over the phone like the collection agency was I believe the technical term for that behavior is wire fraud. At this point in time after my last harassing phone call I quite calmly told the woman on the other end of the line, “I have paid what I was legally required to pay. At this point in time I’m tired of you harassing me for money you are not entitled to, and if you contact me again the next person you hear from will be my legal counsel.” Maybe someone will finally do their job, go back into their files and apply the insurance companies’ transaction and close out this bill. Personally I could care less because my credit is already hit by the fact that I was illegally sent to collections.

Then there was my disability company who sent me a lovely threatening email about how I had to contact them by January 22, 2015 or they would be terminating benefits. I love bullies!!! I love the way they think no one will stand up to them. The first time I was threatened by this bully I was required to sue him to maintain my benefits. It cost $2,000, but I won. It was funny when I stood up the first time the poor associate on the other end of the phone was dumbfounded. It was like he expected me to just roll over and die. Well sorry to disappoint you.

As for the disability company’s new complaint that I was unreachable. I received two phone calls from them in late October/early November 2014. In response I made five calls trying to resolve the issues at hand. The bully was requesting a release form they needed signed so they could contact Social Security. The bully never actually sent the form. When I inquired about getting a copy of the form I was told the form couldn’t be emailed; it had to be mailed. Well when I didn’t receive a copy of the form on my third attempt I found a copy of said form on their website, printed it out and submitted it. So I was a little surprised to be getting the bully threat mail. So I called the bully up.

“Sir how are things going?”

“Let’s see…I got a threatening letter that told me I needed to contact you because I was so unreachable. I have made 5 phone calls trying to resolve the only issue I was I aware that I needed to handle, which was a release form for Social Security. That release form was signed and sent off while I was laying in my hospital room.”

“Ooohh. I’m so sorry to hear that. What Happened?”

“The first time I was admitted for 10 days before Christmas for massive dehydration. The EMTs picked me up at 1:39am. The second time I was admitted for a GI blockage for 5 days.”

“Well I was just trying to follow up to see how things were going…..”

As I lay in bed thinking about what new experiences 2015 will be ushering in I’d like to thank the arrogant brain trust in Washington who came up with the UnAffordable Healthcare Act. I realize that you have the integrity of Bernie Madoff so getting you to admit that your healthcare reform was actually about hijacking 1/3 of the US economy to move America to within arms reach of being an openly socialist/communist state and not about actually fixing the healthcare crisis in this country is out of the question. So as one of the many people whose life has actually gotten worse as a direct result of your ineptitude I would like to thank God that I only have to suffer your unbearable arrogance for another 727 days.

New Year Resolutions (1/15/15)

Now that I have had time to reflect on the new year I plan on setting no new year resolutions. It seems that every January 1st people all over the world make a promise to themselves to commit to making a change in their lives. I’m sure if you looked for the statistics the first week of January is probably the self help industry’s highest grossing sales week of the year.

I know people who religiously set goals the 1st week of January. I know others that absolutely refuse to set goals because they don’t want to set themselves up for failure and disappointment. I have decided to stop setting new year resolutions for another reason. I gave up new years resolutions because by setting them you are conditioning yourself to believe that you have to wait till the 1st of January to set life impacting resolutions.

The truth is that today is and always will be the best day to commit to change. Today isn’t January 1st or any other specific day. Today is the present. I guess I could be even more specific and now is the time to make the change.

If you were to fall short of reaching your goal yesterday it would be 351 days before you were ready to set that next new year resolution. If you were to accomplish your goal yesterday you would still be waiting 351 days to set that new goal.

What if instead of setting new year resolutions you started setting new day resolutions? Instead of losing 39 lbs this year you said I want to eat 500 less calories than I burn today. If you chose the new day resolution and were successful every day of the year you would cut out 182,500 calories over the course of a year. That is roughly broken down to losing 52 lbs of fat in 365 days by cutting out two Grande Caramel Macchiatos a day. It also gives you the potential of having 365 wins in a year or the ability to fall short 91 times without failing to reach your goal.

Look at how successful you can be if you just shift your perspective from the current status quo. Think about what you could potentially accomplish if you shifted your state of mind from new year resolution to new day resolution.

So what is my new day resolution today? To convince one person to change his or her perspective on his or her preconceived notions of the way things are or have to be.

You’re a Celebrity (1/13/15)

Do you know what differentiates you from every icon you put on a pedestal? Not a damn thing! I take that back every icon you see has one thing in common that propelled them to the spotlight, he or she chose to be an individual who was willing to expose himself or herself to the world. Self-exposure is the greatest form of vulnerability a person can be subjected to, and for that the rewards can be massive. Most people are not willing to subject themselves to that kind of scrutiny and that is why icons are rewarded so handsomely.

That willingness to stand out from the crowd really is all that makes icons different, everything else is just situational window dressing. Bill Gates is intelligent, but there were a series of events in his life, beginning in his childhood, that made it possible for him to become a tech icon with Microsoft (read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers if your interested in this fact). Taylor Swift was afforded opportunities because of her family’s socioeconomic status, her grandmother was an opera singer, but at the end of the day Taylor chose to be an icon.

Am I saying you’ll make hundreds of millions of dollars as an entertainer? Absolutely not. Am I saying you’ll even make it to the point where people recognize you as an icon? Nope. The circumstances for why one person makes it to stardom and another never breaks out from the shadows are so unique there is no way to unequivocally answer why or why not. Attitude, economics, education, upbringing, experience, genetics, mentoring and a laundry list of other circumstances all play a part in why and why not.

I’m not saying it will be quick, easy or guaranteed. All I’m saying is if you wanted to be a celebrity or anything else for that matter there is no real difference between you and the icons you read about, other than they chose to be icons. They chose to be leaders. The chose to stand out from the crowd.

Resistance is Futile (1/8/15)

I’m no Trekkie, but it feels like I’m living in a variation of First Contact. All I’m waiting for is the Borg Collective to show up and assimilate me into the collective…”We are Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”

I’m serious! Where has creativity gone to? Has the notion of individuality been exterminated? Are we nothing more than a bunch of mindless Borg marching around as just a part of the collective?

I started asking these questions after getting recommendations from my mastermind group as too how I could improve book sales. You need to keep blogging, posting to Facebook and Twitter. We have seen really positive results from authors who have included a video blog…Everyone else is doing it. Follow the crowd. Become a part of the collective.

This isn’t an idea that is limited to authors like me that are trying to build a platform for books like Average Joe’s Story. The Borg affect is everywhere in society today.

Hordes of people line up outside of the Apple Store hoping that they are going to be one of the lucky few that gets his or her hands on the hot new release that has been promoted to be all the rage. That new iPhone isn’t popular because it’s the best product on the market. That new release is popular because Apple told you it was, you believed them and through your decision to be a part of the collective you made it popular.

Being a part of the collective, being accepted, has become more important than your own individuality.

We are no longer thinkers or doers…we are followers. At least that is what mainstream society is hoping, but I believe society is wrong. I think we are on the verge of a reawakening from the days of being blinded from reality by the wool being pulled over ours eyes.

For the meantime I will be a part of the collective. I will remain tethered to the way things “need” to be done until the point in time where I can change the rules of the game. So for now I guess I need to look into getting a good video camera.

The Downfall of Society (1/6/15)

The status quo will be the downfall of society. Somewhere in the back of your mind you have your own opinion to the question, “What will be the downfall of society?” You may never actively think about it, you may never express your opinion, but somewhere upstairs you have an answer to that question.

I pulled out my answer after a recent conference call with my Morgan James Publishing mastermind group. The conference call was a free flowing exchange of ideas of my current state of affairs.

“David I’m revising the direction of the second book. I’m giving it a more tangible business feel to hopefully open some doors that were not opened with Average Joe’s Story: Quest for Confidence.”

“Yeah that was some of the feedback we got from some of the book buyers. They couldn’t figure out how or where it fit in.”

The dilemma that those book buyers found themselves in was a desired effect. I never wanted Average Joe’s Story to be pigeon toed into a specific genre. I didn’t want someone sitting behind some desk to be able to say this is a business or self help book. If you are forced to conform to a preexisting notion the opportunity for debate and discussion is destroyed. If someone can unequivocally say that Average Joe’s Story was a self help book then that is where the discussion ends. However, if you have someone arguing that it is self help while someone else says it’s business then all of a sudden you have created dialogue.

The problem is that the vast majority of the population has developed such a desire to be accepted that they are unwilling to go against the status quo. Society’s approval has become more important than free thought. You won’t question the person standing at the front of the room because you are terrified of being ostracized. You will relentlessly defend the status quo against anyone willing to stand up against it until you reach a life altering crossroad. Hopefully by the time you reach that crossroad it won’t be to late for you to effect meaningful change to the status quo.

Building Blocks of an Unsupervised Creative (1/1/15)

The problem with unsupervised creative based work is it fueled by inspiration, motivation and desire. All three tanks are currently reading low, but hopefully once I’ve caught up from my hospital time that will have changed….

The desire to work was weaning towards empty after having less than desirable results from my time out on the road promoting Average Joe’s Story: Quest for Confidence. A bout of depression set in as a result of the hospital experience, zapping whatever was left in the proverbial tank.

With no desire motivation really becomes a moot point. There is no form of motivation that can force you into action when you are an unsupervised creative, if you are void of desire. Supervision can impose desire by threat, but that creates an inorganic form of desire that will only lead to resentment. Your results are forced and tend to be mediocre at best.

Inspiration received a slight spark from my hospital time, but like all fires it needs additional kindling and a sustainable fuel source to maintain the fire. No fire survives or grows without help, and desire is the fuel of the  day. So when lacking desire where is that needed help derived from?

Inspiration, motivation and desire are the requirements for an unsupervised creative to be productive, but desire is the link that makes the process work. Desire breaths life into the other two components. I guess it is time to find a stimulant to ignite desire…

Midnight Hospital Run (12/30/14)

At 1:39 am 0n Tuesday December 16th when the EMTs showed up to take me to the emergency room the last thing running through my mind was, “The hospital is such a great source of inspiration.” All I was thinking was, “Give me a damn IV for the dehydration and a narcotic for the pain.” The EMTs eventually got an IV in, but the pain killer would have to wait another two hours, there was the slight problem of controlling my heart rate as it jumped between intervals of 260/200 and 90/70.

Discounting the obvious reasons for my sour puss attitude I resented being in the hospital because it had infringed on my routine. I just got back home from my first four and a half months on the road and all I wanted to do was establish a routine that was sorely lacking while I bounced around North America. I need a routine…I NEED ORDER!

It’s funny though because I think routine and order actually negatively impact the fluidity of a person’s creative process. I guess that impact is why the time in the hospital was so inspiring.

Insomnia can be very beneficial when I’m working. My most creative work comes from that paper thin line between lucidity and delirium, but when I’m not actively writing….it just sucks. The time in the hospital created an extended period of time where I balanced on that tightrope between those two mental states. The balancing of pain with chemicals recreated the environment where Average Joe’s Story: Quest for Confidence was conceived and created.

Then it was lost with the introduction of Ativan to the chemical formula. My best rest eventually came while drugged up in the hospital. You can’t beat chemical based sleep patterns. Now it’s back to the, “inspiration”, drawing board.

The Double Standard (12/16/16)

If I were to call you up and tell you that you owed me $6,103.88 when in fact you didn’t owe me one red cent I would be guilty of fraud and subject to criminal prosecution for my behavior. I couldn’t just say, “I’m so Sorry. I made a clerical mistake. My bad.” The Average Joe doesn’t get a get out of jail free mulligan.

So I have a slight problem when a double standard exists. Over the course of ten months several departments in two insurance companies and one hospital couldn’t perform their most basic of functions. Like three little children they stood in a circle pointing at each other passing the blame around. “We aren’t the primary insurer so we aren’t going to process the claim.” “We didn’t receive the right piece of paperwork so we cant process the claim.” “Your insurance denied the claim.” The worse part was that these corporations were incapable of communicating with each other or with me.

The three little crybabies were crossing their arms and stomping their feet for ten months. The only person who wasn’t getting paid in this little hissy fit was the patient. It only took several dozen phone calls, but I thought I had finally resolved the problem until I got a phone call from a collection service. “Hello sir we are calling on behalf of Blah Blah in regards to an outstanding debt of $6,103.88.”

At this point I had enough. I was done being civil with these people, and I figured I’d let them know exactly how angry I really was. “Excuse me miss, but I don’t owe you that money. In fact by you calling me and demanding payment, that you are in fact not entitled to, you are committing fraud, and I would suggest you do your due diligence before you contact me again. You need to contact the hospital because they have all the pertinent paperwork. The fact that someone in the hospital’s accounting office couldn’t be bothered to do their job is not my problem. This bill should have never been sent to collections. The insurance payments should have been processed by the hospital and a new invoice for any remaining balance should have then been issued by the hospital. Do not contact me again on this matter or I’ll be seeking legal action.”

When you are confronted by incompetence and apathy it is your responsibility to stand your ground. You have to be willing to dig your feet in and say enough is enough. If you aren’t prepared to stand up and fight your own battles no one will fight them, and society will treat you like its doormat until you prove that you’re not.

A tribute to a friend

Tragedy will always be tragedy, and the most you can hope for is to find some semblance of a silver lining. I experienced that today.

I would be the first to say that online games offer no real value, and serve as little more than time vampires bleeding away our disposable free time. However, that isn’t entirely accurate. In this online day and age where we are connected to each other by wires and WiFi online games can create a sense of community and in some cases even family. Even though we had never met face to face, and I only new him by his screen name Second Age (PC to his friends) his loss today cuts as deep as if he were family.

PC and I shared a great many experiences and he will be sorely missed. I regret that I wasn’t able to say good bye, but take solace in the fact that I gave him a laugh or two for the road. R.I.P. my friend the world has lost a good one today, but our loss is heavan’s gain. Till we me meet again on the other side.

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

If—

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

 

PC MEMORIAL

Just a Little Overkill (10/31/14)

Really high on my list of things not to do is invade Canada. I crossed the border on two separate occasions on this road trip. Once was up at Niagara Falls to visit my friend Scott in Toronto. The second was somewhere just North of North Dakota. Now I could understand the high level of security at a major tourist destination like Niagara Falls, but the militarization of the crossing I used in North Dakota on my way to Winnipeg seemed a little excessive.

I pulled up to the guard station and played 20 questions with the officer. Where are you going? Where are you staying? What is the purpose of for your visit? They were the typical questions you expect to get whenever you are about to enter a foreign country.

“Thank you sir. Now can you please pull over to that shelter and go into that building.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Walking into that building was like walking into an office being run by a SWAT team preparing to breach a target location. Everyone was dressed head to toe in tactical assault gear, side arms on their hips, and assault rifles within arms reach.

“”Sir could you step over there please. Could you empty your pockets? Can I look through your wallet? Could you show me the interior of all of your pockets? Could you pat yourself down so that I’m certain you aren’t carrying any weapons with you? Could you please lift your shirt up?”

I do have to say the agents were very polite as they violated every form of my privacy.

“Sir would you mind if my partner and I searched your vehicle?”

“No. Have at it.”

“Do you know why we are searching your vehicle?”

“Most likely because you are searching for drugs, weapons, or some other forms of contraband.”

“Yes. tThat and child pornography.”

Okay. Really? Where did that come from?

I understand the premise and importance of border protection, but lets be honest isn’t this a little overkill? It is quite possible that the Industrial Military Complex will one day run out of targets across the globe and square its sights on Canada, but I don’t think it will be in my lifetime. At the present moment in time the current circumstances seem to dictate that this is an overwhelmingly large waste of resources, but isn’t that what big bureaucracies do best…waste resources.