Green Shield vs Blue Cross

Institutional ageism appears to be built into the culture of Green Shield Health Insurance. I say that because I have been hearing stories from friends about their dealings with our insurer and because of my first-hand experience. First, I know I am lucky to have extended medical coverage in retirement, but I still expect good service and respect from our insurer. Our Pension Board recently changed from Blue Cross to Green Shield to save members money. Since my health is relatively good as is my wife's we have not had to deal much with our insurer. Friends of mine have been complaining about the service they got with Green Shield and what they used to get with Blue Cross. I thought they were exaggerating, until recently. 

Institutional discrimination is being challenged in today's society. Many women are challenging the sexual discrimination and sexism that has occurred for far too many years in our institutions and our society. Racism has raised its ugly head in the United States because of the attitude of the leadership in that country. In Canada, we, as a society, have yet to come to terms with our racist attitude toward our indigenous people, but we are working (some would say not hard enough) to try to change our attitudes. But institutional and societal racism is still in Canada as noted by the killing of the indigenous youth in Saskatchewan, and the way the RCMP gave the news to his family and the not guilty verdict handed down by an all-white jury.  

Ageism is another form of discrimination that exists in our institutions, and our society. Butler defined "ageism" as a combination of three connected elements. Among them were prejudicial attitudes towards older people, old age, and the ageing process; discriminatory practices against older people; and institutional practices and policies that perpetuate stereotypes about elderly people. I believe that Green Sheild practices institutional ageism because they have, I believe discriminatory practices and perpetuate stereotypes about seniors. 

My wife went to her doctor to get some medication and was prescribed the medication for three months by her doctor. I went to the pharmacy and they told me that Green Shield only allows a patient a week for new medication, and after a week Green Shield would allow the patient to get the remainder of the medication. This to me, means that Green Sheild policy shows that the organization believes that seniors do not have the ability to know what is good for them and therefore Green Shield must protect seniors, which is a form of ageism. 

I know that any organization that practices discrimination such as Green Shield will deny that they practice discrimination and ageism, and that is because they are blind to the facts. They may think that they are doing the best for their clients, which of course means they believe the client does not have the ability to make good decisions. Is the development of these policies based on the idea that all seniors become forgetful or get dementia or another form of cognitive slowdown? 

Because they appear to have an institutional ageism, to which they are blind, Green Shield takes a paternalistic attitude towards its patients and has, it appears no problem overriding Doctors, and Specialists who prescribed the medication, which is demeaning to the patient. Because of institutional discrimination against seniors built on ageist policies, Green Shield attitudes towards its clients that are a throwback to the 50's, when paternalistic attitudes were common.

I don't think I am alone in my attitude that Green Shield was not the best choice for us because of their paternalistic and condescending attitude and ageist practices because when I read our newsletter the following caught my eye:

The office staff are spending quite a bit of time dealing with questions and issues around Green Shield Canada (GSC) – the Extended Health Benefit provider for members in the Pension Plan. The move to Green Shield was a decision of the Pension Board of Trustees – not (us). The decision was made following an open competition; other insurance companies were invited to submit proposals and GSC won the competition. (We) play no role in this as we have no direct contractual relationship with GSC.

Green Shield appears to have upset many of my colleagues and the executive of the organization appears to be playing a game of "it's not me it is them" to try to placate members. The executive may not have a contractual relationship with Green Shield but they do have an obligation to their members to investigate the issues and if the membership is not happy to make their wishes known to the Pension Board of Trustees. The Pension Board will not listen to individual members but it may listen to an organization that speaks for thousands of members. If the executive chooses not to act then they by their inaction are accepting that institutional discrimination practiced by Green Shield is acceptable to them.

I don't mind paying a bit more to be treated with the respect that I deserve as an adult, instead of being treated like a child by Green Shield so I would not object to a move back to Blue Cross, which did treat us with respect and did not appear to have an institutional culture of ageism and discrimination.

I did send an email stating the above to Green Shield which was taken from their website, however, the email was bounced back. (see below) So Green Shield, which has a Web page dedicated to dealing with customer complaints, doesn't even have an email on its site that is correct. What can I say about poor attitude and poor customer relations?

Delivery has failed on the enclosed message for the following reasons reported either by the mail delivery system on the mail relay host or by the local TCP/IP transport module:

   550 5.1.1 <tpbt@pensionsbc.ca> recipient rejected

   550 5.1.1 <customer.service@greenshield.ca> recipient rejected

Why We Love Certain Books

There are books that speak to my soul and feel as if the author knows and understands me. Here is one explanation of why we love certain books. In the plot, we move from one important moment directly to the next – whereas in life there are endless sub-plots that distract and confuse us. In a story, the key events of a relationship unfold across a few dozen pages: in life, they are spread over many years and interleaved with hundreds of business meetings, holidays, hours spent watching television, chats with one’s parents, shopping trips and dentist’s appointments. The compressed logic of a plot corrects the chaos of existence: the links between events can be made much more obvious. We understand – finally – what is going on.

Writers reveal people’s secret thoughts and motives. The characters are much more clearly defined than the people we actually encounter. On the page, we meet purer villains, braver more resourceful heroes, people whose suffering is more obvious or whose virtues are more striking than would ever normally be the case. They – and their actions – provide us with simplified targets for our emotional lives. We can love or revile them, pity them or condemn them more neatly than we ever can our friends and acquaintances.

We need simplification because of the complexity of our lives. The writer, in books that get us, puts into words feelings that had long eluded us, they know us better than we know ourselves. They seem to be narrating our own stories, but with a clarity, we could never achieve. 

So often we feel lost for words; we’re impressed by the sight of a bird wheeling in the dusk sky; we’re aware of a particular atmosphere at dawn, we love someone’s slightly wild but sympathetic manner. We struggle to verbalize our feelings. Feelings that we see as too complex, subtle, vague and elusive for us to be able to verbalize. The best writers home in on the angle of the wing; the slow movement of the largest branch of a tree; the angle of the mouth in a smile. Through the writer’s words the nuance of life, become more visible.

When the book touches us, the writer builds bridges and cut through to the common core of the experience. By selection and emphasis, they reveal the important things we share. They show us where to look. They help us to feel.

In the pages of a story, we meet someone, perhaps a person who is very beautiful/handsome, tender, sensitive, young and/or dying; and we weep for the character and all the cruelty and injustice of the world. And we come away, not devastated, but refreshed. Our emotional muscles are exercised and their strength rendered newly available for our lives.

The task of linking the right book to the right person at the right time is not easy, but when we happen to come across the ideal book for us we are presented with an extraordinarily clearer, more lucid, better-organised account of our own concerns and experiences: for a time at least, our minds become less clouded and our hearts become more accurately sensitive. Through authors words, we become a little better at being who we always really were or wanted to be in life. Enjoy. My thanks to Ronnie at Time Goes By for the link.

The Olympics

Like many, I have been watching the Olympics and am impressed by the courage, athletics. In my younger days, I was a middle-distance runner and was one of the top runners in my area. I was not the best but I was in the top ten and I worked very hard. To get to the level the Olympic Athletes have achieved takes dedication, hard, hard, work, commitment to the sport. Many of these young people have put their lives on hold for a chance to compete at the world level. If we don’t follow the sport, we only see the athletes on stage for a very short time. We empathize with them when they lose, and celebrate with them when they win.

All countries should celebrate these athletes and their coaches, their support teams (Physio, their friends and their family. Without the support of these people, the athletes would not be where they are today. I know there are sponsors, and organizations that provide financial support for the athletes and their support teams that help and their support should also be recognized.

I was watching an interview with a young woman, who had failed to qualify and the interviewer asked what had happened and if the athlete was disappointed. The young athlete, while explaining what she had done started to cry while she was answering the questions. The interviewer saw this but continued to ask questions. The athlete answered the questions politely and finally, the interviewer brought the interview to a close. I know that a crying athlete makes for good television and brings drama to an otherwise boring interview, but there were a number of opportunities to close the interview early but the interviewer appeared to want the drama.

We have to remember that these athletes are away from home, sleeping in a strange bed, adjusting to a time difference, faced with a continual barrage of media who want their attention. All the athletes want to do is get into their routine and perform their best. They all perform for themselves first and then their country and they want to do their very best in this arena. One of the broadcasters said.“They should be so proud that they made it to the Olympic stage and are able to compete with the best in the world”. I agree we should honour these athletes and should celebrate with them as they compete with the best in the world. If you have not been watching the Olympics I encourage you to do so and cheer on the athletes from your country.

Romance in the Sunset Years

This is a valentine thought for my retired and soon to be retired friends.  When you watch television or the movies, you could come to the conclusion that romance is only the stuff of those in their teens or 20s.  As though somehow once someone reaches full adulthood, much less retirement the concept of romance is completely out of the question.  This may be more a function of the fact that more people in those age groups go to the movies than any grounding in reality about romance.  But we know for a fact that romance at all ages is not only is possible, it might be the sweetest romance of them all.

Part of the confusion may lie in another misconception or “myth” about us that we are not capable of sexual activity.  There are two levels of error in this misconception.  The first is the idea that people over 50 are sexually inactive. Nothing could be further from the truth.  Sexuality is a healthy component of adult life at all phases of our maturity and we are just as capable of sexuality in our relationships as your most randy teenager, but not as careful if the research into STD’s in seniors is to be believed.

The second misconception that is good to confront and put to rest is that even if sexuality is not part of the mix, we are not romantic people.  This misconception is without a doubt held people who don’t spend any quality time with our age group.  If anything, the opposite is the truth.  If anyone tracked our movie rental patterns or downloads or streaming activity they would witness that we have a healthy appetite for romantic comedies and have a healthy interest in romantic relationships.

Retirement very often is a time of tremendous rebirth of the concept of romance between couples.  Married couples who may have seen the romance fizzle in their relationship during the child raising years often see that element of their relationship blossom and become even sweeter and exciting than it was when they were dating. 

Adult life before retirement is often packed with pressures of raising kids and getting them “launched” as well as work and social pressures.  This kind of thing can take away the emotional and mental energy needed for romance.  So, when a marriage matures into retirement years together, it's common to rediscover why they fell in love in the first place and experience a new era of romance that is fun and thrilling for both.

But retired people who find themselves single are perfectly capable of looking for romantic times with others of their own generation.  If we have managed our finances well, we may be well equipped to enjoy an active dating life and enjoy romantic evenings with each other that enrich our lives and keeps us upbeat and looking forward to our next romantic experience. 

Moreover, we have the time and the leisure to nurture their romantic relationships slowly.  So, the suspense of building a romance makes that romance full of excitement of discovery is easily afforded for those who may not be as “eager” to see the romance “go somewhere” as a youth looking to start a family.  But dating and enjoying romantic times with the opposite sex also provide much-needed companionship and deep friendships can evolve from romance at any age.  If you have lost a spouse, these times with others can fill a gap left by that spouse and help ease the transition and the grief and help you to can move on to single life successfully.