Natter 73: Chuck Norris only wishes he could Natter
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
My company is doing this thing... where if we sign up to do biometric screenings and talk to a "health counselor" and do a couple other things like maybe walk 7000 steps a month for 3 months while wearing a tracker... we get a discount on our health insurance next year. I have resisted this the last two years they did it, because it sounds hinky to me. Why does my group health insurance provider want this individual information? They aren't doing it for us, they're doing it for them, which means it's gonna save them money somehow, but I don't see how unless they're gonna use this data on a population of mostly middle-aged women desk workers to justify raising our rates. Last two years, they gave us $300 off; this year it's $400, which means they're getting what they want and they want more of us zombies to participate.
$400 is enough to tempt me to do it, despite my misgivings. Am I being overly paranoid here?
it is scary the amount of money I spent on grocery AND dining out.
I did the math and apparently I spend I think about 8x as much on this as the "average" person. Granted, I'm buying for 1 1/3 people some of the time (because Will doesn't pay for the ingredients when I cook dinner), but 1 1/3 != 8.
Woot on the new jobs front!
I have no energy for this job today, but that may be linked to having put in 80+ hours overtime in the past week and a half. Big deadline/big submission sort-of achieved. (The receiving folks totally bungled the technical aspects at their end, so our stuff kind of staggered in late, in bits and pieces). But it is in, more or less. I can foresee Lessons Learned getting a bit venty, all around.
I need to sleep for a week.
I really need to stop going to the market down the street because the prices there have become crazy and their selection isn't always the best, but the problem is that I often barely have enough spoons for the nearby market.
I am paranoid and avoid things like that, Zen. Our insurance has "Vitality Points" that you can earn by doing specific healthy things (though I admit I don't know how it's verified that you did them), and you can use those points to "buy" stuff (probably health-related stuff, which I am not mocking, because it would be cool to get a bike just for buying cauliflower).
My paranoia is that it will lead to a point where, instead of being rewarded for making healthier choices, those "choices" will be compulsory and you'll have your rates raised for NOT buying cauliflower.
(I know I sound like a crazy old man here.)
At my company, I just have to attend quarterly "Listen to these very obvious things about diet! Pop has sugar in it! Gasp!" meetings to get my health insurance discount.
The old saying is that two can live as cheaply as one, but one certainly lives cheaper than two. Hubby liked to go shopping, and we ate out all the time. I generally don't go out once I get home from work, and lots of monthly costs have gone down. I don't recommend this as a budget maneuver.
Go PMM!
I should probably just put a one year ban on book and music purchases unless I've been given a gift card. Should probably do the same for new clothing for myself.
Other than spending a large amount of money on plane tickets recently, I'm looking at putting the breaks on unnecessary spending while I'm trying to figure out if I'll be able to find a new job before I quit the one I have.
Yay Plei!
I, too, share the paranoia. Also, we are self insured AND a medical center, so I find it hard to believe that the data is not shared. Of course, my doctor ALSO works for the same place, so I guess anyone could find out. But I don't want to give them any information because I am fat, and I don't want them to bug me about it (they call them "interventions") and put me on a program AND I really don't want them to force me to do it, which I think is what we may be leaning toward.
Ironically, I designed some of the marketing materials for the program.
So good to read good things happening to folks.
Yeah, wellness programs may sounds like they mean well, but they are mostly about transferring more cost onto the employee and away from the company.
[link]
I do mine, because I'm riding my bike anyway, so I might as well get the $125 for it. (although: Zen gets $400?! I'm getting ripped off. boo.)
edit: yay new jobs and adulting!
