weather related utility problems

recently the area I live in experienced an ice storm, which under normal circumstances losing power is a small problem resolved in a few hours or at most a day or two. this time however due to the lack of an initial response and a lack of coordination the utility company was forced by the Governor to hand over the responsabilities associated with the repairs.

it came out that the utility company didn't want to pay the additional workers that were needed to ensure a timely recovery. there was some speculation as to why and each sinario is entirely plausible. the first one is just that they didn't want to pay the additional workers and the other is that they intentionally waited so the state would declare the area a disaster area which would take the burden of paying off of the utility company and be given to the state and federal governments.

with either sinario, there is one problem and that relates to public health. with a lack luster response to the wide spread outage it displaced thousands and forced others to get creative when it came to their ability to heat the homes and apartments during some of the coldest days of the season.

something needs to be done concerning the way the utility company managed their response to the power outage given that it was so wide spread and lack of an initial response and lack luster response overall.

an understanding of health care concerns

Health care it is on everyones mind in the U.S. especially due to the costs associated with it. Even when the individual or family does have health insurance, most people still wonder if their health insurance will cover them and for how long.

Back in March of this year I received two very distinct scares that relate to health care issues one was the fact that I was being laid off of work which meant that I would have to find out if I would have to file for one of the state sponsored plans or if unemployment offered unemployment benefits, the other came a few days later in the form of results from a biopsy done earlier that month with the results being skin cancer in the form of a single melanoma that had been discovered early enough for it to still be contained in one small area.

Both of them together made me really concerned due to the fact that the results of the biopsy meant that I could have minor day surgery to have a patch of skin removed rather than having to go through the more aggressive treatments while leaving me with a sinking feeling that I may not have the health insurance available to pay for the surgery.

In the end I found that unemployment provided and it ended up being pretty much the same health insurance plan I had before I was laid off and I also found that since I went from one place that had that carrier to another place with that carrier the referals I had were still in effect which took a load off and allowed me to have the surgery in piece. The healing process was a little different due to having at least a one inch by one inch patch of skin removed, I was just thankful that I had the time off to heal even though I was in the process of finding a new job which I found a few months later for which there are some good people there.