Pool_2

Osten diverted, "I joined a victuals maintenance organization. It's a cool idea. You pay each month, fifteen to twenty percent less than what you would ordinarily pay for a month's food. When you need supplies, you go to a designated place and give the food keeper your shopping list." "They do the work?" Denise helped out feigning interest. "No. They check it to see if you really need to eat what is on your list. They send you to designated places to get the stuff that they have substituted. You may have to travel a bit." "Meaning what?", Denise played along. "Well, I had written 3 pears, 4 apples, and 4 plums - to make a fruit salad. They replaced that with 2 figs and sent me to Delaware - to a fig auction warehouse where outdated, but palatable, figs are sold cheap. I waited three hours, was given one fig and was then told to come back next Wednesday if the first fig didn't satisfy. Have to admit, we're eating out a lot lately, but the shopping bill is down." "Osten, I weel crush you like a fig! You peeg." Belachnik, true to his role as the official, Oh I get it, spokesperson, then brightened with, "What if they give you botulism and half your family dies?" "Nothing," Osten stated that they were protected by the ERISA statutes which hold them unaccountable. He mumbled some legal contractual double speak typical of HMO denials. After the groans, conversation drifted to recent roomers. Was it true that AmeriMed was billing a membership surcharge to obstetricians whose patients stayed beyond 18 hours? Denise affirmed that, adding - thank God - she never had dealings with them. She added that several of her colleagues had been pressured to substitute pooled midwives at home birthings. Refusing, they were sued for breach of contract.