P.A. MacLean,  October 30, 2007

Errors in medical bills may have larger ramifications than you realize. Many insurers include lifetime maximum payments for coverage. The faster you use them up, the quicker you run out of healthcare coverage. This can be significant for elderly parents who may rely on a secondary insurance to fill in with coverage on top of Medicare. Employers began limiting the health coverage of retirees in some industries as the number of retired workers swelled and costs skyrocketed. Beyond your parents, consider your own medical bills and whether you are eating into a lifetime maximum coverage. If your bills have errors, you may pay for it twice, first in the overbilling and second by using up your lifetime maximum years earlier than you expected. Find out your lifetime coverage limits, then monitor your bills.

Cathie Ramey,  October 29, 2007

I can honestly say I have never seen a ghost, and I am truly fine with that arrangement. What I’m truly not fine with is the idea of removing candy from Halloween. While I’m all for healthier kids, and I support an eco-friendly environment, I’m not sure taking candy out of Halloween is the way to go about making our kids healthier or happier. Working in the field of aging lets me see into the future and being overweight is at the top of my list of things to avoid as I get older. Parenting is about instilling a sense of balance and boundaries in our children. So I‘ll be giving out candy this year and I hope the cute, costumed kids who come to my door have parents at home who will supervise its consumption. Who knows, mom and dad may even enjoy a piece or two themselves.