According to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, starting on September 23, 2012, your health plan must provide your policy in language you can understand.  Along with that, there’s a new SBC  — Standard Benefits and Coverage – form that all health plans will be using in the U.S. to help you understand what you owen, what they owe, and what isn’t paid at all.  In case you didn’t know, for example, “urgent care” is described as

It’s a new year and several of my friends have asked me what they need to do to develop a journaling practice.  My first thought:  patience and empathy.  It takes a bold writer to keep a journal but it is the best writing you will ever do.  

When I take a mental health day, I don’t generally curl up on the sofa with a good book (although during the winter that’s about all I like to do) but rather I draw a 150 mile radius around Washington, DC where I live and head for a hideaway that looks appealing.  With my mind on overload from another iteration of health reform legislation and trying to decipher whether the public option will kill the deal, I headed to