The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Insurance policies both important, Confusing By Carl Riblet Jr. Q.-Why doesn't my insurance company, Aetna Life and Casualty, recognize chiropractors when Medicare and Medicaid do"--Mrs. V.H. A.-Mrs. V.H. should write to Aetna and pose the hard question. They will explain, if die insists. Q.-I took out a supplemental medical, surgical and am­ bulance expense policy with American Estate Life Insurance Co., for $240 a year premium. I'm wondering if it is a reliable company."--Betty L. A.-Betty should have won­ dered before she bought the policy and at that time inquired of the state's insurance com­ mission. I have no way of determining whether an in­ surance company is reliable, or not reliable, unless or until it gets into trouble. Q.-"I have a supplemental health insurance policy that I'm sorry I bought. Before that, I had another one that I thought was good, but one day a smart young man rang my doorbell and titer an hour of pounding at me with fast talk he persuaded me to drop the policy I had so that I could buy the policy that he was offering me from the same company. The cost of the new policy is more than the old one and an insurance man I met at a senior citizens party said I got gypped and that the policy the salesman had me drop was better for me than the new one he sold me. waiting period before becoming effective. -Beware of door-to-door s a l e s m e n , t e l e p h o n e solicitations, mail offers from out of state, advertising flyers, group-health plans offered by so-called senior-citizens groups, and "scare" policies covering accidents or cancer. -I know of no cancer insurance that is worth much to a policy­ holder. Q.-"My mother many times said to us as children that the eleventh commandment was "Thou Shalt Mind Thy Own Business". My husband and I agree with you. He says he heard it from his folks many times. If we could only follow that very good advice." --Ruth and Frank K. A.-It is difficult indeed to mind your own business because it's so much fun minding somebody else's business. That's why gossip columnists make more money than I do. Q.-"When I was a youngster of only 40 or so, here in the U.S. everywhere we had eye-ear- nose-and-throat doctors. Some other doctors specialized on eyes only and called themselves oculists. A fellow could un­ derstand in those days what his doctor specialized in. Today it's a mystery. "How can any doctor who calls himself an ophthamologist reasonably expect anybody who has never been to one to quickly understand that he is an eye doctor? I can't even pronounce ophthamologist. I copied it from the dictionary. How can any M.D. who calls himself an otolaryngologist, like you wrote about last week, expect me to know that he is a doctor that prescribes hearing aids? I looked that up in the dictionary, too, and I had a hell of a time finding it because I couldn't spell it. Then I saw how you spelled it. What's with these doctors?"--Marshall A. A.-Oculists didn't want that name to their specialty anymore if they were medical doctors because an optometrist could call himself an oculist. Medical doctors who specialized in eye problems and optometrists were fiercely competitive of each other. The optometrist-oculist could prescribe eye glasses. He was not permitted to operate. I go to an ophthamologist and I like my otolaryngologist, but those two titles for an eye doctor and an ear doctor drive me nuts, too. I have asked the doctors why they have titles that most people cannot easily pronounce and they mostly smile in em­ barrassment. High-sounding or u n - p r o n o u n c e a b l e n a m e s f o r professions or crafts are a sign of the times. Everybody wants to sound bigger than they are, or so it seems. House detectives want to be called security of­ ficers, not door-knob rattlers. Janitors, members of a respected craft who keep apartments warm in winter, want us to call them custodial engineers, and those who turn the valves that regulate the flow of guck in sewage disposal plants insist they are sanitary engineers. Meantime, o t o l a r y n g o l o g i s t s a n d ophthamologists will probably always be with us until they think up an even bigger jaw­ breaker. PAGE 7 - PLAINDEALER - FRIDAY. AUGUST 24.1M4 Premiere is Sunday for historic slide tape program As part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the first settlement of McHenry County, the McHenry County Historical Society has produced a new slide-tape program covering the early history and development of the area. The 40-minute program will be shown for the first time, Sunday, August 26, at 2 p.m. at the McHenry County Historical Museum in Union. Work on the history slide show was un­ dertaken by Woodstock area teachers, photographers and researchers, Vic and Beverly Meuch, who also produced an earlier program for the society that took viewers on a history tour through the county museum. Beginning with a look at what the area was like before settlers like Samuel and Margaret Gillilan came in 1834, the p r o g r a m e n t e r t a i n i n g l y illustrates how the county was established, the life its early pioneers faced and how such things as schools, churches, towns and businesses got started. The McHenry County Historical Society will make the slide-tape program available to groups, organizations and schools starting this fall. For information regarding the program, the museum and research library hours, the plaquing program or mem­ bership to the society, call (815) 923-2267. Residents of Seneca Township will be admitted free to the museum Sunday, August 26. t MILLSTREAM "What are old people who don't understand insurance going to do? We need insurance, but we don't know what to buy or whom to trust."--Meg McB. A.-It's awful! It really is. It : does no good to say to Meg now that she should not have listened to the smart young man who f rang her doorbell. We senior citizens have two major worries, our health and our fear of becoming a burden to our • children who have struggles of their own. We elders are often bom­ barded by unscrupulous salesmen, either face to face or in big smash-ad mail order pitches. Salesmen play on the fears and the weaknesses of senior citizens and trap us in our ; homes with the burden-to-our- children routine to get us to buy - unnecessary or inadequate . supplemental insurance. We ! elderly, in spite of our ' knowledgeable years, are no more able to understand the legalese wording of insurance policies than are those who are : younger. Most supplemental health policies cost from $8 to $20 a ; month. Good policies are good to have. Bad policies are bad to - have. What is needed is for experts to tell them just what is * good or bad. Some Legal Aid Society offices have the capability to advise on in­ surance. Councils on Aging should have the same capability. If some councils do not help to protect the elderly from purchasing bad insurance they may some day be forced to do so on pain of losing some juicy government grants. I think advice to senior citizens on the worth of supplemental health and life insurance should be part of the reason for existence of Councils on Aging. Here are some points that may help any who want to know about special insurance lor senior citizens: -Buy one insurance plan with good all-around coverage rather than a number of small policies covering individual aspects of care. One good plan will cover everything. -Compare any policy you are considering with a list of Medicare benefits that you already have. Do not pay for something you don't need. -Check to determine if nursing home care and prescription drugs are adequately covered, and that the policy you are thinking of buying does list exactly what will be paid for. •Make sure the policy will cover physician fees beyond Medicare's "reasonable charges" for such fees. •Check to see if the policy will pay for treatment of pre­ existing illnesses, or impose a Barbara Klein School of Dance FALL CLASSES NOW FORMING TAP & BALLET ADULT-TEENAGERS-YOUNGSTER5 For Enrollment Call (815)728-0161 OR STOP IN AT 4403 RINGWOOD RD., RINGWOOD, IL 0 <3> <J> H i l l [76] II QUICK Oil • 20)McHENRY, ILL (815)344-2717 • OPEN MON.-SAT. 8-6 I $ 3702 W. ELM ST. (RTE. 120)McHENRY •OIL CHANGE •FILTER •LUBRICATION •AIR FILTER (COUPON EXPIRES 10/31/84 • NOT VALID WITH OTHER OFFERS) 17 76 ONLY • M WITH THIS COUPON I o o o BACK 10 SCHOOt BONANZA! 25% OFF |U A# i EVERYTHING IN OUR r MIRE STORE! BE SURE TO VISIT OUR GIRLS & INFANT WEAR DEPARTMENT SALE DATES August 22 thru September 1 ,rw€. can, \ INFANTS WEAR 9 # #1 GIRLS WEAR GIRLS WEAR BOYS WEAR 1245 ft. QR66T1 St. mchency (815)385-6172