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Look beneath a policy 's pacKaging aauiMUiW! ft LiUII tiOU/11 , UV t UOCitl J, ljfff4 by Curl Riblet Jr. Q. --'I saw a big ad that of­ fered supplemental health and accident insurance to older people. I sent in $1 as requested for a policy that would later, after the first month, cost me and my wife, a total of $15 a month. We received all sorts of papers from them, including the policy. Three of the packets had a. seal with green ribbon at­ tached. Those papers looked like a guarantee from heaven itself. I didn't understand something in their letter so I called their toll-free number. Nobody was able to explain and as I talked to three more of the phone answerers, they got snippier. You could tell they thought I was dumb. I got mad and told them to have their president phone me. A man who said he was their assistant general counsel phoned. I refused to talk to him. I wanted the president whose assistant then called. Between us we figured somebody in his office had made a mistake. J let the policy lapse after one month. Those young squirts that an­ swered the phone treated me like a dumb cluck, I said. I got the idea the company was in business to make money, not friends.' --Siler L. A.--Siler probably did right when he followed his instincts and canceled by lapsing. Seals with green ribbons yet! A way, perhaps, to impress the aging who are likely to be suckers. I have been intrigued, and worried, about the health in­ surance policies offered the aging. The companies seem to be mostly new. None are the old line companies We have come to respect through the decades. They offer noncancellable policies--if the insured will only pay the relatively high premium. They make the offers in big-page ads with pitches that would diminish a carnival barker. I have checked out four of the companies. I wouldn't buy a policy from any. I asked a noted Milwaukee insurance lawyer about those health and accident policies. He replied, 'Somewhere in such a policy the insured will find some outlan-1 dish clause such as this: that he can't get paid for an injury unless he has all his own teeth, is injured on a night on which there is a crescent moon and the in­ jury occurs from improper use of 1 a power lawn mower manufactured in some outlandish place like Timbuktu. Obviously, an impossible setup.' So, beware of new companies that offer gift-from-heaven health and accident policies, especially if they use seals with long green ribbons attached. Q. --'A person reads so much about pollution from gasoline fumes that he may forget how it was when he was a kid 80 years ago. I am 90. I lived in Chicago as a boy. There was local pollution in the boulevards. The street cleaners -- we called them white wings- brushed and shoveled and piled and on a day with heavy carriage traffic they couldn't keep up. , The flies swarmed and thfe horses' feet had to be washed when they got home to the stable. And, boy, when it rained, the horses splashed in the damndest mess you ever saw. Talk about pollution! I'll take the auto.'-- SethM. A. --I'm just old enough to remember how it was 60 years ago -- lots of horses, a few cars. However, horse droppings on a boulevard did not produce the carbon fumes that now pollute the air all over the world. I think I'll take the horse. Oats and hay must be cheaper than gas. Q. -- 'My father was a coal miner who died at 84. He was receiving compensation for black lung disease. My mother is 80 and is helpless in a rest home after a stroke. Does the coal miner's pension my father got carry over to my mother?' - - Henry P. A. -- The miners union said no, that the pension does not carry over. Henry's mother automatically should have received from the U.S. Department of Labor for 22 months after his death, the amount paid monthly to the miner for his black lung com­ pensation; no connection with his pension. Q. 'I am retired at 65 and rented out a house .to the same people for 10 years. When they moved in the rent was $180 a month and they were required to pay me first and last month's rent, which they did. Over the years the rent was raised to $325 a month with no complaints from the tenant other than the usual moans. Then they left owing back rent. They say they will pay but they want a credit of $325 for the last month's rent, instead of what they paid as a deposit: $180. Please write me a letter so I can show these people how an authoritative source says they are entitled to only $180.'--Paul F. A. -- The tenant's argument sounds like a version of the now- Changes are made in VA college attendance programs The Veterans Administration will change the way it verifies attendance of veterans and beneficiaries in GI Bill non- college degree programs. Grady W. Horton, director of the VA Regional Office in Chicago, said that effective Sept. 1 the federal agency will verify school attendance on a monthly basis instead of quarterly. The change will affect veterans and beneficiaries in farm cooperative management programs, vocational technical schools and other, non-college degree certificate programs. Payments for each month that the veteran or beneficiary is in school will be made only after verification of attendance, justifying payment, has been received. ' Horton said the procedure "will significantly reduce the overpayments that the Veterans Administration has experienced in the past." The VA director said that advance payments will continue to be processed as in the past, when such payments are requested by the veteran and the school participates in the ad­ vance payment program. He urged students in the program who may experience payment problems to call the VA on its toll-free lines. Numbers are available from directory assistance. Acreage reports may be filed late Susan A. Maraccini, county executive director, said several farmers in McHenry County have not filed a crop report this year. July 15 was the final day for farmers to report their 1984 planted acres. "Late-filed acreage reports will be accepted as long as the farmer pays the cost of verifying the acreage and there is physical evidence of production," Maraccini said. Late reports are subject to mandatory spot check. She said farmers who did not plant program crops this year should submit a "zero" report to protect their base and future farm program eligibility. ASCS uses crop reports to determine program compliance and to document crop acreage bases. Before program par- v ticipants receive price support you-see-it-now-you-don't shell game. Paul can write him a letter and tell him something awful will happen if he doesn't accept what was first agreed. The tenant is bound to wonder just how awful, and who knows, he might take the $180 and run. . The idea has worked in other cases. Q-I was paid $36,000 by the insurance company for a back injury. I asked my lawyer who sued for me why it is that tax­ payers have to pay additional sums for future care although the accident and medical treatment began while on Medicare. I contend that it should be the insurance com­ pany's problem to continue to pay, inasmuch as they admitted responsibility by paying the $36,000 in the first place. My lawyer, who was paid $5,000 for his success in suing for me, had no answer that made sense. Do you have an answer?"-Mrs. M.N.O. A-The insurance company paid the $36,000 to get rid of Mrs. O's claim and thus it was relieved of future responsibility. No, it doesn't seem fair that through our taxes we must pay for further treatment of her injury after she has been paid by the insurance company. They're very smart, those insurance underwriters and their lawyers. They know more about loopholes than I do about the lines in my face. * Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Carl Riblet Jr. at Box 40757, Tucson AZ 85717 for advice and information on problems of the aging that may be of interest to others who read this column. No identities are revealed. MCC CATALOG OUTLET STORE MCC CATALOG OUTLET STORE SALE DATE8 OCT. 3-OCT. 9 WHILE QUANTITIES LAST n i yaw MERCHANDISE CLEARANCE CENTER 301 W- VIRGINIA AVE, RT. 14 CRYSTAL LAKE--455-0333 I. AND, ROUTE 176, WAUCONDA NO CARD 0 HOURS: MON, TUES, SAT. 9-5 ' WED, THURS, FRI. 9-«; SUN. 10-3 BED PILLOWS STANDARD -- QUEEN AND KING SIZES MEDIUM AND FIRM - POLYESTER FIBERFILL -- MACHINE WASHABLE zo% OFF OUR RIO. PRICK ALL OTHER DOMESTICS RUGS -- BLANKETS -- TOWELS -- SHEET8 HAVE YOU CHECK OUR NEW SELECTION OF BRAIDED RUGS? 40°/. OFF OUR MO. HNCI REST ROOM RADIO Tlssu* Olspsnssr $4*9 Reg. 8.89 LADIES TOPS SHORT SLEEVE Flowered $400 BOYS & GIRLS Rag. 10.00 DEAR GOD TOPS 3/4 Sleeve $000 R*g. 5.00 SLEEPING BAG 33 x 75 In. - Fill 3 Lbs. $-| 499 Rog. 29.99 ALLEMITE TOOLS INC. TOOL BOX $2Q99 R«g. 60.00 KITCHEN WASTE BASKET Step On Lid Up \ $499 R*g. 10.00 ALL EXERCISE EQUIPMENT 60% OFF REG PRICt LEG WARMERS & LEG DROOPS The New Leg Look 50% OFF REQ. PRICE STORM WINDOW KITS 40% OFF REG. PRICE MCC CATALOG OUTLET STORE MCC CATALOG OUTLET STORE loans, deficiency payments and other benefits, they are required to report crops and acreages planted, the uses to be made of the crops, and cropland acres to be devoted to the acreage conservation reserve. Acreage reports currently on file indicate that approximately 425 farms in McHenry County are certified and eligible for 1984 farm program benefits. 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