Weekend Reading: September 7, 2008
By Pinyo • Sep 7th, 2008 • Category: Weekly RoundupsMy wife and I had a doctor appointment yesterday at 9 AM and we didn’t get to see the doctor until 11:45 AM — that’s ridiculous. After the visit, I ask the doctor if I can give her a feedback and she graciously accepted the my comment about her staff inability to schedule appointments. She’s a terrific doctor, so it’s a shame that her operation is so poorly run. I am tempted to start a web site that allows users to rate their medical provider’s quality of service — i.e., diagnostic skills, their willingness to help you save money, wait time, their willingness to talk to you over the phone, etc. — may be the site already exists…
Anyway, just like the feedback I gave to my doctor, I would love to get feedback from my readers. Please feel free to contact me for anything — e.g., ask a question, leave feedback, share your story, etc. I think feedback is a great gift, and I’d love to receive it.
Top Buzz Personal Finance Articles
Now, let’s move on to top personal finance articles this week. If you don’t know by now, I grab this list from Personal Finance Buzz’s Top Buzz of the Week list.
- 10 Things I Have Learned About Money at Bible Money Matters — Pete shares what he had learned about money in the past 6 months. Great list and thank you for sharing.
- Save for College With Freshmanfund’s 529 College Savings Gift Registry at American Consumer News — There’s a new web site called Freshman Fund that allows you to set up gift registry so that your friends and family can contribute to your kid’s 529 Plan. Neat concept.
- DirecTV Bait & Switch - They Change Prices Once Your System is Installed at My Two Dollars — And it’s not just DirecTV that pulls this kind of stunt, so make sure you get it in writing when the operator is offering you a “deal”.
- Teaching Kids About Passive Income at PennyJobs – Curt shares his thought on teaching kids about money.
- Are Stay-At-Home Parents Setting Themselves Up For A Big Fall These Days? at My Investing Blog — Hank shares a terrific story about his family, and how his mom had to re-enter the workforce after 20 years of being a stay at home mom. Is this still a viable option?
- What Motivates Me As A Blogger at Saving To Invest – Andy shares his experience as a new blogger and reveals what motivated him these past few months. I can definitely relates to this article.
- Staying Motivated While Struggling With Personal Finance at Fighting Foreclosure — How to stay motivated to meet personal financial goals when things are hard? A very personal story is revealed.
- How To Save Money Like A Madman at Prime Time Money — Apparently, I am a madman.
- Save Time and Money in the Kitchen at Cash Money Life – Patrick shares some terrific tips for those who love to cook.
- Ten Things Money Can’t Buy at Saving Advice – Great list, especially for those who believe money is everything.
Carnivals
Also, please check out these carnivals.
- Money Hacks Carnival - The Print Media Edition at Saving To Invest
- The Carnival of Financial Goals: Sarah Palin Edition at Rocket Finance
All posts by Pinyo
Almost 3 hours is much too long to wait for a doctor’s appointment. I would have left a critique as well.
Thanks for the mention.
Oh boy can I relate. At my old doctor’s office, I had the unfortunate experience of waiting for 6 hours. The office was actually closed before I was even seen. After that, I immediately switched doctors. Ridiculous!
Pinyo, I don’t think you have time to start another website. LOL.
If you do find a site that rates doctors’ quality of service, please share! If you don’t find one, please start one!!!!!! I have had this experience way too many time. We have switched a couple of doctors because of this only to find that the new doctor is nearly as bad. And staff and doctors are completely unconcerned about the issue when you bring it up. Isn’t my time worth something too?!?!
Thanks for the mention Pinyo - and I agree with SingleGuyMoney - no need to start another one, as there are ones out there already that rate them… MyUHC.com rates ours…
Doctors really irritate me for that exact reason. If you’re 15 minutes late, they cancel your appointment, but if they are 1 hour behind, too bad.
Good idea for a site…like you need another one
@EN - That’s terrible. It’s really abusive to have patients waited 6 hours.
@SGM - I think you’re right. I already have too many as it is.
@Mrs. TCoP - I went through 6 dentists before I found one that I really like. I am already on my 3rd doctor, it seems poor scheduling is the norm in this industry. Of course, your time is worth something. There’s no reason why they can’t practice proper scheduling.
@Hank — Yeah, but that site is only for your insurance company. I am thinking about something along the line of Angie’s List, but only for medical professionals and facilities. But the project is probably too big for me to do on my own anyway.
@Glblguy — To make the matter worse, the reason we were there was to get out test results, not an examination.
First time commenter, long time reader.
I think it’s a great idea having a “rating” system for doctors. I used that website listed above by hank, and it found my doctor on there all ready. For the record, you don’t need to register or actually have that insurance company. Just select a very flexible plan like a PPO. The problem with that site, is everyone is either one or two stars and it’s based on official guidelines.
Also, I haven’t been to Angie’s list before, but checked it out right now since Pinyo mentioned it. That site does rate doctors =/
But.. you have to pay for it, which means I’ll probably never visit it again =)
@Schlapppy — Glad to see you comment and I hope you’ll do so in the future. Yeah, I was looking around after I made the comment about Angie’s List and saw that it expanded to medical field as well. However, I am not sure if theirs is the best way to structure the site — i.e., users have to pay.
Well I would like to be the contrarian here and tell you that if the doctor is terrific, at the end of the day your health is more important that your time. Because if you end up with a terrible doctor.. The total amount of “valuable time” you have left might decrease pretty fast
I’ve been doing some home improvement and heard about Angie’s List - which does the same sort of idea with Car Mechanics and Contractors - now we just need one for doctors!
Thanks for mentioning by post from PFBuzz!