Whew, I am finally back from a whirlwind tour and Vermont hasn't looked this good in a long time.

During my travels, I have had over a dozen new insurance updates/stories/foibles forwarded to me, 90% of them originating with United Health Care. I'll toss some up, of course. I can't wait for United to find this blog, even though it's so benign.

Rather than harp on UHC, though, I thought I'd tell two quick, nice stories.

• Client #1 reports, "...we have been designated a [superior practice] by [HMO] and got an immediate 15% increase on our E&Ms. It's the easiest negotiation I've ever done." It never hurts to ask.

• Client #2 wrote to me: "How does this schedule look like to you for starters? These guys are looking to make a network. They are the ones who took me to lunch and mayhave me speak for them, maybe consult. I still need to give them our common codes to make a special deal at 130%..."

I looked at the prices and they look, well, great. As the doc pointed out, they offered more for their 99213 than the practice even charges! What's nice about this second HMO is that they actually approached the practice. They are looking to expand and identified client #2 as a good choice - how great is it to negotiate before signing the contract? BTW, for those of you living in places like Atlanta, Tulsa, NYC, etc.: getting 130% in most parts of this country is really good. Getting it on Long Island, where this practice is from, is crazy talk.