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Saturday, November 22, 2014
Medical insurance plans
I was going to write about my trials and tribulations navigating the government insurance website. The post went on way too long. Let me sum up. There are no plans available to me that are both affordable and/or useful. There are no plans that would make access to health care easier, not would they prevent me from going bankrupt should I have a major medical emergency.
Let's just say I'm a bit disappointed. I'm 56 with respiratory issues and I'm fat. It might be prudent to have some sort of relationship with the medical profession. It doesn't help that one of the few doctors I might actually get along with is no longer taking patients.
So where do I go from here? What can I do to keep my medical expenses low? The prudent thing would be take off the excess weight. That's a good place to start. The medical profession isn't much help with that sort of thing -outside of surgery that is. I don't want to go that route. Back when I had insurance they wanted to put me on weight loss drugs, but later those were discovered to cause cardiac issues. Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
Of course, the whole point of medical insurance is to have access to life saving procedures. My guaranteed access is limited to emergency room care. That's not much help should I come down with something that needs long term treatment.
Last year I spent $0.00 on medical care. If I'm going to keep out of the system I might have to spend a little money on preventative care. In spite of my aversion to the medical/insurance/political complex, I want to live a long and happy life, so it's up to me.
-Sixbears
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losing half your wieght will take up to several years as yor body organs shrink and musle mass grows leaner.
ReplyDeletemeanwhile ever consider making barking noises and visit a vetenarrian?
it is another trajety where people are suffering from little incomes, no homes, and a medical health racket supported by bozos making loads of money providing nothing to those they rip off of..
so go back to basics and live better
Wildflower
Woof!
DeleteI would be better off with a vet. Enough folks think I'm a beast as it is. Might as well go with it. Actually, I think my dog gets better medical care.
As Wildflower stated, vet meds. Read all about it and become self sufficient in medicine.
ReplyDeleteIndeed losing the excess poundage will improve your quality of life.
We all should realize that in case of catestrofic type illness or accident , bankruptcy is enevitable unless you are rich.
Insurance is a scam, you will be bankrupt with or without.
Pretty hard to pay those premiums when out of work and sick.
So why bother ? Just save that premium money and use it for non emergency room type doctor visits.
Tomorrow the system could well crash, do you really believe that big business hospitals will remain open ?
Study, study ,study eh
I didn't want to spend my time and energy learning more than first aid medicine. However, it looks like I'll have to do the work and take charge of my own situation.
DeleteMy parents had was was considered excellent insurance and still went bankrupt.
Working on building up a medical savings cushion.
I got the book "Armageddon Medicine" by Cynthia Koelker. It's got great suggestions for taking care of yourself as much as possible. I work in a doctor's office, and have come to realize that a lot of the illnesses we treat could be avoided in the first place by good ol' diet and exercise, or, for minor things, treated at home. I think anything beyond catastrophic insurance is a racket. They'll be glad to take your money every month, but it's hard to wring it back out of them to get a med or procedure covered.
DeleteI'm going to check out that book right now. Thanks!
DeleteThere is no suck thing as Obama care.There is no care whatever. CARE DOES NOT EXIST. All it is in America is $$$$$$$$$.In other countries care is in health .Not in USA.Look at the Cancer Industry. Thats right industry..Nixon declare war on Cancer and said there would be a cure in 5 to 10 years. RIGHT.Like all wars.Money is made.They could care less about a cure.$$$$$.Is all about raising money Their is no cure in this INDUSTRY.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the best thing for business is that people don't die, but aren't cured either. As long as they can get money for extensive treatments it's a good business deal.
Deleteyou remember you said there is no health care system?
ReplyDeletetrue. there are also no immigration system, no system for protection of mentally ill people, no housing allocation system and there certainly is no justice system. if you have ever seen the justice system at work you will have been surprised at how non-ergonomic it is. it does not exist for people but to perpetuate itself and the well-paid jobs at the courts.
deb h.
I've spent enough time in court rooms to see the sad sad state of justice in America. In short, you get the justice you can afford.
Deletealso, prison is full of slow runners . . .
Obamacare, what a f-ing joke. Raise the premiums, raise the deductable; the insurance companies make a killing. Poor Joe Dirt that buys it still ain't got no medical.
ReplyDeleteLike you we've been getting by without med-insurance the last few years; when work slowed down the premium quickly got to be too big a drain on the monthly budget. Our local Doctor offers a "cash" price for most services that is reasonable. We can get a full blood work-up for $75. That and a $10 for 90 day supply of statins and blood pressure pills keeps thing ginning right along.
-Moe
I've gotten a lot of use of the money that's not going to medical payments. When I let it go it was almost $1000/month. That was a goodly chunk of my retirement.
DeleteMost veterinary medicines work very well for humans.
ReplyDeleteMy Vet who we are friends with, admits that most all the drugs he uses are human drugs just re-labled.
DeleteI will have to look into that. Might be a good idea to have some meds with us on our travels into far off places.
DeleteSix,
ReplyDeleteAre you affected by the $2,500 per person fine for not having insurance?
I'm pretty sure in a couple years my wife and I are going to throw in the towel on health insurance due to cost for little in return. Next year we're looking at $900 a month for Medicare and gap insurance and this is no Cadillac plan just the minimum.
For my wife qualifies for Medicare, but we pay out of pocket instead of paying for gap insurance.
DeleteI technically am responsible for the fine, but they can only force collection by taking it out of your tax return. Not much they can do if you don't have a tax return. They might give the law more teeth, but until they do, I won't worry about it.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteWe're not wealthy -- and not likely to be before retirement -- so there won't be a $2,500 per person fine for us.
s'pect I'll be able to arrange things so that we'll only face the flat rate fine of $95 annually
-Moe
Remember, they can only collect the fine from your tax return. If you zero out your taxes or even owe a little there is not much they can do.
DeleteAfter 90 days, I could have gotten medical coverage for us at work, but only if I gave up 2/5 of every paycheck. We're barely making it now, so that was out. Now, Dear Leader will try taxing me because I'm poor.
ReplyDeleteThey can't get blood out of a stone, but that doesn't stop them from trying.
Delete