They appeared in a pair, and
so it goes…all this attention due to being Medicare able very shortly.
Oddly enough I feel
sooooooooo important these days, when a few short years ago from 2006 through
2012 I was a non-person of interest due to being a pre-existing icky sicky gal;
how times they do change, hmm?
Yep, it is very true.
No matter how hard I tried all those years ago no one wanted me that is except for COBRA, “COBRA: “Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act” : http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/cobra.htm
of course but in those days
they would have me pay them a mere $1200 a month to have them, okay? Not in our low
income, of the average for most retirees, which was a big chunk taken from their
monthly income and ours of course! In those days, Hubby was still waiting on
his social security and pension to begin too and I was not yet on social
security so we would have very little left to pay bills with that included in
our monthly payouts, even now that seems ridiculous, but that was then and
since with all those COLAS, cost of living increases, at least with the pension
of 3% a year and although social security has been low and for a few years
non-existent we have been very able to keep up nicely with the living expenses
we do have to pay.
In 2012-2013 I finally
decided that enough was enough, and investigated a new program for the
pre-existing folk, called, pre-existing insurance, clever, hmm, so I took early
social security to pay for the premiums that now look mighty good at $300+
something a month, how soon we forget…but even with that low premium the
coverage left a lot to be desired with actual coverage and to/for me it was
still not that great, leaving the co-pays still very high.
Moving on… to 2013 and wowie
zowie now we have our long awaited governmental program for all and all for
one, but for whom Healthcare.gov or as many call it lovingly or with distaste
Obamacare, hope was just around the corner, but nah dream on… sure we got unconditional
coverage no matter what but if you chose unwisely like I apparently did you not
only have higher premiums but higher out of pockets, huh?
Not what I thought I signed on
for, ya know?
Nearly six hundred a month in
premiums out of pocket last year and this year not much better at nearly five
hundred a month, yep and that is my individual bottom line dollar amounts even
with those subsidies everyone seems to have certain opinions about one way or
another; not so glamorous after all, hmm?
That’s for you cuz who works
in the insurance field in another state (she always teases that it isn't as glamorous as it sounds); I’m just saying that I do agree that insurance
and its coverage is NOT glamorous at all!
And it can be quite
heartbreaking and bank breaking too!
Thank heavens this is a short
year for me, and I have only one month left of this particular individual
coverage without Medicare, yes I paid for April and May is all I have left for
due to my birth date being the first of the month I have been notified that
June will begin my coverage on MEDICARE! HOORAY!
Of course the supplemental
will be more than basic Medicare but then my coverage will be 100%, no 20/80%,
Yea no co-pays exhausting our finances!
And I will be saving a couple
of hundred a month, can you hear that; hip hip hooray! Louder: HIP HIP HOORAY! LOUDER: HIP HIP HOORAY! Sorry! Couldn’t help myself, can you blame me?
Thanks for understanding.
So where was I? Oh that’s
right we had two mature gentlemen, well dressed I might add that arrived to
tell me all about the same product that Allison told us about last week, they
were respectively Paul and Lars, Lars was the mute one, nearly, but not really, a listener and watcher of how Paul seemed to be handling me. Hubby believes that
perhaps Paul’s spiel was being evaluated by Lars, since I brazenly asked if Lars, also
a white haired distinguished looking fellow, was being trained and the answer was no.
So their entire informational
program was a repeat of my interest in the N choice of the supplemental from
Colonial Penn.
Interesting note, as both
agents stated they were local but both being from Sarasota a fifty mile trip
one way as the crow flies oddly enough coincidence or not, their addresses were
identical to Allison’s. Not our fault
one said they represented one company and the other said they represented
another.
Nothing new there, I had
requested info from AARP as well, mind you only once, and yet I received three
packages with identical info. In order to stop them from wasting more time,
paper, energy, what-have-you, causing future higher premiums numbers/dollars
for us consumers of their product I called them and told them I had more than
enough info with the first two! Yes twice as much as needed, so three was over
the top!
I find it interesting how the
private sector continues to be just as wasteful, in my opinion as the federal
government that they always say has with disgust, just an observation, hmm?
We as a nation must come
together to prevent waste in all sectors, because not any different than that
pilfering or outright stealing going on in the workplace costing us all more in
paying for retail merchandise or food etc!
On that note, buyers always
beware and thrifty and cautious and diligent and allow me to be the very first
to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all
your blessings and share all your overages with you know who, and we will too!
And next time please be here
or be square, ya hear!
I called just once really!