Daily Check In December 3, 2019

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alliesmama4
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Re: Daily Check In December 3, 2019

Post by alliesmama4 »

floridacatlover wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 7:58 am Creative, your trees sound wonderful! I saw some of your beautiful decor on Instagram. I’m glad that your DH can now feel enthusiastic about Christmas. I understand because my grandfather died on Valentine’s Day and for my mom that day lost its sweetness.

You are lucky to live in Canada and have universal health care. Believe me, when I lost my early retiree company health insurance and before the ACA went into effect, I explored emigrating to Canada. I was too old and didn’t have a needed skill - and of course I would not have moved without my mom. The ACA is a blessing for anyone with a pre-existing condition who previously was denied health insurance (my mom for 7 years) but I know the deductibles and in some cases premiums are high. Still better than no insurance in my opinion when someone gets cancer, stroke, heart disease or another illness that can cost hundreds of thousands of $$$ in the U.S.
I too lost my medical insurance before I qualified for medicare. I am now 74 almost 75 and still digging myself out of the hole due to lack of insurance. I had to put everything on my credit cards. At one time my monthly medicine was more than my income so had to use credit cards to buy them and went through my savings to make ends meet. In November I paid off the biggest credit card and in January will pay off the second. There is one more but it is small and manageable. It has been really rough all of these years trying to pay things off and still manage to make ends meet without any kind of savings. My brother has helped out at times but I preferred to do what I could on my own.
Janet Alliesmama
floridacatlover
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Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: Daily Check In December 3, 2019

Post by floridacatlover »

alliesmama4 wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:19 am I too lost my medical insurance before I qualified for medicare. I am now 74 almost 75 and still digging myself out of the hole due to lack of insurance. I had to put everything on my credit cards. At one time my monthly medicine was more than my income so had to use credit cards to buy them and went through my savings to make ends meet. In November I paid off the biggest credit card and in January will pay off the second. There is one more but it is small and manageable. It has been really rough all of these years trying to pay things off and still manage to make ends meet without any kind of savings. My brother has helped out at times but I preferred to do what I could on my own.
Janet, I’m glad that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel with your credit cards. Rx are so expensive and getting more expensive every day it seems. Best of luck and prayers for your upcoming surgery.
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Mrscreative
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Re: Daily Check In December 3, 2019

Post by Mrscreative »

floridacatlover wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 7:58 am Creative, your trees sound wonderful! I saw some of your beautiful decor on Instagram. I’m glad that your DH can now feel enthusiastic about Christmas. I understand because my grandfather died on Valentine’s Day and for my mom that day lost its sweetness.

You are lucky to live in Canada and have universal health care. Believe me, when I lost my early retiree company health insurance and before the ACA went into effect, I explored emigrating to Canada. I was too old and didn’t have a needed skill - and of course I would not have moved without my mom. The ACA is a blessing for anyone with a pre-existing condition who previously was denied health insurance (my mom for 7 years) but I know the deductibles and in some cases premiums are high. Still better than no insurance in my opinion when someone gets cancer, stroke, heart disease or another illness that can cost hundreds of thousands of $$$ in the U.S.
Of course we do indirectly pay for our health care through our higher taxes, but I do feel our taxation is fair as you pay a higher percentage of taxes if your income is higher. It's just not something you have to consider at the time of a health crises. But a lot of Canadians are hesitant to travel if they have a pre-existing condition as travel insurance will not cover for that. Many of my friends ensure they have had no changes in their medication for the past 3 months. The only exception is with insulin levels to treat diabetes.

And Kitty even has her own Christmas tree on her favourite table perch in the upstairs hallway gallery. It has some harmless wooden ornaments she can bat at and not damage! She's actually a very calm cat at 7 years of age. Even as a kitten she didn't climb the tree, at least not when we were around.

This year dh outdid himself on the outdoor lights. It gets awfully cold on the fingers up here trying to attach those lights to the railings and shrubs out front. I teased him and called him Clark Griswold. I loved those corny National Lampoon movies!
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Mrscreative
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Re: Daily Check In December 3, 2019

Post by Mrscreative »

clemencia2us wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:49 pm Creative

It is awful how some people just cannot afford medical care here in the USA

Just learned that the brother of a classmate has stage 4 cancer. He has no insurance. Is not of Medicare age. So has decided to just let nature take its course. His spouse is looking for other options. Hopeing to find a way to pay for his treatment.

Its crazy!!!
Clem I am so sorry to hear that. That would be a horrible dilemma to be in.
floridacatlover
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Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: Daily Check In December 3, 2019

Post by floridacatlover »

Mrscreative wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:53 am Of course we do indirectly pay for our health care through our higher taxes, but I do feel our taxation is fair as you pay a higher percentage of taxes if your income is higher. It's just not something you have to consider at the time of a health crises. But a lot of Canadians are hesitant to travel if they have a pre-existing condition as travel insurance will not cover for that. Many of my friends ensure they have had no changes in their medication for the past 3 months. The only exception is with insulin levels to treat diabetes.

And Kitty even has her own Christmas tree on her favourite table perch in the upstairs hallway gallery. It has some harmless wooden ornaments she can bat at and not damage! She's actually a very calm cat at 7 years of age. Even as a kitten she didn't climb the tree, at least not when we were around.

This year dh outdid himself on the outdoor lights. It gets awfully cold on the fingers up here trying to attach those lights to the railings and shrubs out front. I teased him and called him Clark Griswold. I loved those corny National Lampoon movies!
I did not know that about travel insurance and pre-existing conditions. I wonder if that is just for travel insurance sold to Canadians. I have been negligent about travel insurance for myself. For my trips to the UK and Canada I did not buy it or even look into it. I figured that both those countries have very good health systems and if something happened I would use the NHS in the UK and Canada’s healthcare system and of course pay out of pocket but knowing that health costs are lower in both countries.

I know I need to look into travel insurance although my new Medicare Supplement includes $50,000 in out-of-U.S. coverage from what I understand. My good friend who travels a lot used to buy a one-year policy that covered every trip but since she utilized the cancellation provision on a major cruise to Asia because of a health insurance she can no longer get that policy. That’s insurance. I always say insurance companies of all types only want to write policies if they are pretty sure they won’t have to pay out.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Daily Check In December 3, 2019

Post by alliesmama4 »

floridacatlover wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:04 am Janet, I’m glad that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel with your credit cards. Rx are so expensive and getting more expensive every day it seems. Best of luck and prayers for your upcoming surgery.
Florida cat thanks for the prayers for my surgery.
Janet Alliesmama
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