I’m also counting down the days I can get Medicare. And I still gotta pay premiums and I have no idea how all of it works and since I’m in a deep red state, I expect zero help from my government except to steer me toward Medicare Advantage plans. It’s so incredibly stressful.
One cancer diagnosis and it will wipe out 40-50 years of work, savings, retirement. I’m simply going to die of cancer and not bankrupt anyone trying to stay alive. Bring dead in America beats poor, sick and old.
I’m writing this while waiting at my doctor’s office. The seating area alone, like a grand palace, pumping all the AC… I’m sure my deductible portion doesn’t even cover the cost of one hour operating this place. I get human dignity, but between the admin and interior decoration costs…
Not even going to tell you what my monthly premiums are and my deductible. It’s crushing.
I wouldn't be surprised if you told me. I feel like I've seen it all. When you say, still gotta pay premiums, you mean you'll still get private insurance to supplement? I know my mom paid about $1800 a month supplemental for her and my dad when he was alive. Elder care is a huge worry. I saw the inner workings of it going through it with my dad, including how medicare covered the first 3 months of skilled nursing home stay, which we couldn't believe because it seemed too good to be true.
The email I read right before I read this piece let me know that my insurance has decided my echocardiogram isn't covered (even though my doctor told me I have a heart murmur and need to get one) and will cost me $1600+. The fuckery of it all.
Exactly. The amount of money we pay on top of our premiums for services that we need that should be covered is infuriating. I was a bit shocked to learn that insurance costs are so high because of admin costs, but then again, we have such an inefficient system where it seems to take multiple steps to get anything approved, scheduled, or communicated, I suppose it isn't that surprising.
Don't forget that the various companies involved (hospitals, pharmaceuticals, insurance) need to also make huge profits to be able to assuage their boards and pay their CEOs a ridiculous salary.
It's insane! Here in France we have pretty awesome benefits but a major health services crisis, mainly due to thé lack of personnel, which in turn is due to poor wages (well its à bit more complex but basically thats it). In some areas, its à challenge to find à doctor and i have heard of People travelling for 3 or 4 hours to Paris and then fit several appointments on the same day!
You may enjoy The Mandibles (Lionel shriver) and Unsheltered (barbara kingsolver) on thid topic - or they might stress you out even more!
I was recently camping with friends, and that went great, but we got around to talking about health and such and my friend asked about when i went to the doctor for a broken toe. I said I didn't go, I couldn't afford it (it was a toe.) I have had some perimenopausal stuff this year and we've had to really weigh what we could afford to test and do, because on one income, I'd rather spend on the kids if we have to. In the end I didn't go. This friend has magical health care through a teacher's union, and just couldn't relate. I told her I have to accrue $5K out of pocket before I even get anything covered, and this is *the best* coverage my husband's company provides. Its awful. Having a pre-existing condition means I have to keep coverage no matter what. I hate it. I feel you.
I really get this. I am so relieved we got to keep our plan, but it's not like it's the greatest! We opted into an HSA plan when we switched insurance when my job ended. We have to pay for everything until a deductible, but the fact that we can save to an HSA is worth it as a tax advantaged account. But it does make me think twice about going to, say, urgent care like we used to. When I fell last year, I probably should have gone, but I didn't. Mostly because I knew what the doctors would say since it was a rib injury, which in most cases you just have to wait out.
Health insurance was the #1 obstacle for me going out as a full-time freelancer! I switched to an HDHP this year because the premiums were slightly lower and to open an HSA to use an extra retirement account. In the end, I feel like it’s still a shitty situation of paying $$$ for healthcare either way. It’s horrible how awful our system is!
I believe it! We are on an HSA plan too. Have been for the past year and a half and it’s working for us so far. You gotta love the tax advantages on both ends. It almost seemed too good to be true.
I checked out the coverages available on the Health Care Exchange and like you, was appalled at the costs and coverages.
But. . . Medicare is no treat. Not only do you pay a premium, plus a supplemental plan, plus a prescription plan, but many doctors limit their Medicare patients. The ones who don't tend to provide very poor health care leaving you on your own. And the prescription plans are horrible. If you need anything other than a cheap generic, it's out of your pocket until you hit $5k.
It's better than nothing, but not by much. And I'm not surprised that doctors limit their Medicare patients. When you see the EOB's, they get reimbursed very poorly for Medicare patients.
😕 I probably needed this dose of reality. I didn’t know that doctors limit their Medicare patients. With the shortage of healthcare workers, this is probably just going to get worse. And that’s not just an American-only problem.
Great post! Really brings home the human toll of just the worry and stress of this insane "system" (let alone the nightmare it can become if you actually need care).
I know a couple of doctors who are Medicare for All activists and they can never understand why employers don't support such a system when it would save *them* money and I keep telling them, it's control — if your insurance is tied to your job you're so much less likely to quit, or challenge your boss about problems in the workplace and risk getting fired. As a friend of mine who is now a nurse said years ago, if we ever get universal health insurance half of the people in the country are going to quit their job and the other half are going to get divorced :)
I guess so considering the history of how healthcare became tied to employment in the first place back in the 40s and 50s. But just because it's become so normalized now doesn't mean it still makes sense. And look at shifts in trends in employment. We had so much whiplash from the Great Resignation to whatever the new thing they're calling it this month, that if conditions are right, people are going to be quitting their jobs anyway.
I have never been so relieved as when my husband qualified for Medicare and my son could get insurance through his college and this is *with* an employee-sponsored plan…at a small company. We spend so much less now and we all have better coverage. The $ for Medicare comes out of his social security check and he got a basic prescription plan through Aetna and we pay under $30/quarter for that. He doesn’t have a supplemental plan currently bc it seemed like we’d be paying more for less (the part b plan $$ goes to the healthcare company, the whole thing feels gross) but will probably look back into that in a few years.
The thing that infuriates me is that if your spouse is still working the $$ you get from social security is *taxed*. So because I am 15 years younger than him, unless I become independently wealthy somehow we will probably always pay tax on his SS. (And the irony of that, no?)
Same when we were looking at plans through the ACA before he qualified for Medicare, because I had access to healthcare through my job we didn’t qualify for any discounts, even though I had to pay full price for him and our son via my work plan which was $$$. At times I wondered if we should get legally divorced just so we could save money.
When I was panicking about our health insurance loss, I ran so many scenarios. One of them was definitely having the kids get insurance through their colleges. I had just submitted paperwork to get the insurance waived for the my high school graduate, but was grateful that this was an option. It seems like pretty decent insurance too. This in-between stage in covering insurance is going to be tricky. I see that the policy of a family plan starts falling apart at some point as family members enter into different stages in life—and at different times!
Yeah if my husband was still on my plan we would have kept our son on, we did for the first year re: the family deductible and OOP. It’s a gamble and a tango. 😣
I need to check out both those shows...thanks for the inspiration <3
🙌 I hope you do!
I’m also counting down the days I can get Medicare. And I still gotta pay premiums and I have no idea how all of it works and since I’m in a deep red state, I expect zero help from my government except to steer me toward Medicare Advantage plans. It’s so incredibly stressful.
One cancer diagnosis and it will wipe out 40-50 years of work, savings, retirement. I’m simply going to die of cancer and not bankrupt anyone trying to stay alive. Bring dead in America beats poor, sick and old.
I’m writing this while waiting at my doctor’s office. The seating area alone, like a grand palace, pumping all the AC… I’m sure my deductible portion doesn’t even cover the cost of one hour operating this place. I get human dignity, but between the admin and interior decoration costs…
Not even going to tell you what my monthly premiums are and my deductible. It’s crushing.
I wouldn't be surprised if you told me. I feel like I've seen it all. When you say, still gotta pay premiums, you mean you'll still get private insurance to supplement? I know my mom paid about $1800 a month supplemental for her and my dad when he was alive. Elder care is a huge worry. I saw the inner workings of it going through it with my dad, including how medicare covered the first 3 months of skilled nursing home stay, which we couldn't believe because it seemed too good to be true.
The email I read right before I read this piece let me know that my insurance has decided my echocardiogram isn't covered (even though my doctor told me I have a heart murmur and need to get one) and will cost me $1600+. The fuckery of it all.
Exactly. The amount of money we pay on top of our premiums for services that we need that should be covered is infuriating. I was a bit shocked to learn that insurance costs are so high because of admin costs, but then again, we have such an inefficient system where it seems to take multiple steps to get anything approved, scheduled, or communicated, I suppose it isn't that surprising.
Don't forget that the various companies involved (hospitals, pharmaceuticals, insurance) need to also make huge profits to be able to assuage their boards and pay their CEOs a ridiculous salary.
Of course!! 🙄
I’m zoomed way in to Rita’s paintings and wishing so hard they’d still be up past July 20! Wahhhh! 😢💛😘
I know. July 20 seems to be when the galleries switch out shows. But that means there will be new ones to check out!
True!! ❤️
It's insane! Here in France we have pretty awesome benefits but a major health services crisis, mainly due to thé lack of personnel, which in turn is due to poor wages (well its à bit more complex but basically thats it). In some areas, its à challenge to find à doctor and i have heard of People travelling for 3 or 4 hours to Paris and then fit several appointments on the same day!
You may enjoy The Mandibles (Lionel shriver) and Unsheltered (barbara kingsolver) on thid topic - or they might stress you out even more!
It's interesting to get a non-American perspective! We also have a personnel shortage. I think that's pretty common everywhere in the world now.
I'm not sure I need anything else to stress me out even more than I am, lol
I was recently camping with friends, and that went great, but we got around to talking about health and such and my friend asked about when i went to the doctor for a broken toe. I said I didn't go, I couldn't afford it (it was a toe.) I have had some perimenopausal stuff this year and we've had to really weigh what we could afford to test and do, because on one income, I'd rather spend on the kids if we have to. In the end I didn't go. This friend has magical health care through a teacher's union, and just couldn't relate. I told her I have to accrue $5K out of pocket before I even get anything covered, and this is *the best* coverage my husband's company provides. Its awful. Having a pre-existing condition means I have to keep coverage no matter what. I hate it. I feel you.
I really get this. I am so relieved we got to keep our plan, but it's not like it's the greatest! We opted into an HSA plan when we switched insurance when my job ended. We have to pay for everything until a deductible, but the fact that we can save to an HSA is worth it as a tax advantaged account. But it does make me think twice about going to, say, urgent care like we used to. When I fell last year, I probably should have gone, but I didn't. Mostly because I knew what the doctors would say since it was a rib injury, which in most cases you just have to wait out.
Health insurance was the #1 obstacle for me going out as a full-time freelancer! I switched to an HDHP this year because the premiums were slightly lower and to open an HSA to use an extra retirement account. In the end, I feel like it’s still a shitty situation of paying $$$ for healthcare either way. It’s horrible how awful our system is!
I believe it! We are on an HSA plan too. Have been for the past year and a half and it’s working for us so far. You gotta love the tax advantages on both ends. It almost seemed too good to be true.
I checked out the coverages available on the Health Care Exchange and like you, was appalled at the costs and coverages.
But. . . Medicare is no treat. Not only do you pay a premium, plus a supplemental plan, plus a prescription plan, but many doctors limit their Medicare patients. The ones who don't tend to provide very poor health care leaving you on your own. And the prescription plans are horrible. If you need anything other than a cheap generic, it's out of your pocket until you hit $5k.
It's better than nothing, but not by much. And I'm not surprised that doctors limit their Medicare patients. When you see the EOB's, they get reimbursed very poorly for Medicare patients.
😕 I probably needed this dose of reality. I didn’t know that doctors limit their Medicare patients. With the shortage of healthcare workers, this is probably just going to get worse. And that’s not just an American-only problem.
Great post! Really brings home the human toll of just the worry and stress of this insane "system" (let alone the nightmare it can become if you actually need care).
I know a couple of doctors who are Medicare for All activists and they can never understand why employers don't support such a system when it would save *them* money and I keep telling them, it's control — if your insurance is tied to your job you're so much less likely to quit, or challenge your boss about problems in the workplace and risk getting fired. As a friend of mine who is now a nurse said years ago, if we ever get universal health insurance half of the people in the country are going to quit their job and the other half are going to get divorced :)
I guess so considering the history of how healthcare became tied to employment in the first place back in the 40s and 50s. But just because it's become so normalized now doesn't mean it still makes sense. And look at shifts in trends in employment. We had so much whiplash from the Great Resignation to whatever the new thing they're calling it this month, that if conditions are right, people are going to be quitting their jobs anyway.
I have never been so relieved as when my husband qualified for Medicare and my son could get insurance through his college and this is *with* an employee-sponsored plan…at a small company. We spend so much less now and we all have better coverage. The $ for Medicare comes out of his social security check and he got a basic prescription plan through Aetna and we pay under $30/quarter for that. He doesn’t have a supplemental plan currently bc it seemed like we’d be paying more for less (the part b plan $$ goes to the healthcare company, the whole thing feels gross) but will probably look back into that in a few years.
The thing that infuriates me is that if your spouse is still working the $$ you get from social security is *taxed*. So because I am 15 years younger than him, unless I become independently wealthy somehow we will probably always pay tax on his SS. (And the irony of that, no?)
Same when we were looking at plans through the ACA before he qualified for Medicare, because I had access to healthcare through my job we didn’t qualify for any discounts, even though I had to pay full price for him and our son via my work plan which was $$$. At times I wondered if we should get legally divorced just so we could save money.
When I was panicking about our health insurance loss, I ran so many scenarios. One of them was definitely having the kids get insurance through their colleges. I had just submitted paperwork to get the insurance waived for the my high school graduate, but was grateful that this was an option. It seems like pretty decent insurance too. This in-between stage in covering insurance is going to be tricky. I see that the policy of a family plan starts falling apart at some point as family members enter into different stages in life—and at different times!
Yeah if my husband was still on my plan we would have kept our son on, we did for the first year re: the family deductible and OOP. It’s a gamble and a tango. 😣
A tango. That is a perfect analogy to this mess.