"So far we’ve paid $1570 in medical expenses for the year out of pocket. Our cars are 12 and 10 years old and the older one with 252,000 miles is badly in need of replacement. Neither is anything close to a high priced model.
Worrying about what I’ll eat when I retire? I only eat one meal a day now"
That’s a tremendous amount of money already for the year, just one month in, @KKmama. People can’t afford to live like that. The cost of health care and other expenses just keep going up, and salaries often are either stagnant, or people have taken huge cuts or lost their jobs. It’s so hard to get a decent paying job when you’re older, and I think people are experiencing this all over the country. I’ll never forget the feeling of despair I had when both me and my husband lost our jobs, no employment in sight, with a baby and a toddler. Fortunately we were in our early thirties, and knew that there had to be jobs at some point, if we could just hang on. But it was hard to see beyond that next month, with nothing but an unemployment check and the $7/hr valet job my husband had, coming in.
I have an online gift card I’ll probably never use. If you could PM me, all I need is a name and an email address to send it to you. I promise I won’t send you spam mail.
It’s cosmic karma. I have had people help me when I was in dire situations, and they had no idea that what they thought was a little thing, was so important to me. Ranging from giving me fifteen cents, to a basket of Christmas presents for my son, to a job lead…people have noticed, and come through for me, even when I didn’t ask for help. I owe a lot of people thanks, that’s for sure!
I’m an intensely frugal and practical person, but if I were 79 years old, and had the choice of spending $100 at the dentist or $100 to see a Frank Lloyd Wright house, I might pick the house tour, too.
Presumably, many posters here have regular jobs with employee-provided medical insurance. Take a look at the W-2 form you probably recently got. Look in box 12 for a number with code DD. This is the amount your employer paid for your medical insurance. Some people who never had to look for medical insurance on their own may be surprised at how high this amount can be. When making plans for retirement (particularly before one reaches the age of receiving socialized medical insurance (Medicare)), or safety savings against job loss, the cost of medical insurance and medical care needs to be accounted for.
@busdriver, thanks for kind and generous offer but I wasn’t looking for sympathy. It’s just that people seem eager to think that people with financial problems always bring it on themselves. Probably a way of self- assuring oneself that it can never happen to them.
Medical expenses were partly due to a colonoscopy in November that was billed in December. Joy of ACA: preventative colonoscopies are free but if they have to remove a polyp it becomes treatment and no longer free. I’m glad to have the bill because it means they removed the precancerous growth. Glad I didn’t put it off. And at this rate I’ll reach my out of pocket max quickly so then only have copays. He hadn’t had new glasses in six years and badly needed them and we both needed some other medical tests. We asked what were just routine and refused those. Meds are usually around $125 a month.
What do you all do for excitemnent when you don’t have to figure out financial challenges or work overtime? My life is never dull!
Yes @kkmama it’s the sort of “excitement” I got pretty tired of seven years ago when my business generated no income whatsoever for 18 months and H had been out of work for at least a year. Throw in an illness that required expensive medication and three months to go on his union health insurance. We worked it out ----H has not worked since and calls himself “retired” and I am working hard to find out when I can do the same. Basically, I am well aware of how scary it is when you are trying to stay above the extremely porous American “safety net”. I hope that no one posting here has to experience this. But everyone should know this—it doesn’t take much to find yourself hanging by a thread.
“@busdriver, thanks for kind and generous offer but I wasn’t looking for sympathy. It’s just that people seem eager to think that people with financial problems always bring it on themselves. Probably a way of self- assuring oneself that it can never happen to them.”
I know you weren’t looking for sympathy, just saying what you were dealing with. And after what you went through in the blizzard, I think you shod get a medal, AND win the lottery!!
I want to point out that the out-of-pocket maximums I posted in #91 are the out-of-pocket maximums for any plan, regardless of income level.
ACA provides Cost Sharing Reduction Subsidies for those below certain income thresholds which lowers the out-of-pocket maximium, at which point insurance will pay 100% for all essential health benefits.
"Out-of-pocket Maximums and Subsidies
Under the ACA if you make less than 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) you may qualify for Cost Sharing Reduction Subsidies. These subsidies reduce the out-of-pocket costs you are responsible for and reduce your out-of-pocket maximum as well.
100-200 percent of FPL,
your out-of-pocket limit won’t be more than $2,250 for an individual.
your out-of-pocket limit won’t be more than $4,500 for a family.
200-250 percent of FPL,
your out-of-pocket limit won’t be more than $5,200 for an individual.
your out-of-pocket limit won’t be more than $10,400 for a family.
More than 250% percent of FPL,
your out-of-pocket limit won’t be more than $6,600 for an individual.
your out-of-pocket limit won’t be more than $13,200 for a family."
I’m a big supporter of the ACA, but it’s still not enough on its own to keep everyone out of poverty and bankruptcy, just as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security are good but not sufficient.
Agree @rosered55. It’s what we get when things get watered down in our current political climate. Better for many than what used to be, but still falls short of what a country like ours should have.
KKmama wrote: “And at this rate I’ll reach my out of pocket max quickly so then only have copays.”
@KKmama Are you sure you would still have copays? My understanding is that once you reach your out-of-pocket max, 100% is covered? At least it is with my plan and I thought that is what the ACA language says.
This makes me want to scream!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! There, I screamed.
Why can’t they standardize this? I recently (July 29) had my 3rd colonoscopy (By the way, we have a colonoscopy thread, but I will give the short version here). I am on a 5 year schedule because polyps were found the 2nd time, and 1 or 2 polyps were found this time too. Before the procedure I called BCBS 3 or 4 times trying to find out if I would have to pay nothing or everything for the procedure. I kept getting the answer “nothing”, but then I got the answer “goes against your deductible” - which would mean everything with a $2500 deductible, and then I got “nothing” again. They told me I could go to the facility of my choice. Before ACA I had to go to a special clinic to have the procedure count as an “office visit” and subject to a $30 copay. Much to my surprise this time I paid nothing, nada, not even a co-pay, not even for the upgraded anesthesia. oh, I did pay $80 at the pharmacy for the prep kit. Sorry you got billed for yours, and as I said, with the ACA being a national law you would think they could standardize stuff like this.
