I am 64 years old, and I just paid my quarterly health insurance

[MineralMan]

premium. I've had this policy since I was 40 years old, with Blue Cross. First in California, and now in Minnesota.

The premium for the next quarter is $2178. Like most people, the income in this household has gone down over the past year. Both my wife and I are self-employed. I'm semi-retired, and have ramped up my tiny little business to bring some more bucks into the household. But there's still not enough money to cover this.

So, I transferred that much into my checking account so we can pay this premium. I took it from one of my available credit cards. There's room in there for it. I didn't want to do that, but when you're 64, going without health insurance is a bad bet.

I will have one more quarter's premium to pay before turning 65 and going on Medicare. I hope the cash will be available in three months. If it is not, I will have to do the same thing I did today. I do not want to do that.

Again, at 64, I can't take the risk. I could have a heart attack or a stroke and that would cost us our home. There are so many ways a sudden illness could bankrupt us that it was necessary to borrow money to pay my premium.

What is about to pass in the Senate won't help me. I hope it will help some other people. I hope even more that it will soon be modified to be a better bill than it is now. It won't until we get some new Senators. That is clear. We desperately need to replace the half dozen Democratic senators who have stood in the way of decent health care reform.

Next year, I'll be past this problem, but most people won't. I want them to be past it, too. We must do all we can to replace the terrible Senators who have caused this poor excuse of a health reform bill to be all we can get.

Thanks for listening.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Hang in there, my dear MineralMan...

:hug:

[MineralMan]

2. I will. I'm actually lucky. I can borrow to do this.

We've been very careful with credit cards and have them available. Not everyone is so lucky. I hate having to do this, but at least I can. So many people do not even have that ability to borrow. We'll make it just fine, but it's all those who cannot who really need help.

And we can help them all by working hard to get people elected who will enact true health care reform. We must do this, and we can do this.

[laughingliberal]

16. Yes, right after I lost my job I had to grab a chunk off our available credit to COBRA our insurance

Didn't want to buy my husband had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer and could not leave him without coverage for the treatment. In those days, I still figured we would both get our income back up and pay it off which did not happen. Even still, bankruptcy was the better alternative than waiting for that disease to take its course and kill him. Hell, we've lost everything. I don't think I could have faced losing him, too. Hang in there! You don't have far to go!

[AwakeAtLast]

3. My Mom was paying $700 a month until she turned 65

And that was through a state (IL) health plan designed for people who retire at 62 like she did. She said Cobra would have been more. She was able to make it, but I don't know how.

Sorry you're in the same boat she was. :hug:

[MineralMan]

5. I can see the end of it, so I'll deal.

So many others are not that lucky.

[winyanstaz]

4. My heart goes out to you and all the people so desperatly in need of health care.

Although I have insurance...I can't use it because I cannot afford the $150.00 co-pay every single time I go see a Dr for anything or get a prescription.
The only thing worse than no insurance is insurance that is useless.
I am a military widow.
That is why you see so many vets on the streets with no healthcare. Congress decided anyone retired or out of active duty..must go see private Drs and pay the big co-pay which is impossible on a military pension.
That's how they got out of funding vet health care and could pat themselves on the back at the same time. "Look..we gave them insurance didnt we?"
This new healthcare bill is going to be a lot like that for the rest of America too.
(p.s. Don't worry for me though because this has pushed me into learning about herbal remedies and taking care of my self and I am doing fine. Just please write your reps to do something for the returning vets..thanks :))

[MineralMan]

8. I haven't used my deductible for many years.

I'm actually quite healthy (knock on wood). I hope to remain that way, but I do have to wait until Medicare kicks in to do things like a colonoscopy. Can't afford it. I doubt I need it, since there's absolutely no family history.

I only take one prescription, for high blood pressure, but it's a generic and cheap. If I can get through the next six months, I'll be good.

So many people aren't as lucky. Those are the people who need real health care reform, and it won't happen until we replace several Senators. That must be our main goal.

[FLDCVADem]

22. If you are due military widow benefits

then please go to the nearest base and start getting them!

Retiree health care is not huge co-pay - 20% under TriCare standard and $10 or so under TriCare Prime (premiumus for TriCare Prime are ~$1000/year).

[formercia]

6. Pick your poison

If the Insurance Corporations won't bleed you to death, the Medical-Industrial complex will. You can let your Significant Other spend it or let the Doctors' Significant Others spend it. The choice is yours. at least until Congress gets a Spine.

We need a GOVERNMENT RUN, SINGLE PAYER option.

[MineralMan]

10. That's the goal. Medicare for all. It's such a simple concept.

The insurance companies could sell supplements to cover the 20% not covered by Medicare. They seem to like doing that for current Medicare recipients, if my mail is any indication. My mailbox is crammed full of people wanting to sell me supplemental policies, and they're cheap, too.

That's what we need, along with subsidies to cover people who can't even afford Medicare premiums. It's what I hope happens at some point. It's not going to happen this year, though.

[DemReadingDU]

49. Medicare for All

That's what we need. If people don't want it, then they can stay with their current insurance company. It's a no-brainer. Open up Medicare to the uninsured. Then open Medicare to those 55 and older. Then Medicare for the other age groups. Simple.

Spouse and I are in the over-60 age group too. Thankfully, we are both healthy, but anything can happen. Dang, these insurance premiums are expensive.
:(

[KittyWampus]

7. Blue Cross just notified my very small family business that my Hospitalization is upping $80/month

So that's about $600 a MONTH my small family business is paying. And we aren't making much this time of the year. And we just had to do some major repairs and will have do some some renovation before Spring.

I just started looking into NY State options but they all require limited "Resources" to get into programs. I have a small 401K which would count against me. And my father just put my name on one of his accounts in case something happens to him so I can keep things going. That would also count against me.

And it's sick that the little we manage to do for planning into the future counts AGAINST us when it comes to getting help from the State for Health Insurance.

I'd like to just say forget the Insurance... but... but...

[MineralMan]

11. You can't skip the insurance. Any serious illness, and

you're bankrupt. That's the extortionary hold they have over us. It sucks. It sucks bigtime!

I don't qualify for the state plan here, either. We own our home outright, and that eliminates us from it, even though our income qualifies. I refuse to compromise the home ownership. At least I'll have a place to live.

[tomm2thumbs]

9. definitely keep the insurance as you can until the medicare kicks in

getting this close - gotta get to that tape!

[MineralMan]

12. Yup. It's an absolute must. Drop it and you're guaranteed to

get sick or something. 6 months. I can do that. Not everyone can, though, which is the point of this OP. We MUST do something that eliminates that.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

13. MineralMan, however you work out

the remaining premium payments, I wish you good health! Indefinitely.

I had the horrific experience this week of watching one of my neighbors (early 60's)who had been the picture of good health go all-wobbly in the knees and fall to the ground as she was getting into a car with her son. He took her to the hospital instead of calling 911, and she had had a stroke that has left her left arm and leg useless. So she's hospitalized, going into rehab for at least 10 days, and her husband who is 81 years old is left alone at home. He has terrible breathing problems (emphysema) as well as a heart condition. His wife has long been his caretaker, but what's to become of them now? She would have been one of the last people in the world I could have imagined having a stroke - just hope she can make a damn good recovery.:hug

K&R

[MineralMan]

26. Getting old sucks, pretty much.

None of us lives forever, and the last few years can be difficult. Uff da!

[Hekate]

14. KnR

[Name removed]

15. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[monmouth]

17. Medicare covers very little. You need the supplement and that's

what is expensive. A low cost supplement isn't much better coverage than plain old Medicare. I just cross my fingers and hope for the best.

[MineralMan]

19. Actually, the supplement I'm looking at is only about $100/mo.

Covers the 20% Medicare doesn't pay, and providers have to accept the Medicare amount. About $100 for the Medicare a month and $100 for the supplement. Lots nicer than $700+.

[glinda]

46. Exactly. Husband went on Medicare last year and we went from 1250/mo to 340 until they raised me to

500/mo. Like in four months time!

[Name removed]

27. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. We pay $2400 a quarter from my husband's pension,

so I hear where you're coming from. Unfortunately for us (we're 63 and 62), Medicare in Alaska is a big joke, so we're REALLY going to be in trouble when 65 rolls around. Doctors who take Medicare patients here are dropping like flies. Just this morning, this guest column appeared in the Anchorage Daily News:

http://www.adn.com/opinion/compass/story/1062156.html

Doctors and patients, not feds, know best
COMPASS: Other points of view

By ILONA FARR, M.D.

I have made the heart-wrenching decision as a physician to opt out of Medicare. I do so after working with Sen. Stevens, Sen. Murkowski and Rep. Young for a decade in hopes we could ensure seniors would be able to continue to receive medical services in Alaska.

On a visit costing $115, Medicare pays $40, secondary insurance pays $7, and the rest -- $68 -- is a loss, not a tax write- off. It takes six insurance paying patient visits to offset losses from one Medicare or Medicaid patient.

The House health care bills, HR3590/HR3962, increase the number of people not paying their share of the costs and will lead doctors to opt out of Medicare or retire early.

Anchorage has 75 family physicians, down from 180. Physician shortages like these are caused by government interference in the free market. Government artificially keeps reimbursement rates low, forcing other patients, and insurance companies, to pick up the additional costs. Family practice residencies are filled with foreign medical graduates because of high costs (more than $200,000) associated with medical school. Low physician reimbursement rates make it difficult to repay loans.

Medicare and Medicaid auditors are paid on commission, can fine us $2,000 to $50,000 for one charting mistake or billing error, and then extrapolate this over the practice and drive us out of business ... all for one minor mistake. There is fraud, but this system that penalizes us severely for simple errors is untenable.

In these bills malpractice reform is restricted, health savings accounts (which help reduce costs and fraud) are essentially eliminated, and taxes and fees on insurance and medical services are increased. There are no Medicare/Medicaid rate, rule, or audit reforms, or tax write-offs for business losses.

One section in Sen. Harry Reid's bill says Medicare will no longer pay for home health services, durable medical goods, and possibly labs, X-rays, prescriptions or other services written by providers who have opted out of Medicare. Many talented physicians have had to opt out of Medicare (and by this law must opt out of Medicaid and the military's Tricare also) to stay in business. People will no longer be able to see these physicians because of government financial restrictions or will be forced to pay all medical bills associated with these visits themselves.

Bills under consideration cut Medicare spending by $460 billion, raise fees on medical services, increase physicians' administrative burdens, promote electronic medical records with mandated reporting of outcomes data, and increase business costs so it will be impossible for small practices to survive.

My decision to withdraw from Medicare was also precipitated by U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's recommendation that breast cancer screening mammograms should only be done on women between age 50 and 74. Approximately 48 percent of my patients with breast cancer developed it before age 50. Up to 1.2 percent of my practice, mostly young mothers, could have died if this were a national guideline.

The Senate bill has this task force and other committees determining what tests will be covered for patients. I am concerned that penalties may be imposed on insurance companies, and maybe providers, for going against these guidelines. The Hippocratic Oath compels us to protect the health of all humans throughout life, and many provisions in these health care bills would cause us to violate that oath.

Physicians and patients (not government) should decide the best, most cost- effective medical treatment for patients. Government should not dictate to insurance companies or providers which tests can or cannot be covered. Medicine is changing too rapidly for guidelines to be made at a national level.

I have worked in government medical facilities and in private practice for the last 26 years. Physicians provide timelier, less costly and more patient-oriented care if not overseen by hordes of non-producing government administrators.

I am in favor of reform, but current bills before Congress will collapse our health care system and work against the freedoms we are guaranteed under the Constitution. Government should not be allowed to force people to purchase health insurance, mandate what health care services you are allowed, or increase our taxes astronomically to support a huge government health care bureaucracy that will bankrupt us as individuals and as a nation.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ilona Farr, M.D., is a physician in Anchorage.

Of course, she is spewing Republican talking points, but the fact remains that there are basically no primary care physicians in Alaska who take Medicare patients, which is creating a huge overcrowding problem at our Neighborhood Health Center, one of the few places that takes Medicare patients.

It's a difficult problem. I don't know the answer, but I'm very thankful I'm healthy. When/if I get sick, I think I just want to die at home and get it over with rather than hassle with all this stuff.

[MineralMan]

20. That's bad. My primary care clinic accepts Medicare patients

and bills Medicare amounts. If they didn't accept Medicare, the place would be empty. Lots of Medical providers in Minnesota, and all the major groups accept Medicare. Sounds like AK isn't as well supplied with providers as MN.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. We're in BIG trouble up here.

To her credit, Lisa Murkowski has been trying to get something passed that will provide incentives to primary care doctors choosing to come up here, such as paying part of their student loans, but with no medical schools in the state and with our high cost of living, many kids who go into medicine from here end up staying Outside after graduation.

Seventy-five primary-care physicians for a city the size of Anchorage, around 260,000, is pretty pathetic in and of itself, but when so few of them accept Medicare patients, it's a huge tragedy. I really don't know what we're supposed to do.

[MineralMan]

25. Wow! That's really few providers for a city that size.

I don't know what the number is here in Saint Paul, which about the same sized city, although it's just part of a metro area of about 3 million. It may be necessary to bail on AK at some point, I'd think.

I'm so sorry!

[Blue_In_AK]

28. I'm not ready to bail yet.

This has been my home for 34-1/2 years and I love it. As I said, we're both still quite healthy and we do everything we can to assure we stay that way. It would absolutely break my heart to have to leave this place behind. I might die just from homesickness.

[MineralMan]

29. I understand that, for sure. Alaska's a beautiful place.

I've only been there once, to fish for salmon in Haines. I loved it.

[dana_b]

21. mineral man - I hope you get past this and

won't have to keep on charging on your credit cards. I know how hard that is!!

I too hope this bill does more good than not but I seriously don't believe it will. :(

[MineralMan]

23. I'll do OK. It's all those who aren't as fortunate that I worry about.

That's why I'm going to dedicate myself to putting good progressive Democrats in office. It's the best think I can think of to fix this problem.

[dana_b]

30. yep! you got that right! n/t

[treestar]

31. is that for both of you?

way more expensive than mine.

[MineralMan]

33. Uh, no. That's just for me. My wife's is only slightly less.

We're on individual policies. She's stuck due to pre-existing conditions. I'm stuck due to age. It just goes up every year. Together, we pay almost $17,000 a year.

[treestar]

38. Ack, how horrible

No wonder so many people hate insurance companies! Though are glad they are there when things go wrong.

[DeschutesRiver]

32. I am 51; dh is 56, and we've had BC/BS since we were in our 20s.

We had to jack up the deductible, I think to $5,000 per person to get the quarterly back down a bit. At least that was last time I checked; I am hoping we didn't do something like raise the deductible to $10k/per person. We had deductibles over $1000k for the last decade or so, and thus we've paid for our small medical issues on our own basically since they never exceeded the deductible we've had. Our prescription coverage is extremely limited - if we'd ever had to use it for anything other than a few weeks of antibiotics for both of us, it would quickly run out.

Knock on wood, so far haven't had any major medical issues, just smaller ones. So for two older but relatively healthy adults, our premium is $1400 per quarter ($800+ for him/quarter, and 600+ for me). Goes up every quarter. The annual premium cost, plus the deductible if both of us got sick in the same year, and the limited prescription payouts has made me come to realize that we pay all this just in case we ever have a catastrophic illness/accident. At which point, from what I've been reading, they will probably just cancel us. I think the lifetime limit on this policy is 2 million, so I hope we don't suffer a series of expensive medical disasters.

I do hear where you are coming from, and you are indeed lucky that you are near the magical age when you won't have to fear bamkruptcy and losing your home just because you happen to have had the fortune of living long enough that it is more rather than less likely you might have a serious medical issue, for which the expensive policy you bought to protect yourself isn't worth the paper it is written on.

I don't want anyone to live in fear over health care expense and the risk of being denied coverage when they need it the most. It is just primitive for us to live that way, while those on the right parrot how we are so exceptional as a Nation. Maybe we were once (doubt it), maybe we aspire to be so, but it is laughable at present.

[MineralMan]

34. Yes. We need to join the rest of the civilized world and

have universal health care. The only way that will happen is if we can put progressives in office. We need to start now and keep right on working on that.

[DeschutesRiver]

43. I wish I still had your optimism

but even at my age, I am not certain that we will meet the rest of the world's standard in this regard in my lifetime.

Still, that HCR has even come this far is a miracle, and I've never been one to roll over and accept "no" as a final answer for quite a few things in my lifetime. I was simple minded enough (as an Independent) to believe that merely finally having a majority of dems in office would be enough for real change. I was mentally lazy, and completely missed how many flavors democrats come in. Much of the disappointment I feel in the process is entirely my own fault.

Am in progress of rethinking how I approach my voting in the future.

[lebkuchen]

35. This does not happen in Europe

I wish the EU would provide for a Marshall Plan for the US health care system.

[MineralMan]

36. Wouldn't that be something. The USA on the receiving end of

something like that. How humbling it would be.

[Matariki]

37. MineralMan, I'm curious how you feel about the bill as it stands now

- specifically the mandate.

The figures I've heard for a cap on premiums is $10,000 a year for a couple. That sounds like it's a little more than what you are paying now. A Mandate would specifically effect people in your situation the most - self employed and making more than the cut-off point for subsidies. If you couldn't come up with that quarterly payment, not only would you be without insurance but you would have to pay a fine as well. Insult to injury.

Do you think passing the bill the way it is in the hopes of improving on it is preferable to the above?

[MineralMan]

40. Actually, it would save my wife and I almost $7k.

By the time it takes effect, I will be on Medicare.

I think passing the bill is necessary, and it will help many people. I think, too, that it needs to be heavily worked over by future Congresses, which is why I'm talking about how to get better representation in both houses.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. That is why Obama should have STARTED by pushing single payer relentlessly

and mounting a smart publicity campaign (with the best minds in the PR business) to counteract the right-wing scare tactics.

Then the public option would have been the compromise position, and a skilled negotiator would have been able to get the Republicans to think that they had won a hard-fought victory by ending up without single-payer.

He should never have consulted with the insurance companies and Big Pharma and should have used his considerable fan base to rally support for single payer. He should have "taken Reid and Pelosi to the woodshed" and emphasized the importance of whipping their troops into shape.

By raising the question of health care and then flubbing it, he has harmed the Democrats, raising expectations and then coming up with a piece of corporate welfare close to the Republican-devised Massachusetts plan.

[MineralMan]

41. Personally, I do not believe that single payer would have come

even close to passage in the current Congress. In fact, I'm sure of it. No amount of work by President Obama would have worked. We're barely getting this half-assed bill through the Senate. Imagine a single-payer bill. It might get 40 votes. That's it.

Sorry, but we need new people in both houses of Congress. That's what I'm working for. In the meantime, this bill will help some. Better than none.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. Fine, but that would have planted the idea in people's minds

and then, after being extremely stubborn and united for a few weeks, the Dems could have said, "Oh, all right, you win. We'll just have an optional public plan."

We all would have been better off, and a public option would more easily have expanded into single payer than forced private insurance.

By giving into the Republicans objections before negotiating (and that's something the Dems do way too much, apologizing or caving whenever the Republicans pout), they gave credence to the Republicans' claim that "socialized medicine" was EEEEVILLLL.

[glinda]

42. Great email. I am 55, cannot work, live off husband's retirement and have 10 yrs before we get help.

We will have possibly lost the house by that time or I will have died due to the poor insurance that I have at the moment or we will have totally lost all my husband's retirement savings. Much to look forward to. Too much money to qualify for aid and not enough to actually survive.
Especially if something happens.

[HughMoran]

45. Agreed - the whole "60" thing was a joke from the beginning

Funny how many of those who pointed out how much of a joke this "60" thing was back at election time are now blaming Obama for the losses in the HCR bill. :think:

[Jamastiene]

47. Eureka! You just put your finger on what I have been trying to figure out all day.

We don't need to replace all the Dems. We just need to replace the ones who are making what could have been good turn bad. I feel so dumb. Why didn't I think of that? That's the answer.

I hope you can pay your last premium with less trouble. :hug:

[eridani]

48. Hey, don't worry! Next up is a "commission" to "reform" entitlements like

--Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid! :sarcasm:

[bongobobtherealone]

50. Why does that figure

sound familiar to me?? I guess BC if you make it $2,278, that's what my spouses BC/BS quarterly premium is. As I have pre existing conditions, I have to go through the Maryland Health Insurance Plan (which is now administered through BC/BS. My monthly premiums are $520.00. That's $1,279.00 a month for 2 people. It's more than our mortgage!
I'm lucky BC many states do not have programs like ours but this is not sustainable. Like most people, our income has gone down, not up.
I really don't think this plan will do anything but make things worse. While many say at least it's a starting point, starting out in a worse position than you're already in doesn't make much sense~

[BlancheSplanchnik]

51. kick but too late to Rec

Rec-ing in spirit.


What's going on with me? I just feel too frustrated to be angry anymore---just getting teary eyed now....