We're in the ZONE -- not poor enough for "benefits" and not rich enough to not care. I'd be willing to say MOST of us are in that bucket, but I'm not sure.
Same. Wife isn’t working after family business damage and we refused food stamps and unemployment for the sake of government NOT getting involved with us anymore than they already are. The misses is homeschooling our 12 year old this year though, so I think it’s a win! Broke af though!
Any chance there are other parents in your area that want their kid to be homeschooled with your kiddo? They could pay a small fee and that would help both parties.
Yeah, my wife has a FULL PLATE at the moment, unfortunately. She’s got hoshimotos thyroid syndrome, depression, anxiety, progressive deafness and many more lol. We just scrapin by fren.
Wife and I had Obummer care when we first retired. A basic plan because neither of us were on Medicare. Long story short, wife took out her knee stepping off a curb at Walmart. With copays, deductibles and medications it ended up costing us over $12,000 out of pocket that year. One medication alone was going to be over $900.00 a month. Luckey for us we were poor enough to qualify for reduced drug cost from one of the big pharma companies and we got the monthly cost down to only to a little over a hundred per month. The hospital was able to let us make no interest monthly payment so we could continue to feed ourselves. It was absolutely the worst plan we ever had in our lives.
Do me a favor (if you haven't yet done this) and go to https://goodrx.com and look up your meds. Sometimes big pharma is just raping you on drug charges in combination with pharmacy benefit managers who work with doctors to prescribe the newest and highest-priced drugs. However, sometimes you can find them on goodrx for WAY lower - instead of using your insurance. I use it for a couple of my meds that insurance wants yo charge me $75 for, and they end up being somewhere around $30.
This goes for everyone - insurance or not. The only downside is if you can use the amount you pay for drugs to count towards your max out of pocket and/or deductible. Usually you are still better off. I use the local walmart pharmacy because they are close to me, and they lookup the drug cost for me of any new drugs the doc sends in to see if it would be cheaper for me on goodrx or insurance.
No - I don't work for or know anyone who does work for goodrx - I do cyber security. Besides - it is free to use. They get better drug prices because of the volume of people that use them.
Thank You for the response. I have used Goodrx a few times and have saved a lot of money. The drug that was so expensive for my wife was a blood thinner due to complications from blood clots. She was on it for 6 months before the doctor approved her for knee surgery. Another long story, but it was due to insurance giving us a run around waiting to get an approval for an MRI. That cause the blood clots and then they would not do any surgery until she was off of the blood thinner. Again, Bamma care was the WORST insurance plan we have ever had in our entire lives.
Did you dispute the charge. How did they justify charge if you did not seek med care? Is it like you were penalized because you did not go to doctor?
I have barely used any Medicare since I got on it four years ago, and United Healthcare is constantly calling me about making an appointment for a housecall type visit. I told them initially that if they wanted to have someone meet me at a 3rd location, I would do that, but they seem insistent that the appointment has to take place at my home address, so I told them for fuck off.
Yeah, wtf is up with that? I’ve got Cigna and they called me up over two years ago wanting to come to my home to do a healthcare check and insistent little bastard at that. I have to get a yearly physical once a year as well as a second “checkup” or my insurance won’t pay for the prescription I’m on for blood pressure. They get every note, X-ray report, medication list from my primary care doc whose also a POS jab pushing asshole. I told the dumbass that on the phone and added to come at his own peril. I’m seriously considering canceling the entire thing. Way too much invasion
Medicare fraud. They go to your house to see what kinds of medical devices and hardware they can bill for. Think scooters, ramps, stair chairs, maybe even an elevator "so a wheelchair can fit on it". They may not even tell you about it - they can bill Medicare for stuff they "buy" for you and if you don't know about it nobody is the wiser.
When my wife (who is 2 years older than me) is finally eligible for Medicare sometime in the later 2030s and they try to pull that, all my cameras will be recording into Zoneminder with full audio. I may even be able to hide them by then. I plan on being the classic old guy shaking his fist and yelling "get off my lawn", and I can't wait to go scorched earth on these a-holes. I hate it when seniors get taken advantage of, and I plan on doing my part to help stop it.
Yea, OP, I feel for ya. It's not nice for the government to mandate you to get something you really don't want and then a few years later they come after you for the portion you didn't use. Feels like their hand is up your @$$ way too much. But, on a more happy note........January 20, 2025 will be a wonderful day for this country. Hundreds of federal agencies will go away overnight. It won't help your situation right now, but it is something worth looking forward towards.
They probably made a little more money than they estimated when they signed up. There"s a supplement that depends on income. The supplement is given to people with incomes as high as the $300k+ range. Trump had a change made to limit the clawback to just the amount it would be for the actual income you made. Prior to that, they wanted the entire supplement back if your income was higher than estimated. The last year it was done that way, I made $4,300 more than I estimated. I got a $34,000 extra tax because of that. I found out that I could contribute $4,300 to my IRA for the year before(which is the year of tax I was paying) which is allowed up to April 15th. As a result, I got an $800 refund on my Fed taxes that year. Crazy!
When I see that pic of Trump's "Fight Fight Fight" -- I feel it.
We're in the ZONE -- not poor enough for "benefits" and not rich enough to not care. I'd be willing to say MOST of us are in that bucket, but I'm not sure.
Same. Wife isn’t working after family business damage and we refused food stamps and unemployment for the sake of government NOT getting involved with us anymore than they already are. The misses is homeschooling our 12 year old this year though, so I think it’s a win! Broke af though!
Any chance there are other parents in your area that want their kid to be homeschooled with your kiddo? They could pay a small fee and that would help both parties.
Yeah, my wife has a FULL PLATE at the moment, unfortunately. She’s got hoshimotos thyroid syndrome, depression, anxiety, progressive deafness and many more lol. We just scrapin by fren.
I’m sorry to hear that, that’s way more than a plateful.
Thanks, fren. It’s tough, but whole family is jab free and we will see the other side of this thing.
Look into Medshare, a Christian based company.
https://www.medishare.com/ the one you posted seems to be a money laundering front.
I think a healthy lifestyle and judicious use of supplements can go a long way toward saving lots of money and being comfy.
Your not wrong
Wife and I had Obummer care when we first retired. A basic plan because neither of us were on Medicare. Long story short, wife took out her knee stepping off a curb at Walmart. With copays, deductibles and medications it ended up costing us over $12,000 out of pocket that year. One medication alone was going to be over $900.00 a month. Luckey for us we were poor enough to qualify for reduced drug cost from one of the big pharma companies and we got the monthly cost down to only to a little over a hundred per month. The hospital was able to let us make no interest monthly payment so we could continue to feed ourselves. It was absolutely the worst plan we ever had in our lives.
Do me a favor (if you haven't yet done this) and go to https://goodrx.com and look up your meds. Sometimes big pharma is just raping you on drug charges in combination with pharmacy benefit managers who work with doctors to prescribe the newest and highest-priced drugs. However, sometimes you can find them on goodrx for WAY lower - instead of using your insurance. I use it for a couple of my meds that insurance wants yo charge me $75 for, and they end up being somewhere around $30.
This goes for everyone - insurance or not. The only downside is if you can use the amount you pay for drugs to count towards your max out of pocket and/or deductible. Usually you are still better off. I use the local walmart pharmacy because they are close to me, and they lookup the drug cost for me of any new drugs the doc sends in to see if it would be cheaper for me on goodrx or insurance.
No - I don't work for or know anyone who does work for goodrx - I do cyber security. Besides - it is free to use. They get better drug prices because of the volume of people that use them.
Thank You for the response. I have used Goodrx a few times and have saved a lot of money. The drug that was so expensive for my wife was a blood thinner due to complications from blood clots. She was on it for 6 months before the doctor approved her for knee surgery. Another long story, but it was due to insurance giving us a run around waiting to get an approval for an MRI. That cause the blood clots and then they would not do any surgery until she was off of the blood thinner. Again, Bamma care was the WORST insurance plan we have ever had in our entire lives.
Did you dispute the charge. How did they justify charge if you did not seek med care? Is it like you were penalized because you did not go to doctor?
I have barely used any Medicare since I got on it four years ago, and United Healthcare is constantly calling me about making an appointment for a housecall type visit. I told them initially that if they wanted to have someone meet me at a 3rd location, I would do that, but they seem insistent that the appointment has to take place at my home address, so I told them for fuck off.
Yeah, wtf is up with that? I’ve got Cigna and they called me up over two years ago wanting to come to my home to do a healthcare check and insistent little bastard at that. I have to get a yearly physical once a year as well as a second “checkup” or my insurance won’t pay for the prescription I’m on for blood pressure. They get every note, X-ray report, medication list from my primary care doc whose also a POS jab pushing asshole. I told the dumbass that on the phone and added to come at his own peril. I’m seriously considering canceling the entire thing. Way too much invasion
Medicare fraud. They go to your house to see what kinds of medical devices and hardware they can bill for. Think scooters, ramps, stair chairs, maybe even an elevator "so a wheelchair can fit on it". They may not even tell you about it - they can bill Medicare for stuff they "buy" for you and if you don't know about it nobody is the wiser.
When my wife (who is 2 years older than me) is finally eligible for Medicare sometime in the later 2030s and they try to pull that, all my cameras will be recording into Zoneminder with full audio. I may even be able to hide them by then. I plan on being the classic old guy shaking his fist and yelling "get off my lawn", and I can't wait to go scorched earth on these a-holes. I hate it when seniors get taken advantage of, and I plan on doing my part to help stop it.
Yea, OP, I feel for ya. It's not nice for the government to mandate you to get something you really don't want and then a few years later they come after you for the portion you didn't use. Feels like their hand is up your @$$ way too much. But, on a more happy note........January 20, 2025 will be a wonderful day for this country. Hundreds of federal agencies will go away overnight. It won't help your situation right now, but it is something worth looking forward towards.
They probably made a little more money than they estimated when they signed up. There"s a supplement that depends on income. The supplement is given to people with incomes as high as the $300k+ range. Trump had a change made to limit the clawback to just the amount it would be for the actual income you made. Prior to that, they wanted the entire supplement back if your income was higher than estimated. The last year it was done that way, I made $4,300 more than I estimated. I got a $34,000 extra tax because of that. I found out that I could contribute $4,300 to my IRA for the year before(which is the year of tax I was paying) which is allowed up to April 15th. As a result, I got an $800 refund on my Fed taxes that year. Crazy!