by Heineken » Wed 25 Jun 2008, 23:14:16
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gunny7258', 'T')hat $500 car payment is way more then a monthly major medical policy. Even if you added a long term disability policy to it most people would come way under what most people pay for a car loan.
Two and a half years ago, at the age of 50, I retired early, in part to so I would have more time to take care of my elderly parents and keep them out of nursing homes and off the Medicaid rolls, in part so I could continue to maintain our small farm, and in part because I had done the office-cube routine for over 27 years and was sick of it.
My employer, for which I had worked for 17 years, gave me the option of continuing my health insurance under the Cobra arrangement for another 18 months or so. The monthly premium I was quoted was $479---and remember, that was 2 1/2 years ago. I could not afford this ridiculous premium and opted out.
I contacted many health insurers after leaving my job. Some of them never responded to my requests. Others wanted me to fill out long forms with extensive personal information---especially, information on previous or existing medical conditions that they could use to deny me coverage in the future. All premiums quoted were unaffordably huge, and the terms were freighted with large deductibles.
No
reasonable health insurance coverage is available for people in my age group who are retired or semi-retired. Basically, it doesn't exist. The only exception is a small and dwindling group who continued to be covered by their former employers in a subsidized way. (Those former employers have a bad habit of dropping these people's coverage, too, since not even the employers can afford it.)
Edit: I did spend some of my hard-earned, hard-saved cash (the result of decades of living below my means) on a piece of land, and on a few other hard assets. I was worried about inflation wiping out the value of my money in future---a very real prospect, as we know. It could be argued that I should have spent all of that money on health insurance premiums. Not a very inviting prospect, especially if inflation and rising health insurance premiums and the cost of just living get me back to the same place---unable to afford health insurance. If I get sick I suppose I can sell my farm and pay for my care that way. Is that what you think people should have to do, Gunny? Sell their farms so they can get their broken legs set?