Just got back from Hell......

[Uben]

....damn it was cooooold!

A couple of years ago, I was pushing Hillary for president. I wanted her to win because I truly thought she was the ONLY way we would ever see healthcare reform. I was disappointed when she lost the nomination and disheartened about our chances of seeing any movement on the healthcare issue. When it was apparent Obama was going to get the nomination, I backed him 100%. I liked the energy and sophistication he brought, the smooth, reasonable approach to problems, and the COOL! But, I gave up hope on HCR. Now......WOW! He took it on first (well, after the necessity of preventing full financial collapse of the United States of America). This is huge, and those of us whose main issue was HCR are ecstatic.

My wife and I are retired. We are both between that 55-60 yr old range and she is a cancer survivor.
We are trying to hold on until medicare age. It's tough! We are paying over $18K/yr in premiums for a catastrophic policy that has a $5K deductible and we pay 50% of the next $10K! That is a max of $10K out of pocket on top of the $18K/yr in premiums. So, $28K if somrthing pops up. It doesn't take many years to suck a lot of our savings away. We are looking at spending about $150K in premiums before she gets to medicare age. It been seven yrs since the cancer, and in that period of time we have shelled out about $110K out of pocket expenses. So, a quarter million dollars of savings will have gone to healthcare before we make it to medicare age. How many Americans could do that? We are fortunate to own some investment property that will sustain us until we retire, and still have ample savings, though we took a big hit in the 2008 market crash. The average American would have had to declare bankruptcy.

I don't know if this bill is going to help us any, but it isn't going to hurt us. I'm hoping our small business can purchase insurance cheaper under the bill and reduse those huge premiums.

Any way you look at it, I am so proud of Obama for sticking his neck out on this. It was a huge gamble and a tough fight.....and the man kicked their asses!

So, I raise my glass to you Mr. President, and to all the democrats who have fought so hard to bring us some relief. Today is your day.....and mine.

Thank you so much.

Uben

[Ohio Joe]

1. K&R - nt

[Scurrilous]

2. K & R

:thumbsup:

[mfcorey1]

3. I totally agree.

:toast:

[Cleita]

4. Most of this bill is not going to kick in for several years. I hope to see

a separate bill down the line lowering the Medicare age to 55. This is something that can be done in months after a bill is passed because most of the bureaucracy is in place and it's already operating. It should help people in your age group if Congress can see it's way to do this. I will start pestering my Congress rep and senators about this and you should do so too.

[Divine Discontent]

5. agreed!

[patrice]

6. Watch for changes coming to Elder Care. The Boomers are going to be a force to be

contended with.

[conscious evolution]

10. Got that right

In the last couple of years more people in this country turned 65 than ever before in our history.

[sufrommich]

7. Very uplifting post, Thanks for sharing your story. K&R.

[quiet.american]

8. Nice post. nt

[boomerbust]

9. Here's to you Mr. Uben

Beautifully spoken.:patriot:

[turntxblue]

11. Thanks for posting this...

Mine and my husband's situation mirror yours in many ways. Same age group, and we sold our business to retire this year, as he has MS and really needed an early retirement. In 2006, when his symptoms first began, we discovered that our "insurance" was little more than a discount card, and had a hospitalization max of $20,000. By the time we got a diagnosis, we'd spent close to $30,000 of our own money. While it was a financial hit, I found myself acutely aware of those who must be going through similar situations without insurance or money to find out what was wrong. I realized how much more frightened I would have been to watch my spouse get sicker and have to just wonder what was wrong and wonder if he was dying. Fortunately, we had some money for tests. Of course, once he was diagnosed, insurance was an issue, as we certainly didn't want to keep the joke of a policy that we had. Texas has an un-insurable pool, so for a hefty premium and high deductible, he has what amounts to catastrophic coverage ($5,000 annual deductible). My son and I have a policy with a different ins. company where we basically have the same type of coverage. ($5600 annual deductible) Those are in-network deductibles, and there are equal deductibles for out of network doctors and health care facilities. So, it costs us close to $1000 a mo. to have some degree of protection from bankruptcy. Shortly after Thanksgiving, we went to Costa Rica for stem cell therapy for MS. Of course, that is also out of pocket, as it is not FDA approved or allowed in the US. We knew that before going, so it was a price we were willing to pay, and haven't regretted it in the least, as he is greatly, greatly improved. Sorry for the rambling, but all of this is to say that although it's not the bill that I would have wished into law, I think it's a start...and probably the best that we could have gotten in this political climate. I become very emotional when I realize what courage it takes to march through a group of people who are willing to yell rude and racial epithets, and to spit on you while holding signs with pictures of pistols on them. The Dems are making me proud today! God bless them.

[Lifelong Protester]

12. And I lift my glass to you!

Hang in there, and I hope this bill helps you out ASAP.

[voteearlyvoteoften]

13. I'm so with you

Too bad we have to wait. I was hoping for medicare at 55 or 60. But a win sure feels good.