FIREd up in South Fla. since Nov. 2004

[mikemundy]

Hi all,
Retired at 58.
Presently, I am 61 and wife is 59.
Mostly enjoying our retirement.
Came to ERF seeking ideas to deal with our two biggest issues:
- occassional period of boredom and;
- health care costs.

We have HBP and high cholesterol, both controlled by meds hence our HSA is not medically underwritten but was "guaranteed-issue" under HIPAA.

When we got it, three years ago, premium was high and has increased ("for our group", as required by law) by about 20-21% each year and is now close to $2000/month.

Am hoping to find some suggestions for alternatives here.

All input is welcome.
-Mike

[Rich_in_Tampa]

Welcome, Mike.

Your dilemma is typical of one of many deficiencies in the current health care reimbursement system. Let's hope that Medicare doesn't get gutted in the next 5 years. $2k per month is obscene but there are no alternatives for many.

Vote carefully next November.

[MGYog]

I work for a public hospital and believe strongly that universal health care is a must for our country. I would vote for anyone (Republican or Democrat) that would strongly espouse this. I believe health care is a right, and as a civilized society we must provide our people health care regardless of the ability to pay. We are the only Western society that does not have universal health care!

[socca]

I used to live in Denmark (around 2000), and saw how the socialized medicine worked there. Overall, I'd say it worked pretty well. I had no trouble getting an appointment to see my doctor for a minor problem, and she patched me right up. I never (directly) paid a cent. I would not have been able to see a specialist without first going through my GP, which is how my private insurance works here in the U.S. My understanding is that doctors are fairly low paid in Denmark relative to their U.S. counterparts, but my Danish doctor seemed reasonably cheerful nevertheless. In fact, I'd say that my American doctors are uniformly more grouchy - maybe it's the malpractice insurance

[mikemundy]

Yup, health care is a big problem - both (un-)availability and obscene cost.
However, I'm not convinced that universal, govt sponsored, health care will be a solution.
Our govt has an abominable track record of building huge unresponsive bureaucracies that result in out-of-control costs.
Remember the Pentagon buying $600 hammers?
Or Medicare, for that matter, which, according to some pundits, is headed for total financial collapse.
But, having voiced my concerns, I have no alternative solutions to the problem.
So I just keep paying...
Mike

[jclarksnakes]

Originally Posted by socca

I used to live in Denmark (around 2000), and saw how the socialized medicine worked there. Overall, I'd say it worked pretty well. I had no trouble getting an appointment to see my doctor for a minor problem, and she patched me right up. I never (directly) paid a cent. I would not have been able to see a specialist without first going through my GP, which is how my private insurance works here in the U.S. My understanding is that doctors are fairly low paid in Denmark relative to their U.S. counterparts, but my Danish doctor seemed reasonably cheerful nevertheless. In fact, I'd say that my American doctors are uniformly more grouchy - maybe it's the malpractice insurance

I would guess that a more likely reason for your American doctor to be grouchy is the hours he/she works. Most physicians I know work 60+ hours a week. Some of them way more than that every week. If we had a pure socialized medicine bureaucracy all the docs would be government employees. Most government employees, except for the military work around 40 hours a week. Wait and see how long it takes to get an appointment if all the physicians in America cut back to 40 hours a week. The reason US health care is so expensive is that we need so darned much of it to treat the symptoms of our very unhealthy lifestyles.