Knowledge Will Give You Strength

[Jim_M]

Stopped 7 1/2 years ago.

Things that are better without nicotine....

Breathing, money, breath, food, my wife, daughters, thinking, seeing, reading, moving, sleeping, working,

friendships, shooting, hunting , fishing....living.

Other than these not a whole lot.

I had no idea how much I gave up to smoke. Insane.

[Fishing Rhino]

We're not uninsured, but aside from our gap coverage, and prescription insurance, medicare picks up the tab for our health care expenses. Here's part of the problem with these statistics as I understand them, they refer to the cost of health care for treating everyone, including the indigent. They do not deduct what some pay out of pocket. It's the total cost regardless of who foots the bill, or what they might have contributed.

Medical expenses, as a rule, soar for everyone at or near the end of one's lifetime. It has nothing to do with merit or lack thereof due to contributions one has made over their lifetime.

What isn't shown in those statistics is how much the government recoups from the resources of the individual.

For example. My mother passed in 1981, and five or six years later my dad remarried. His wife owned a small home in GA, which remained in her name. She became a resident in a nursing home for the last seven or eight years of her life. She qualified for medicaid while she still held title to the home. The reason was that my dad was considered an "impoverished spouse" and could remain in the home. However, when he went on GA Medicaid, and moved into a nursing home, the government put a lien on her house, which upon her passing they sold to recoup what they could of her nursing home expenses.

When the government got the proceeds of the sale, it did not change the statistics.

I'm not sure, but I'm making a guesstimate that the costs of my healthcare, should I linger in my dotage will be comparable to the costs of an obese individual, on average. Toss in what I collect in SS, and by living longer, my benefits from SS, plus my health care costs will likely surpass those of the average obese person who passes before they can collect SS or a government pension.

[slonezp]

You paid into it your entire lief. Many have not. There in lies the problem. I pay into a pension and healthcare fund to take care of the current retirees with the expectation that when I am of retirement age, the younger guys will be paying for me. This is the idea behind socia security and medicare Call it a pyramid/ponzi scheme or whatever. My union (hopefully) will take care of its members, NOT every Tom Dick and Harry on the street. That is the difference,

sorry for the hijack