Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Personal Finance
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-09-2010, 10:04 PM
 
5,747 posts, read 12,025,159 times
Reputation: 4511

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Be Free View Post
I just finished paying off two credit cards and a personal loan in April, after 5 years of skimping and throwing extra money at the credit card balances. It's a great feeling of security when those debts are gone and that money is piling up in the bank!

Unfortunately, I just had to have $10k worth of oral surgery last week. Every time you think you're getting ahead, ya know? But hey - at least I had the money to pay for it. It'd be much worse if I had no available credit and no savings and needed the surgery.
Whoa! No dental insurance?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-10-2010, 08:46 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,702,293 times
Reputation: 36642
Quote:
Originally Posted by formercalifornian View Post
Whoa! No dental insurance?
Very few people have dental insurance. The cost is crippling for middle-class people. The person who needs $10K worth of dental work has the much cheaper option of taking a "dental vacation" to a country where the same work can be done for $1,000. Add another thousand for plane fare and hotel, and the net savings is $8K. Much cheaper then dental insurance.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-10-2010, 08:58 AM
 
106,062 posts, read 108,035,793 times
Reputation: 79633
you have to hope there are no other issues doing that...i had 25k in dental implants done here.. but there were constant issues coming up including rejection of a few...

glad i didnt leave the country to do them.there are just to many things that crop up alot of times to have prodcedures done out of the country unless its life or death and you must.

the woman at the nail place my wife goes to had no health insurance and her husband had a heart attack... they shipped him off to korea for the surgery.. its going on 2 years now and he is still in re-hab there.. they never imagined a stay like that but thats what it is when you do things abroad.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-10-2010, 10:47 AM
 
5,747 posts, read 12,025,159 times
Reputation: 4511
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88 View Post
Very few people have dental insurance. The cost is crippling for middle-class people. The person who needs $10K worth of dental work has the much cheaper option of taking a "dental vacation" to a country where the same work can be done for $1,000. Add another thousand for plane fare and hotel, and the net savings is $8K. Much cheaper then dental insurance.
That's news to me, as I've always had dental. Right now, it's bundled with the rest of our healthcare insurance. We pay a little over $200/month for medical/dental/vision for a family of four. It might be less expensive for us to go to Mexico for certain things, but generally, our treatment is covered, and there are risks to pursuing care outside the U.S. as mathjak points out.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-10-2010, 10:51 AM
 
106,062 posts, read 108,035,793 times
Reputation: 79633
typically dental plans cover up to 1500 bucks or so and dont cover many things like implants.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-10-2010, 10:54 AM
 
5,747 posts, read 12,025,159 times
Reputation: 4511
Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107 View Post
typically dental plans cover up to 1500 bucks or so and dont cover many things like implants.
I'll have to take your word for it. Our insurance does cover implants and orthodontia.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-12-2010, 11:23 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,702,293 times
Reputation: 36642
Quote:
Originally Posted by formercalifornian View Post
That's news to me, as I've always had dental. Right now, it's bundled with the rest of our healthcare insurance. We pay a little over $200/month for medical/dental/vision for a family of four. It might be less expensive for us to go to Mexico for certain things, but generally, our treatment is covered, and there are risks to pursuing care outside the U.S. as mathjak points out.
That means you have somebody else (like your employer) paying about $1,000 a month for your group insurance premium. Not everyone is that lucky. America's health care costs are $1.2-trillion, which comes out to about $4,000 per person. Somebody is paying that. I bet it's you, one way or another.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-12-2010, 11:32 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,702,293 times
Reputation: 36642
Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107 View Post

glad i didnt leave the country to do them.there are just to many things that crop up alot of times to have prodcedures done out of the country unless its life or death and you must.

the woman at the nail place my wife goes to had no health insurance and her husband had a heart attack... they shipped him off to korea for the surgery.. its going on 2 years now and he is still in re-hab there.. they never imagined a stay like that but thats what it is when you do things abroad.
If you have to go back a second time, it's still a lot cheaper than paying a US dentist.

Your nail woman's husband is alive, though, right? Do you know how much an implantable defribulator costs in the USA, in the box off the shelf? It's about the size of a yo-yo, and they cost more than a new Mercedes (E-class, not the cheap one). Doctors in Pakistan buy them on E-Bay, for $500 (not the Merc), salvaged from patients who died.

Last edited by jtur88; 09-12-2010 at 11:46 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-12-2010, 09:27 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,353,711 times
Reputation: 3730
Quote:
Originally Posted by westcoastbabe View Post
Maybe not a milestone to some people...but was almost $16k in credit card debt...Finally got it down to an even $10K........That's the only debt I am carrying right now aside from house note and car payment in which the car will be paid off(knock on wood) in Oct 2011. Iknow it's not much...but feeliing a little better about things... I am 39yrs old..and this little last economic fiasco has opened my eyes......gotta be more fiscally responsible with the finances.
congratulations. don't make lite of it, that's YOUR accomplishment. keep working at it and keep getting those positive feelings. it often feels like a mountain to climb, but once you focus on it, it's easier than you think. but don't lose that focus.

congrats again!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-12-2010, 09:35 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,353,711 times
Reputation: 3730
also - call your credit company every 2-3 months and ask them if you can have a better interest rate. and those 0% offers are starting to flow again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Personal Finance

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:40 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top