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.
That's completely different, that doctor sells memberships to people who can afford them to get Cadillac care including home visits and on-call instant access. This doctor doesn't deal with ANY insurance. These medical Concierge memberships are not new, but they are for people with excess cash to spend, some cost up to $25,000 a year. You can't go to him if you aren't a member.
I'm talking about standard medical care, not Concierge services. People who can afford that doctor don't need Medicare.
That’s a fascinating point! And the broader question is whether any of us who spend a lifetime saving assiduously, develop such a mentality, whether we retire early, on-time, or never at all. To MMM’s credit, he points out that he’s willing to spend money on things of particular personal importance to him, and that his main aim is avoiding rampant consumerism and dependency. Fine. But what are these important things? Are they situational, or absolute? And if he endeavors to practice Stoicism, is it not the case, that one systematically aims to curb and curtail the set of “important” things, until sensations and emotions themselves become overcome, as no longer needing tending or satisfaction?
There is another subtlety here. If we’re going to fully channel Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, we would find that we’re disavowing not only indulgence, consumerism or acquisitiveness, but money itself, and security itself, and even health-insurance or a stable place in society. All becomes fleeting, vapid and transient. Instead of becoming self-reliant little chipmunks, we become ascetic bleary-eyed monks, our gaze turned to the heavens, or perhaps nowhere at all. So, do we disavow consumption, but embrace production? Max Weber would be proud! How do we do this? Do we do so, with production as an end in itself, or as mere means, as testament to our moral uprightness?
In other words, while it’s easy to tip into flagrant and self-defeating consumerism, thus spending a lifetime in a remunerative job, from which one manages to save nearly nothing, the opposing extreme is also a possibility.
Economists might point to the above re-quote as textbook example of comparative advantage. Sure, the medical doctor can paint the house himself. But he can do surgeries much better, than the painting-contractor could do. It thus behooves the doctor to stick to doing surgeries – doing more of them, if necessary, to fund the painter’s work. The meta-lesson here is to keep on working in one’s career, for those who have good careers, where they can excel and be properly compensated and have an abiding feeling of personal satisfaction. And further, a smart person like MMM, who learns quickly and plans ahead, ought to have been able to thus plan, to get the right education and to pursue the right career, so that early retirement would be perhaps a workable Plan B, if necessary – but not his core objective.
But what DOES happen to a highly-compensated employee who retires early, is that now suddenly his time is worth inordinately less, while his capital remains large. The ratio of portfolio-to-income (from incremental and occasional labor) maybe 100:1 or more. This instills a miserly instinct of preservation-at-all-costs, where no chore is beneath one’s dignity, no hardship is beyond one’s endurance, all for the sake of avoiding touching one's portfolio. Far from Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius, one becomes like Alberich in the Nibelungenlied… hoarding one’s treasure, to an end save for itself.
i can tell you as long as can afford to pay someone else i never waste time doing things i either suck at or don't like to do . i hated owning houses for that reason .not only am i not handy but i hated the chores .
i can tell you as long as can afford to pay someone else i never waste time doing things i either suck at or don't like to do . i hated owning houses for that reason .not only am i not handy but i hated the chores .
I spent years trying to color and highlight my own hair but I'm not good at that kind of thing and it really didn't look that great, brassy and dry and of course the back looked even worse, lol. I hate paying $100+ every 4 or 5 weeks but it looks a million times better. My ex used to like mowing the lawn himself, but it was just too time-consuming. He would do it Friday night the second he got home from work before we left for the shore, and he would be exhausted and miserable by the time we got down. It was well worth paying someone to do it.
i feel the same way with most coupons . i just can't deal with it. if i am spending a lot i will do a search , but going through fliers and these packets for coupons is not what i will do .
i rather spend the time learning how to save money through some tax saving ideas or to invest better .
i just don't have the patients for it . i rather do something i enjoy . today i am home , so my drumming has top priority today . i will do 15 minutes of intense stuff . post a bit , and go back . been doing it for a few hours . i rather spend my time doing this than repairing stuff , renovating stuff or dealing with chores .
I wonder if MMM really is doing the things he says like riding a bicycle to save money or is he just writing that he does.
I am leery of many of MMM type sites. Are they for real or are they just sites that are very good at generating followers and income from the site.
Like anything else, and I think this is what most people miss, is that these sights are more like a cafeteria than a cult. I’m not going to go grocery shopping with a motorcycle. I did axe cable though. I’m not going to cease eating in restaurants with my wife. I am going to make sure we don’t get lazy and order a pizza randomly two nights a week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107
i feel the same way with most coupons . i just can't deal with it. if i am spending a lot i will do a search , but going through fliers and these packets for coupons is not what i will do .
i rather spend the time learning how to save money through some tax saving ideas or to invest better .
i just don't have the patients for it . i rather do something i enjoy . today i am home , so my drumming has top priority today . i will do 15 minutes of intense stuff . post a bit , and go back . been doing it for a few hours . i rather spend my time doing this than repairing stuff , renovating stuff or dealing with chores .
It’s all about what you like to do. I had an uncle that loved that stuff...he’d visit and by the time he left he had oiled a squeaky hinge, fixed the screen door, etc etc my grandfather, on the other hand, said his favorite tool was his checkbook.
Medicare is a Federal program, not state. Medicare everywhere pays the same. For instance regardless what state you are in, if you go to a rehab after a stroke, Medicare pays 100% for the first 20 days then 80% days 21-100, with a supplemental picking up the rest. Everyone in every state needs a supplemental for 100% coverage of all their medical bills. My mother's here in NJ was $324 a month. Those rates may vary by state, but the reimbursement percentage is a Federal standard that applies everywhere.
Mathjak has already stated he has a supplemental plan.
You are entirely mistaken. Here is a national map of Medicare reimbursement rates.
Regional variation in Medicare spending is striking. Among the 306 hospital referral regions in the United States, price-adjusted Medicare reimbursements varied twofold in 2014, from about $7,000 per enrollee in the lowest spending region to more than $13,000 in the highest spending region. From 1992 to 2006, total Medicare spending grew at an average rate of 3.5% per year, but this growth was not also spread evenly across regions. These findings have important implications for health policy and the goal of achieving sustainable and affordable health care for all Americans.
If you live in an area where Medicare picks up more of the tab, your supplemental plan will be a lot cheaper.
If you live in an area where Medicare picks up more of the tab, your supplemental plan will be a lot cheaper.
Those refer to how much they will reimburse the hospital or doctor, not the percentage of care Medicare covers. Medicare does not cover 100% of medical expenses anywhere in the country, you need a supplemental no matter where you live. If you go to a rehab in Tennessee you get 100% covered for 20 days and 80% for days after that, if you go to a rehab in NJ it is the same. now the AMOUNT the rehab receives may vary, but it doesn't change what is covered and what percentage is covered. It actually makes sense the payment amounts would be lower in some states, because the cost of care is lower. The cost isn't as high for nursing home rehab in Alabama as you will in Boston. You would actually make out better without a supplemental plan in a low cost state. The person in Alabama might be paying 20% of $9,000 if they had to stay in rehab an extra month, while the patient in Boston might have to pay 20% of $13,000.00
I don't think even in those states there are many doctors who don't take Medicare. It is still a decent reimbursement rate and still easier to get reimbursed than private insurance. There are way too many people on Medicare in this country for doctors and hospitals not to accept it, and again I have never heard of anyone having a problem with that.
I find it hard to believe that there are many people with a million in assets and a low income at the same time.
Well, there are. I work in financial services and I know the data.
Quote:
Most with that much saved also have other valuable assets and have the option of downsizing their home.
If you have a net worth of $1 million that includes all assets. Everybody has to live somewhere, and only a few people can downsize and have any money left. It is usually more economical to retire in place.
Quote:
No one with a million dollars or a $40,000 pension needs charity, what they (we) need is truly affordable health insurance for everyone.
That *is* charity, unless you mean that everyone pays the actuarially fair rate for the insurance, which they won't do because they can't.
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.
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.
