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.
When I was married to a physician he told me to go to a university hospital since they like "rare" cases like mine. Essential Tremor since I hit puberty which is becoming more common as more docs are picking it up. That being said...the university hospital that I go to is non-profit. I do not know if that figures in with Medicare. I will know in about three years...god willing. So see if that works. The time of independent docs is over anyway given most have been eaten whole by the hospitals that expected Obamacare to continue.
From what I know from the inside...the hospital and docs are now scared Sh@@tless that their cut is going down the tubes so the docs work on commission even if they sold their souls to the hospitals. Employees of the big hospitals or not.
Well I am feeling it already. My dad was self employed for his whole career. Mom was a stay at home mom most and had no retirement funds.
And dad had to spend all of his savings during an ill-faited early retirement. What this means now, my sister and I have to fund the gaps between social security and VA healthcare. This started right when I turned 30 give or take. First it was the cell phone bill for the whole family. Not long after it became property taxes on the family land that was part of our "inheritance." Then it was a loan when they were going to be foreclosed on. Now it is property taxes on their current home. Car maintenance. Extensive dental work caused by a refusal to accept our help with dental insurance.
And the financial burden has increased over time. And I am single and unmarried. So I also need to worry about my own savings and retirement and goals. It's hard, because my parents are from the generation you keep your money problems to your self. So I don't know the extent of help needed. And they don't tell me (and my sister) they need money till the last minute.
Top it off with the fact that for the bulk of my 20s and early 30s I worked at companies too small for company sponsored retirement plans. My generation is the one where employers never contribute. I haven't seen that since 2002. My retirement savings is way below where it should be at this age. And it is hard to catch up when the parents needs are unpredictable.
I have no clue how I will save enough for retirement. Maxing out my 401k now but there is still more to do.
In the card game of bridge we have a rule -- do not "save" your partner. If she makes a wild overbid, you don't save her by bidding higher -- you pass.
The same principle applies to charity for relatives (even parents, siblings, children, etc.) Take care of your own retirement first and all of your budgeted, regular expenditures, including savings, before making charitable gifts to people or institutions.
That land in your parents name for which you are paying the property taxes should instead be sold. There is no guarantee to an inheritance, I have seen estates promised to children but instead given to the church, or one child favored over another. Not saying this would happen, but nothing is guaranteed (except death and taxes).
The best gift you could give your parents may be a couple hours with a financial planner who will guide them through downsizing until they can be income/ expense neutral.
Correcting a mis-statement is not the same as "dictating what can or cannot be discussed here", not at all. One has nothing to do with the other. How are such wild leaps of illogic even possible? The topic of posts 393 through 399 has been Medicare. Saying that Medicare is "mostly useless" is a mis-statment, to put it mildly.
People do not need "to use their savings up because their doctors will not accept....Medicare". They have another option - find other doctors who will accept it. One way to acheive that is through a Medicare Advantage Plan. If people are not willing to give up "their doctors", well that is their choice. We make our choices and we pay our money. A lot of choices we make have financial consequences.
If you think medicare is useless then don't go on it. Pay out of pocket for everything.
I never said it was useless for everyone. I said that it was useless for some people living in the New York area and then I added that it has become problematic (paraphrasing myself) for some people living in high cost of living areas. If you read the entire thread, then you can understand the context of individual posts. Everyone's situation is different and it keeps changing over time. As I said, it was helpful for my parents. Please stop generalizing individualistic situations that do not apply to yourself to everyone. Sheesh, and they say that New Yorkers are rude. Did you read the stuff about insurance in California? That doesn't apply to everyone in the US either.
It doesn't matter if we go on it or not. We would have no choice but to pay for care out of pocket because as was previously stated in that article, more doctors are not accepting Medicare. It's better to keep working for as long as possible and use employee sponsored insurance. This is OUR situation. Might not apply to you.
Correcting a mis-statement is not the same as "dictating what can or cannot be discussed here", not at all. One has nothing to do with the other. How are such wild leaps of illogic even possible? The topic of posts 393 through 399 has been Medicare. Saying that Medicare is "mostly useless" is a mis-statment, to put it mildly.
People do not need "to use their savings up because their doctors will not accept....Medicare". They have another option - find other doctors who will accept it. One way to acheive that is through a Medicare Advantage Plan. If people are not willing to give up "their doctors", well that is their choice. We make our choices and we pay our money. A lot of choices we make have financial consequences.
Did you read the article? I guess not. It's not a question of "giving up" their doctors. My parents used Medicare. It was good for them. At that time, most accepted it as well as the supplemental insurance that they got from retirement benefits from jobs. I wasn't correcting anything. I was clarifying something that you took out of context. There is a difference. All of the posts are sequential. And there is a difference between "rare" and "uncommon." Disease classification changes over time. And many of those uncommon diseases will become more common as diagnostics improve.
Well I am feeling it already. My dad was self employed for his whole career. Mom was a stay at home mom most and had no retirement funds.
And dad had to spend all of his savings during an ill-faited early retirement. What this means now, my sister and I have to fund the gaps between social security and VA healthcare. This started right when I turned 30 give or take. First it was the cell phone bill for the whole family. Not long after it became property taxes on the family land that was part of our "inheritance." Then it was a loan when they were going to be foreclosed on. Now it is property taxes on their current home. Car maintenance. Extensive dental work caused by a refusal to accept our help with dental insurance.
And the financial burden has increased over time. And I am single and unmarried. So I also need to worry about my own savings and retirement and goals. It's hard, because my parents are from the generation you keep your money problems to your self. So I don't know the extent of help needed. And they don't tell me (and my sister) they need money till the last minute.
Top it off with the fact that for the bulk of my 20s and early 30s I worked at companies too small for company sponsored retirement plans. My generation is the one where employers never contribute. I haven't seen that since 2002. My retirement savings is way below where it should be at this age. And it is hard to catch up when the parents needs are unpredictable.
I have no clue how I will save enough for retirement. Maxing out my 401k now but there is still more to do.
I understand your situation my FIL was like this, he didn't like my DH involved in his finances except when he asked for money. My view, you can't have it both ways. Your parents asking you for money is involving you in their problems. IMHO this gives you the opening to a more open discussion about what you can and should do and what they can and should do for themselves. You (and your sister) as adult's can and should speak respectfully and honestly with your parents about what type of help you can and should give them. This is also the time to suggest changes they can make to help themselves and you financially. If they are good caring parents they will accept your honesty and consider your suggestions for a better financial future for all of you.
We make our choices and we pay our money. A lot of choices we make have financial consequences.
Common with locations as well. People complain about how unaffordable their area is or how no jobs, but cannot fathom taking the step of moving somewhere else. Sure they have reasons (kids are in school, other family nearby, can't stand colder weather, etc.) but bottom line it is a choice that has consequences, they are choosing the trade off for financial disadvantage. Millions of men and women serve in our armed forces, picking up and moving their families as dictated by DoD at the expense of things like uprooting the kids or being in weather you don't like, so I'm often fairly skeptical of the "can't move" excuse.
Common with locations as well. People complain about how unaffordable their area is or how no jobs, but cannot fathom taking the step of moving somewhere else. Sure they have reasons (kids are in school, other family nearby, can't stand colder weather, etc.) but bottom line it is a choice that has consequences, they are choosing the trade off for financial disadvantage. Millions of men and women serve in our armed forces, picking up and moving their families as dictated by DoD at the expense of things like uprooting the kids or being in weather you don't like, so I'm often fairly skeptical of the "can't move" excuse.
Sorry off topic rant.
Most people honestly don't have the initiative or wherewithal in them to make a major life change, whether that's an obese person losing weight, an addict getting clean, or making a major cross-country move.
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.
