Q-ANON WAS TAKEN. LET’S TRY Z-ANON
If we didn’t have a president who is older than me, I’d think we were in a conspiracy to kill off all the expensive old people in the U.S.A. First, there was T**** not bothering to (a) have a plan to manage the Coronavirus, (b) failing to order sufficient vials of vaccine and actually turning down another million doses when offered, and (c) being a complete moron.
The idiocy doesn’t stop at the top. Stupidity is like water seeking the sea. It dribbles down from Federal to State to towns and villages. Does anyone remember “Trickle-down Economics”? No matter how many times they tried it as “economic policy,” it failed? In case you aren’t American, trickle-down economics means you give all the money to rich people. You assume that the rich will use the money to help we lesser folk. You know by creating new jobs, building new places to work, giving raises to the deserving. The money “trickles down.” What could possibly go wrong with this plan?
What really happens is the rich keep the money. Maybe they give a chunk of it to investors and give huge bonuses to anyone who doesn’t need one while ignoring everyone who is really working.
Oh Marilyn, stop being so petty. They wouldn’t do that, would they?
I just keep thinking how they keep referring to Social Security and Medicare as “entitlements.” Never mind that we paid for this throughout our working years. Our Medicare payments were bigger than the taxes we paid and we paid a lot of taxes. Sometimes, we paid such monumental taxes, we felt like we were funding a small country somewhere else. After fifty years of paying for Social Security and Medicare, it’s an “ENTITLEMENT” and we should feel lucky we get anything at all.
We didn’t work hard enough? It’s not like we get a lot of money, either. Together, Garry and I get about $3000 a month, more than half of which goes to pay the mortgage and the rest of it which pays for utilities, food, medication, co-payments to doctors. We already pay (together) about $500/month (it might be more) from our Social Security for Medicare. It’s not free. Did you think it was free?
Medicaid (or, around here, it’s called “MassHealth”) is free, but you have to be so poor you can’t afford your own place to live to get it. Theoretically, if you are disabled, you should automatically get it in addition to Medicare, but the day you turn 65, the amount of money that tags you as “poor enough” to get Medicaid is lowered so that it’s actually less than the amount you get from Social Security. So if you get social security, you are already “too rich” to get Medicaid and are left paying big money for medications (which are NOT free or even close) and everything else that isn’t covered by Medicare — dental, eye tests, eyeglasses, hearing tests, and hearing aids. All of those are considered “cosmetic.”
Who knew teeth were cosmetic? I’ve had so many pulled, I actually can’t eat nuts anymore. I don’t have enough grinding teeth left and I can’t afford dentures or implants. Actually, I can barely afford regular cleanings.
Jaw with teeth on white background, medicine concept. Vector illustration.
I’m ranting and I don’t care. I’m just so pissed off that at this point in my life, having by one minor miracle or another survived so many surgeries I really can’t remember all of them, I am heading into my 74th birthday and can’t get a vaccination because I’m not OLD ENOUGH. Despite the heart surgery, spine surgery, spinal arthritis, lack of an actual stomach and two types of cancer, not to mention asthma — I don’t have enough “co-morbidities.” How many replacement valves, implanted imitation breasts, replacement pouches pretend to be a stomach, twisted spinal columns — and I’m sure there’s more, but who can remember? — do you need to entitle you to get a vaccination against a virus that will kill you if you catch it?
Photo: Garry Armstrong – House and some snow
I’m having a bad case of enough is enough. I can’t fix this. I can’t change the idiotic way vaccinations are being doled out in this state. The rigidity, the lack of communications, the failure to have ANY vaccination site available in Worcester County — literally, not even our one major hospital or pharmacy, clinic, or doctor. Even the first responders and medical workers — if they didn’t get vaccinated on site at work , if they live in Worcester County would have had to travel at least 75 to 100 miles to stand in line to get a vaccination. What if someone doesn’t have a car or doesn’t drive? Is having a car a requirement for getting a vaccination too?
I’m very bent out of shape. This is possibly why I don’t feel like writing. I’m just too mad to want to write and I’m so mad I can’t help it.
Share this:
Categories: #Health, #HealthInsurance, Coronavirus - Covid 19, Epidemic - Pandemic - Plague, Getting old, senior citizens, stupidity, Vaccination
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Yikes. Here in Colorado, at least some of the 70plus are getting their first vaccines, and many medical people are now vaccinated. At 65, I figure I’ll be waiting until spring. I’m grateful that I have more financial reserves than many. The Entitlement thing is bull, as you well know, and is part of the whole marketing thing done by the wealthy who seem to feel that sharing in any fashion is horrible. Stay well as best you can.
LikeLike
Massachusetts is doing horribly in giving out vaccination especially for those of us that don’t happen to live in or near Boston. ALL the places that provide vaccinations are either in Boston or in one of it’s suburbs. Nothing at all in the rest of the state. Sadly, this is exactly what I expected. They don’t even bother to offer weather reports for anyplace outside the Boston area. They were busy setting up super-sites for vaccination — Fenway Park, dead middle of Boston and ONLY accessible by subway or bus (no parking at all because that park was built when there were only a few cars) and the field where the Patriots play — which is also a nice 60 mile drive from here, but at least it has parking lots. Everything else is in Boston or one of it’s nearby suburbs.
I’m just so frustrated. We aren’t getting any younger. However much time we’ve got, I’d like to spend some of it doing something I enjoy!
LikeLike
I am so sorry Marilyn. You are entitled to vent. Conservative govts all over the Western world have blood on their hands. Stay safe. Stay /well/.
LikeLike
It didn’t have to GET this bad. Or maybe it did. Maybe this is nature’s way of letting us know who is REALLY in charge.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. We think our little tools and technology can do anything, but they can’t. I think arrogance is at least partly to blame for how bad things have become. 😦
LikeLike
I take a supportive position with one particular point you make in your blog intro, and that is the question of “dental” insurance. For some reason the insurance companies have gotten away with labeling “dental care” as a mostly cosmetic procedure and therefore attach an unrealistic ceiling to the cost they’re willing to cover. It seems the insurance companies have decided that dental health is not worth it, or is too expensive, to cover. However my $100,000 heart surgery was not.
The insurance companies still haven’t accepted the fact that poor Oral Health is one of the major causes of other bodily ailments, and that all we want/need is straightening, whitening, replacement and cleaning, all of which will cost way more than the $1,500 – $2,000/yr cap on pay out. This is totally unrealistic. So, now I see more companies trying to tack these services onto already existing plans including Medicare. BTW, this attitude also exists around Vision and Hearing, none of which are anywhere close to “Cosmetic.”
LikeLike
I agree. They “added” some dental care (and in theory, hearing aids) to this year’s Medicare, but none of the dental groups accepts Medicare so effectively, it’s worthless. And as for hearing aids, they only cover the really cheap ones that are useless for most people who actually need them. BUT they covered Garry’s surgery (go figure). So basically, they will fix anything in our body, but if we can’t chew, see, or hear, that’s okay because seeing, hearing, and chewing are cosmetic. I’ve been trying to find any reputable dentist that will accept Medicare and the answer is only the worst dentists will take Medicare at all — and somehow, the price comes out the same even if they supposedly DO take it. The PRICE of dental care is obscene.
LikeLike
So, other than an occasional tooth extraction, or root canal, replacement (implants or bridges etc.) will remain prohibitively expensive and quickly exhaust whatever pay limits set. Meanwhile we can walk the earth blind or not hearing the conversations of your loved ones.., not to mention the swift finality of the occasional speeding vehicle that you failed to hear, or see.
LikeLike
Yup. You got it.
LikeLike
In California they lowered the age of those who qualify for the vaccinations to 65, but I applied two weeks ago just to get approved to SCHEDULE an appointment and they tell me that they haven’t forgotten about me but I need to be patient. I’m wondering if my life will run out before my patience does. And the only reason anyone could call Medicare and Social Security “entitlements” is because for more than 50 years people like us have paid a lot of money in the way of mandatory payroll deductions into Social Security and Medicare, so you’re damn right we are entitled to the benefits of those programs.
LikeLike
My doctor’s office said that our hospital will someday get in touch with us about this. Someday. Massachusetts is really bad. We are way down on the charts. I think we’re just north of American Samoa — and they don’t even HAVE COVID there.
I’m so frustrated with this. I keep wondering if we’ll live long enough to get the vaccination.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Marilyn, I am sorry for your circumstances and I completely understand your anger. Our country has so much to fix, socially and economically, not to mention the manufacturing and distribution of a Covid vaccine. Biden has his work cut out for him and I hope he can make some progress in changing our economic policies that currently only make the rich become richer. Laws might be a good start, but at some point, our lawmakers have to begin addressing our social ills rather than always using a temporary band-aid or running away.
LikeLike
We need a lot more of them to care about us — voters, people, families — than their political agenda. I get that they’ve chosen politics as their career, but it comes with a promise to make life better — or at least tolerable — for everyone, not just them. Mostly, I get the feeling that the majority of them don’t care at all and the rest would care more if they thought it was “safe.” I don’t think that pledge includes “political safety.” Meanwhile, my gut suspicion is that we (statewide) don’t actually HAVE any vaccines. We ran out or are so low there is nothing to distribute. I’m going into my second year of lockdown.
I’m not sure whether it’s comforting that we are far from alone in feeling this way. England, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain — they all have major and very similar problems. There’s nothing we can do about it except wait.
LikeLike
I hear you, every single word resonates because my daughter and I are in the same financial situation, and we’ve stacked up a lot of working years, too. I’m 93. She’s 73. Fortunately, we don’t have a mortgage as I inherited the house free and clear. But the taxes for house are $5,0000 plus a year. They keep climbing every year. So do prices at the grocery store. It’s a losing battle for all of us on fixed incomes. I wish there was a solution around the bend, but I doubt it. So, let’s grit what’s left of our teeth and get on with it. As for getnig vaccinated, that’s also a hassle. There is not enough to go around. Getting an appointment is online and I can’t see well enough to trust my answers. We have to do it twice, and there’s no way we can be together. Since we don’t own a car, we need to depend on someone driving us, and that has to be arranged.Some how I hope we can get it all sorted. Hang in there.
LikeLike
The frustration is making me crazy. I know all the reasons, how this began, how it developed and where we stand. Our taxes are in the $5000/year bracket (a little more, I think) too AND there’s a mortgage and the house needs repair — and so do WE.
There’s nothing to be done. We wait. Like the refugees in Casablanca, we wait and we wait and we wait.
LikeLike