I had to go to the hospital the other day to pick up some medical records for the Missus and they were making a lift on the new addition while I was there. That telescoping boom is pretty impressive and the cab appeared to tilt to enable the operator a better view when setting the lift up on the roof. I don't have any idea what it would cost to rent that crane, but added in with the rest of the expenses, it would help explain the cost of a hospital visit. My recent emergency room visit and overnight stay was a tick over $100,000. The ambulance ride was $2,400. I don't have any idea what the rehab program cost but as much as I bitch about the government and the wasteful spending of my tax dollars, Medicare does a fine job of picking up the tab. The doctors take a beating, but old farts like me with Medicare and a supplement insurance policy, don't have to worry about medical expenses in our retirement.
I had to go to the dentist yesterday. That's a different story. I've got dental insurance but it's pretty limited. Likewise, my eye insurance. So even though Medicare takes care of the majority of the bills, when you add up all of the costs for insurance policies, you better have a source of income besides Social Security if you want to retire comfortably or hope you never have a catastrophic event, whether medical or with property damage like the folks around here who were hit recently with tornado damage.
I bought motorcycle insurance the other day. The outfit I had the Himalayan insured with, along with car, truck, trailers and property, didn't offer a discount if I added the Sportster in. Four vehicles insured, with only two operators, and only one of us riding motorcycles, they could have thrown in the Sportster for free as far as I'm concerned. After all, I can only operate one of the vehicles at a time and the book value of a '77 Sportster isn't much. I switched to Geico and the premium for both bikes is next to nothing. My coverage is at a minimum, but I don't ride much anymore, nor do I ride like I did when I was a young man.
Insurance is a racket, no doubt about it, but you need to protect yourself. The combined premiums on all of my policies is my biggest monthly expense. I never gave that much thought when I was doing my retirement planning. Something to think about, though.
1 comment:
I say once you hit around 62 years we should git quadruple the Social Security and git 100% free everything including eyeballs and teeth and whatever you want. instead of local/state/fed taxes or gas taxes.... NO taxing allowed on the old folks, none whatsoever. but instead, they all pay the old folks (62-141 years age group) . for instance... if gas was $1 with a 15 cents tax the oldereds git to pay 85 a gallon... and such and so forth. "the oldereds" always git 0% interest rates on everything and git extra % interest on any savings. the oldereds drive around with personalized license plates have vulgar letters/numbers but the rest of the young goofs are not allowed. we git to take our belts off on goofs and the Police won't arrest us ever. we'll teach the young goofs how to behave......
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