392 replies to this topic

[Psalm23]

Hey there....tough hearing about the hay, etc.....Missouri and Arkansas along the Mississippi are a bust for crops this year.....hundreds of thousands of acres flooded out at the worst possible time. That ground won't be ready until next season. I really think we have been living on borrowed-time boom crops for a long time and that is all changing....

[gofish]

My job is tied to housing. My company is staying in business with people who are remodeling.Spring and summer are the busy times at work. Friday we were told that orders are not comming in and we might have some non-production days.
This time of year that is scary.

[out_of_the_ordinary]

I'm a little surprised by how far I had to go back to find this thread. Maybe that's a good thing, though?




Anyway...
Our health insurance is through DH's employer. It's by contract year (not by calendar year), and the new contract year starts in April. The cost is split between employer and DH. We expected an increase in our cost (last year's was significant at $50-60 more per month), but not one as big as we learned about yesterday..... Our cost is increasing $150/month from last contract year. And that's still with a pretty big deductible.

[ScrubbieLady]

I'm a little surprised by how far I had to go back to find this thread. Maybe that's a good thing, though?




Anyway...
Our health insurance is through DH's employer. It's by contract year (not by calendar year), and the new contract year starts in April. The cost is split between employer and DH. We expected an increase in our cost (last year's was significant at $50-60 more per month), but not one as big as we learned about yesterday..... Our cost is increasing $150/month from last contract year. And that's still with a pretty big deductible.

Courtesy of Obama's health control plan.

[Cat]

I thought the really big increases were supposed to kick in after 2013.... ???

[Annarchy]

My DH has retired and his premiums come out of his retirement-fixed income, our insurance rates went up again this year around $100.00 a month!

2013?? !!!!! Makes me concerned what will happen next year. We barely make it on what he gets now.

[themartianchick]

I guess we've been lucky... Our health insurance premiums will go down in a few weeks from $132 a week to $57 per week. We can't wait! Even with raises, hubby never sees an increase in his paycheck.

[ScrubbieLady]

I thought the really big increases were supposed to kick in after 2013.... ???

Some insurance companies are already changing their policies to include all the requirements from the health control plan. That means that people that may have not wanted (or needed) certain types of coverage don't have that choice anymore.

[arby]

Am paying over one-third of my income for premiums and copay per month...

[Ambergris]

Just got ddil home from hospital. The hospital is eating the bill, since she's uninsured, but the medications and bandages are taking up a lot of my mental energy.

[Jeepers]

I have to pay $959.00 a month for just me in insurance. That doesn't include eye, dental or prescriptions. I usually go to the dr. once a year to renew blood pressure and chlosterol meds. Every other year it's a mammogram. Thats it for almost a thousand dollars a month.

My son says to forget it and go without. But as sure as I did that, I'd come down with a serious disease or need surgery. Rock and a hard place here.

[dogmom4]

Our insurance premiums have gone up each Jan for the past 3 years. Up $90 per month each time. It's ridiculous

[ScrubbieLady]

I have to pay $959.00 a month for just me in insurance. That doesn't include eye, dental or prescriptions. I usually go to the dr. once a year to renew blood pressure and chlosterol meds. Every other year it's a mammogram. Thats it for almost a thousand dollars a month.

My son says to forget it and go without. But as sure as I did that, I'd come down with a serious disease or need surgery. Rock and a hard place here.

How about changing to a catastrophic policy with a higher deductible? May not pay for the doctor visits but you may save more than enough to cover that and it would still be available if something serious happens.

[Jori]

DS1 had a chest x-ray 2 weeks ago. Our part is over $200.

[Cat]

DH was talking to a guy in my hometown this morning while waiting for a haircut. He told DH that when he told the hospital he was paying his own bill, they cut it by *2/3* .

In this area, the Amish and what I call "car Amish" have their own system where they contribute to a general health fund and get reimbursed after paying their bills. That's what this is.

When the hospital doesn't have to file paperwork and wait for money and argue payments, they can give the consumer a break. The problem is in the catastrophic situations.

[TurtleMama]

We pay over $700 a month for insurance with a ridiculously high deductible....and my medications have gone from $27 for the two I'm still on to $110 a month. I had to cut the others out and can't afford to take any meds for my anxiety disorder and depression. It definitely doesn't help the anxiety to have to pay that much!! LOL

I guess I'm going to bring up the obvious with this one, but...gas. Oh, my. Filled up at $3.53/gal one morning. By the next morning, 24 hours to the minute later, it was at $3.57. Since that time, a week and three days ago, it's now up to $3.80. And going up.

Don't know if it's true or not, but there is apparently a place in Alaska where they're paying over $9.00 a gallon....guess I shouldn't complain!!

And Iran is freaking me out, even if it shouldn't really be. I actually started looking for plans on how to build a fallout shelter the other day....but of course, we can't afford one of those really good ones. *sigh* Paranoia, cha cha cha!

[winknasmile]

I was paying $770 a month until January when I went on Medicare. Let me tell you, having a birthday and hitting 65 was a joy this year!

[CrabGrassAcres]

I fired all the docs and ditched the health insurance about 8 yrs ago when it was eat OR health insurance. I chose eating. Never been healthier.

[arby]

South Korea deploys missile defense system in response to NK attitude of aggression since their failed missile and satellite this month.


South Korea Says 'Enough is Enough' and Deploys Cruise Missile Defense System
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By Dan McGinnis | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 18 hrs ago
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COMMENTARY | After another round of seething threats about a new war coming from North Korea, the government in South Korea played the ultimate trump card by announcing the deployment of cruise missile program designed to remove any threat from the North and strike any target on the peninsula. In other words, South Korea said in diplomatic-speak that "enough is enough."

Apparently the North's new leader, Kim Jong-Un, was offended by the South's criticism of its failed "satellite" launch last week and threatened an immediate sacred war to regain their honor, AFP reported. South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak was unmoved by the threat and choose that moment to announce the new cruise missile deployment.

North Korea threatens war all the time, so Myung-Bak cannot be expected to whine every time a threat appears. His strongest move was to prove to the powers-that-be in the North that a repeat of the 2010 unprovoked attack on Yeonpyeong that killed two civilians will not be repeated without serious repercussions.

What differentiates this latest round of threats is the pace and frequency. Pyonyang has issued a near-constant barrage of them from since Kim Jong-Un assumed power in December. Many believe it is merely his way of consolidating authority or deflecting from the growing food shortages his people are facing. Regardless of the intent, it has consolidated his power among his military leaders and deprived his people of U.S. and South Korean food aid -- that result is clear.

Honestly, as despicable as war may be, I cannot blame the South Koreans for losing patience over how to deal with their separated brethren to the north. While their economy is thriving and modern, the oppressive regime to the north is starving its own people while funneling nearly 16 percent of its budget into more military spending. There is something fundamentally wrong with that approach and one day soon North Korea may discover the world has lost its patience with them.

[ANewMe]

Yesterday two ladies I work for came in talking about the Social Security/Disability problem. One of these ladies would not be one that normally would be conerned. She lives in a big expensive house while her husband doesn't work and she makes minimum wage. She gets every kind of gov't handout you can imagine and throws big expensive parties....yet to figure out how she does this. Anyway, she was very eager for info on WHY this was happening. My other co-worker told her it was because of people taking advantage of the system among other things and there was no money to fund entitlements so they had been pulling from social security. The one who was "educating" on the cause told me in private that the news was really freaking her out and had her attention. She talked about gardening and possibly getting chickens.


On FB I have some more people putting pic's of their new gardens......some of these people have never done anything like this. In one of the larger neighborhoods on our side of town people are raising chickens....something never seen before.