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Blogs by Sandy Knauer
Medicare/Social Security 12/27/2003 11:02:27 AM
Who is it going to help?
My Fellow Americans:
I wish I could thank you for the 2.1% raise in my Social Security benefits, since many of you believe that raise came straight from your pocket and we don't deserve it. However, I prefer honesty. Instead of gratitude, I feel disappointment, both in the amount and in the refusal of some to see things as they truly are.
2.1% of $1,138.60 won't cover the rise in the cost of living any more than $1,138.60 covers the cost of living. I hear bubbles bursting already. Sorry.
Actually, $23.91 a month won't cover the increase in my heating bill, or gas for my car. It won't cover the increase in my deductible for one hospitalization. It might buy a decent roast should I want to make Sunday dinner for my family, but I've heard from those who monitor what 'dole recipients' purchase in the grocery say that this is a terribly selfish expenditure.
One thing that my raise will cover is the increase in the monthly amount deducted for Medicare, leaving me with $11.31 extra. Add $78.68to that and I could buy the eye drops that keep my eyelids from destroying my corneas. Darn things are such a bother, but so hard to live without.
Hold the ah-ha's please. Before you bombard me with cheery news about the relief this new Medicare situation will offer I have to burst a few more bubbles. All the new plan did for me is increase my monthly premium, and my hospital deductible from $840 to $876 per admission (why is this increase 4% and my cost of living increase 2%).
I receive no benefit now, nor will I, even after the plan actually begins to assist individuals instead of drug companies. My state would help with my medical expenses if it had any money left, and if my monthly income was no more than $1,031 (see where that raise put me) and the things I own were worth no more than $4,000.
I've spent the morning thinking about that $4,000. It won't bury me. It won't pay for the dental work I need (I'll never understand why Medicare doesn't cover dental, since the mouth and teeth are part of the body and eating properly very much affects overall health). It will cover the deductible portion of four hospital admissions, and two years of my current prescriptions at the current price (the new plan gives the drug companies permission to raise them, so I'd be willing to bet they'll go up instead of down). It would cover ten months of supplemental insurance, which would make me break even after I paid the premium and the co-pays.
What is the value of Grandma's ring? Do I have to count its sentimental value to me, or can I claim it at pawn value? And is this computer, which I might be able to replace for less than a thousand dollars now, worth that amount or the world to me, since it's my link to the world? Do my glasses count in the total? My clothes? How do compassionates rate anything above a cardboard box, and do I have to use their definition or mine?
I know. I should have planned better. I should have waited until I was eighty to get sick like any respectable, patriotic American, so I'd still have my retirement money. Next life, I'm coming back with a healthy body or a rich Daddy.
