My retirement is crushed. My health is crushed. My life is crushed.
That’s a strong statement, but not unrealistic.
Yesterday was a fantasy-smashing example of things to come. I now have no health insurance. I had been paying $79 a month just to see a “primary” doctor; it covered only his visits and part of my xanax (anxiety) and sertraline (depression).
I’m approaching age 60, which was the age at which my dad began his series of ailments–or “doctoring,” as they call it in the Midwest. He started with high blood pressure. Then he had a stroke, which required extensive rehab. Then he had a bump on one testicle, which required its removal.
Then he fell and broke his hip, at about age 70. “I never felt such pain. Sheesh,” he told me. For him, that was a strong expression of emotion.
Then my mother and the wife of my dad for 52 years died quickly of myelofibrosis.
My dad then hobbled along in a funk for another two years. “It’s so ‘blame’ quiet in here,” he would say. “I keep the TV on all day.”
Then he visited a relative, but his being away from his beloved house increased his stress and likely caused a stroke: he fell straight down and broke a rib on the floor.
A few months later, after his 82nd birthday, he decided to sell the house. Before that could happen, however, he had a major stroke and was paralyzed on one side, losing the gift of speech.
The doctor could not get a feeding tube into him, so he starved for 10 days before he could be placed in a hospice and given morphine. He then torturously died.
How am I going to get ALL of that healthcare, let alone PAY for it?? It seems that after I reach 60–shortly–I’m in for trouble. And very few people have shown sympathy yet. Least of all my previous two primary doctors, who won’t give me xanax prescriptions without $200 payments, plus the cost of xanax.
The ER would not either–and they thought xanax was for depression!
Ahhhh, the stinging feeling of being isolated without a way out.
Yes, I will be happy IF I get a minimum wage job without health insurance–until that first stroke hits. Thank you, Ron Reagan. I knew all hell would break loose when you were elected. I didn’t think it would take 30 years.