Sunday, November 20, 2016

Coming Out of the Fog

Well, where to begin....

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind, supportive and helpful comments in regards to my situation with my brother.


I was finally able to speak with him, and I feel much better at least in the sense of not being so angry with him anymore. I'm still not sure that he'll be able to get it together to actually close out the estate, but I tried to help him craft a plan with concrete steps for moving forward and he did actually follow through with step one. So we'll see how it goes.

So, I sorta feel like it's been an entire lifetime since I last posted. I've been really sick - caught a bad case of bronchitis about a week an a half ago, and then I did something to my neck and have been dealing with muscle spasms, so I feel a bit as though I've been in a stupor of sorts.


On top of that, the weather has been downright schizophrenic. Over the course of 24 hours we went from 80 degree (27C) summer-like heat, to this:


It got down into the teens the night after the snowfall (-9C) - holy moly!  Truth be told, we were long overdue for some winter weather - this was the third latest first snowfall in Denver history, but still - a temperature swing of 65 degrees over 36 hours felt a tad bit extreme and otherworldly.

Then, of course, there's the election. I was as shocked as everyone by the outcome, and while I have plenty of political opinions on the whole thing, there doesn't seem to be much point in focusing on that stuff. Instead, I'm trying to craft a plan to deal with the very real fallout that the change of political climate will have in my own life.


As a self-employed person, I get my health insurance through the exchange, and no matter what happens, I think it's a safe bet that the ACA (Obamacare) will be going away. Trump has promised that they will replace it with something "better," but if house Republicans have their way, they'll be repealing the ACA immediately. Either way, I think it's prudent for me to be prepared.


Of course, that begs the question... prepared for what? I think it's sort of hard to say, but since all of the proposals I've heard involve doing away with both the subsidies and the restrictions on how much insurance companies can bump up prices for older people, I'm pretty sure my insurance costs will skyrocket - that is, assuming I can still get insurance.

The only thing I really have to go on is what things looked like for the self-employed before the ACA, and well... it's sort of grim. Back then, most self-employed people I knew who were over 50 were lucky to get a catastrophic care policy for under $1000/month. Many were paying in the neighborhood of $1200-$1500 per month, and often that was for a policy that excluded pre-existing conditions. Gulp.


So, I'm sort of figuring that I'm gonna need somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-$20K annually for health care costs. And since they're also talking about dismantling Medicare, I think it's safe to assume that even after age 65, I'll be paying a lot more for health care than I thought.

As you may have guessed, that amount of money is simply not in my budget at the moment. All of this means that I'm gonna have to make some big changes in my life strategy, and focus all of my energies on making money for a while.


To that end, for the past week and a half I've spent pretty much every waking moment (or at least those when I wasn't coughing up a lung or swacked out on muscle relaxants) working on my business.

Whether I'll be able to continue to support myself being self-employed remains to be seen, but I've put my geek hat back on, and so far I've taught myself to write Wordpress themes, I'm learning how to write apps, and I'm researching cloud hosting and other strategies to cut my business costs to the bone.


What this all means for the future of this blog... well, I'm not sure. I hope to continue blogging, though it will certainly have to take a back seat for a while, and I may end up reworking some of the material I've written into a eBook or two.


I'm not really happy about that prospect, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and if that move allows me to continue to be self-employed rather than becoming an employee again, it will be well worth it.

So there you have it. Heavy sighs all around.






26 comments :

  1. Health insurance is a very important thing, so I think you're being very smart as well as practical to prepare for the worst case scenario. Hopefully, things will turn out better than you think.

    Also, good luck with your business. We will definitely miss you here in the blog community if you don't find time to write, but you need to do what you need to do. And even if you only have time to do a post with bullet points, that would be great. I consider you a friend and want to know how you're doing.

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    1. Thanks, June. I'm really hoping it won't be as grim as it currently looks.

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  2. L&L's words echo mine. Do what you have to do ... but I'm more interested in how your life is going than with how "pretty" your posts are. Occasional bullet point posts are fine with me, too!

    If if makes you feel any better, the word on the street from my health care publications is that there won't be any crazy quick changes in the landscape for awhile. It would be disastrous to completely up-end everything all at once--the industry is too big and complex for that--and a lot of policy changes will have to be scrutinized by both the industry and political powers first. I think you are smart by being prepared, but it may not be all doom and gloom (I sincerely hope!).

    SO glad you are starting to see some resolution with your mother. Families are tricky.

    Feel better ... and stay warm! We also had a dramatic weather change, but our temperature swing was only about 40 degrees.

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    1. Thanks, Kris. I do hope that they'll at least give us a few years to adjust. It's just soooo frustrating. The self-employed FINALLY got access to health care, and now they want to take it away again.

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  3. Hi Cat,
    I'm sorry you've had such a rough go of things, lately. It does sound like you are being proactive, and seeking out possibilities for yourself and business.

    I, personally, like to take the approach of "what's the worst that could happen and how would I deal with it?". It makes me feel better to know that I can handle, in some way, the very worst. And with an action plan or two, these sort of situations often push me into making bolder moves and changes in my life, that wind up bringing me a lot more satisfaction.

    Good for you, for teaching yourself some new things, to streamline your costs for your business! Wishing you much success!

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    1. Thanks, Lili. Honestly, I'm having a bit of a hard time telling if it's that I feel depressed because things are going bad, or if it' more that things seem to be going bad because I feel depressed. Either way, I'm hoping that having a plan will make me feel better. Thanks so much for your support.

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  4. Oh Cat, come to the UK! We have predictable weather and almost totally free healthcare and hardly any household pests! Ok we also have shite politicians, but hell, who doesn't these day???
    Yes, come over here, definitely a good option! And bring that nice Mr Obama with you, we could use his compassion and wisdom!
    :)

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    1. Ha! I think we all could use some of Obama's compassion and wisdom about now. Anyhow, the thought of jumping ship and leaving the country has definitely occurred to me. I don't think it's so easy to get in to places like the UK though. Sigh.

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  5. I nearly fell off my chair reading about those health-care costs. Like others, I add my voice to those hoping it won't come to that. But even half-way to 'that' is not a good outcome. This is where I can't bear to hear from some of my more conservative friends how the world will be improved now that Trump is in power. But I guess I come from a landscape of 'socialised medicine' and I feel intensely shocked to think that people have to pay so much for the 'right' of healthcare.

    The new business plans sound very exciting, especially branching out into apps and so on. I hope it's stimulating and challenging despite the hard work of learning it all. And I hope you're able to keep worry at bay and stick to your goals and lifestyle you want.

    Please keep blogging, no matter what!

    (and again...those temperature swings are manic!! Very cool though at the same time to have such extremes and such beauty in the landscape and climate.)

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    1. I'm starting to feel a bit better about the business stuff. I guess the silver lining here is that it's pushing me out of complacency and making me much more willing to take some risks than before.

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  6. Yes the weather is crazy! Here in the middle of the country, we too went from hot to freezing in about 2 seconds.

    Medical insurance has been making me crazy for the past decade. I am over 50 and my "before ACA" costs weren't bad as a self-employed person. I used to pay around $300 a month because I don't have any pre-existing conditions. When the Affordable Healthcare Act came into play and they had to level the playing field for the pre-existing needs (which I understand and support) my costs went up to around a $1000 a month. For my husband and I last year we paid 1999.00 a month for the both of us. I buy insurance directly from my carrier now as on the Marketplace my exact policy is actually $300 higher. I don't qualify for subsidies anyway so there is no advantage from me buying off the Marketplace.

    This year it is increasing in both price deductibles.... and the deductibles have increased through the roof in the out of network category. Was $9000 but went to $50,000.

    I remain hopeful that the escalating costs are capped in some way. I find it sad that Medical insurance is becoming out of reach for people to afford at the same time making it a law that they purchase it.

    Anyway...I hope you don't have to use your insurance and recover from any and all ailments. Feel better soon.

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    1. Eee Gads! You're the first person I've encountered whose costs actually went up after the ACA. You might want to check the exchange again though, I did a quick look and the most expensive plan I could find in Kansas was under $500/month.

      Anyhow, I too hope that some way can be found to cap the skyrocketing costs.

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  7. Oh Cat, you have been having a hard time of it with being sick on top of everything else.

    The Medical is a big issue for me as well. I have been fortunate enough that I've been able to keep my expenses low to not need a larger income which enabled me to have medicare for my insurance. Now that's all up in the air and I am trying to figure out just what I might have to pay if I lost Medicare and just how quickly would I need to ramp up my income. The way my situation is set up is that I have about six months of increased income before I lose it completely, but what if I can't earn enough to pay for medical out of pocket with my pre-existing? Then I'd be without any insurance and would have to decrease my income and wait months to show my income wasn't going to rise again before I would get it back. To say I'm stressed is an understatement.

    I was so disappointed to hear the insurance ballot measure failed in Colorado. I was watching that closely. It might have been the answer you needed.

    All that said, the latest news I've heard is that Trump is backpedaling on his promise to repeal Obamacare. He's now talking about things he wants to keep so we might have a bit longer to sort out our finances for the worst case scenario.

    Good luck to you and do stop by and let us know how you are doing from time to time. I'll miss you if you don't.

    Btw, we too are having weird weather swings here as well. Friday it was 75 and Saturday it fell to 30 and snowing.

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    1. Oh Lois, you must be terrified at the prospect of losing your coverage. If it's any consolation, Medicaid is a state run program, so the feds can't really dismantle it - they can, however, defund it. But with your medical issues, don't you qualify for disability? I don't know how it all works, but I always assumed that disability included medical coverage.

      Anyhow, the single-payer ballot issue here was doomed from the start. It was just a very poorly conceived measure with lots of details about how they were gonna tax everybody (including taxing seniors' retirement distributions!) but very little information about the benefits that people would receive. They basically just said "oh, well a board will be appointed, and they'll make all the decisions on coverage." As you can imagine, that went over like a fart in church!

      Here's hoping it works out OK for all of us.

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  8. I'm sorry to hear you've been going through a rough patch :( Let's see what happens with Medicare in the coming months and just try to take good care of yourself!

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    1. Thanks so much for your kind words. It's actually looking a bit more hopeful than it was, but we'll have to see what happens. I just can't imagine that kicking 20 million people off of their health care can be a winning strategy! Of course, standard political rules don't really seem to apply anymore.

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  9. Sorry that the election might have bad consequences for your healthcare. No one talks about that kind of impact during the election, right? It's all emails and likability when we're campaigning...

    I hope that there's a good option out there for you. I'm hoping the Senate Dems can block a lot of what the GOP would like to do to Obamacare via filibuster.

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    1. It will be interesting to see what happens with the filibuster. I think the Republicans are divided on whether to keep it (it meaning the filibuster) or not - some want to do away with it completely, others are more cautious about it.

      I dunno... I mean, I understand that they want a "free market" solution, but it seems to me that free market principles only work when people have a choice - and when it comes to something like health care, it's just not really in the optional category.

      It just seems so unfair that self-employed people are denied the right to band together and buy group plans with all of the same protections and benefits that people who get their insurance through their employer get to enjoy. I know I'm preaching to the choir, it's just really frustrating.

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    2. I wonder if individuals might organize themselves (ala a health plan union) to make group purchases together. They'd need a platform, a way to collect data on themselves, and a way to put out some sort of RFP to healthcare providers.

      Still, the notion of people banding together and organizing for better leverage isn't complicated in concept...only in application. :) I bet there's a market for that though.

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    3. When I ran the music school we tried to come up with something like that so that our teachers (who were independent contractors rather than employees) could get coverage, but we were told that it was illegal. What the broker told us was that the only groups allowed to purchase group plans were employers or trade unions. Not sure if that was accurate info or not, and I also don't know what impact the changing laws have had or might have on that situation.

      But that is the main frustration for the self-employed - that the insurance companies get to pick and choose which individual people to cover and how much to charge - something that doesn't happen in the group market. I think that was sort of the point of the exchange, to create a sort of group market for individuals.

      I'm feeling a bit less panicked than I was since Trump seems to have moderated his stance a bit, and even Paul Ryan's plan does provide at least some access. But like anything else, the devil's in the details.

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  10. I just want you to know that I look forward to reading your posts and would really miss your blog if something were to cause you to have to discontinue it.

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    1. Awww... thanks so much for your kind words. Hopefully I'll be able to continue posting, even if they're not quite as well thought through as I would like.

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  11. Echoing others that I hope you can keep posting. I particularly enjoy your cat pix! Another fan here of the ACA--my SIL lost her Medicaid when she moved in with us (moved states) and had to go through the Marketplace to get a plan. That summer, she ended up in the hospital overnight, needing 4 pints of blood and later a procedure to stop the bleeding. Thank goodness for her inexpensive ($200/mo) insurance! I don't know what we would have done w/o it. She's disabled (and Medicare did kick in shortly thereafter, but not during the crisis).

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    1. I know several people who have been saved by the ACA, and also several who died for lack of adequate health care before it was enacted. I guess we'll have to see what happens, but somehow I just can't imagine that dumping 20 million people off of their health care could be a winning political strategy. I sure hope not anyhow!

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  12. Just popped in to say Hello and Oh my - bronchitis and muscle spasms and The Election From Hell. I have complete faith in your abilities to make the most of whatever obstacles are thrown at you. You're clever, resilient and wise. Stay strong luv, we will get through this.

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    1. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement, and I am absolutely thrilled that you're back!

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