Good News and Bad

Willsboro Bay, NY
44 23.95 N 073 23.50 W

Suddenly, our crew count jumped from 2 to 8. We were joined by our son John and his family, Cheryl, Nick, Sara, Katelyn and Victoria. No, we're not all sleeping on the boat. We rented a camp here in Willsboro as a base. John's family wants to learn to sail, so for the next few days I'll be running Dick's Sailing School. I'll probably also be blogging less than normal because I'll be busy and because family life, aside from cruising life, should not be a bloggable topic.

Also, let me share something. Some thing that is part of being retired and living the cruising life. I got a package in the mail that says on the envelope, "Welcome to Medicare." "Good," I thought, "that should be a relief to have medical coverage for the first time in 5 years." But as I read the material in the package, I became more and more hot under the collar.

Medicare has four parts. Part A covers 80% of hospitalization and it is free of charge. Part B covers 80% of doctor charges. The good part is that parts A and B cover us in all the states we visit in a year. Private insurance won't cover non-emergency costs outside your home state. The bad part is that since government intervention in health care, inflation adjusted medical costs have soared so much that my premium plus 20% of the costs are far higher than 100% of our medical premiums plus costs used to be in the 60s.

Part C is medigap insurance. It covers most of the 20% share. The cost is variable, from one hundred up to several hundred dollars per month. However, all of them seem to have the property that all non-emergency care must be provided in one's home state. That doesn't fit our life style at all.

Part D is prescription medicine. It's costs also varies from one hundred to several hundred dollars per month. We're not too interested in that. I estimate that we spent only about $400 dollars for prescription medicines in the past 20 years. The part D premium would be more than 10000% more than our current budget!

Now for the infuriating part. The material says that if we do not choose to buy the optional Part C ad Part D coverage right away, that we will be penalized for the rest of our lives. That's right. We have free choice, but my benevolent government chooses to begin a new relationship by me by leading off with threats. I do not respond kindly to being threatened. We also have a constitutional right to privacy, especially regarding personal medical information. However, to use one penny of the Medicare benefit one must waive his privacy rights.

@$_*!&%)^#!@$(!!! Is there any wonder why I'm so libertarian?