Retirement?
Sat., March 20, 11:43 AM
Some of this is “recycled material,” but I’m trying to reorganize it for wider dissemination. It needs to be said, and it needs to be acknowledged among legislators.
Knight-Ridder recently ran an article about Baby Boomers who, due to the declines in the market, will not be able to retire as early as they had planned. It was carried in our local newspaper, although I can’t find it on line. My heart bleeds. I write this not because I’m unique but, sadly, because I am not unique. Those Baby Boomers are not broke, and they still have jobs. Pardon my dust.
When I was about the age those baby boomers are now, I was “downsized.” My entire department was eliminated. Although I was probably at the top of my game, most definitely an excellent prospect, I never again found another permanent position. I’ve been working temporary assignments ever since.
When I was sixty-two, I began drawing social security. I also began withdrawing some funds from my Individual Retirement Account. (The IRA, as it happens, is completely from my own savings, without any employer contributions.) Between the two, there is probably enough monthly income to live on, if one if frugal. In some parts of the country, it would be considered affluence. Am I living on it? No.
Y’see, I’m still not old enough for Medicare, and without a permanent job, no one is supplying me with medical insurance. Each month all of my retirement money goes toward private medical insurance. In fact, I paid more for insurance last year than I earned at my job.
Surely, you say, there are less expensive insurance packages available. Yes, there are. Do you know how they stay inexpensive? They don’t accept sick people! Six years ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes. Even though I was otherwise in good health and my diabetes under control, I was not eligible for the low-cost insurance.
Now I know that I’m fortunate. Some people don’t even have this much. This insurance may leave much to be desired, but at least it covers many expenses I was paying out-of-pocket. Of course, everything has to be pre-approved, and they generally drag their feet about it. (They’re probably waiting to see if I’ll die first; then they wouldn’t have to approve the treatment.)
Has it ever struck you that physicians take the Oath of Hippocrates, but medical insurers take the Oath of Hypocrisy? Okay, bad pun; I’m sorry.
The concept of government-sponsored health care is anathema to many people. In the best of all worlds, coverage would come from the private sector. But how can you expect private employers to provide health insurance when fewer and fewer of them can even provide jobs? We are fast turning into a society divided by those who can afford to live and those who cannot.
My retirement plans – hobbies, travel, volunteering for charitable organizations – none of that is going to happen. I will be scratching for a living as long as I live. But I’m warning you, I intend to live a long time.
