SWCAMBORNE

“You despair when you recall how much you’ve forgotten.”

James Lileks

National Review Columist

The Hasting Drive-in circa 1970 at the corner of Halstead and Rosemead

“Age doesn’t matter, unless you’re a cheese.”

Attributed to:

Billie Burke an American Actress

and others

About six months ago I started getting advertising in the mail about Medicare.  By now I’ve received about a hundred.  See the picture nearby.  According to politicians Medicare is going broke.  According to doctors Medicare doesn’t pay enough to reimburse costs.

Follow the Money

But according to where the insurance companies are spending their advertising dollars there is plenty of money to be made in selling medicare supplemental insurance.

Complexity thy name is Medicare or diving in donut holes.

Except for joking about the “Medicare Buffet” I have put off thinking about Medicare its costs and its complications for as long as I can.  But now I’m within a hundred days of having to sign up and I’m starting to pay attention.  The first thing I discovered is that my countdown counter has been wrong about when I become eligible.  I am closer to the front of the buffet line than I thought.  It is only 87 days until the taxpayers are taking responsibility for paying my medical bills. I’ll see if Nancy H. my brilliant computer dude can change the counter.

Eligibility for Medicare doesn’t start on your sixty-fifth birthday.   It starts  (I’m not making this up) on the first day of the month in which your birthday falls, unless you were born on the first in which case your eligibility starts on the first day of the prior month. Fortunately there is a calculator on the Medicare.gov website.  All you have to do is answer about 10 simple questions and it does the calculation.

Next I’ll explore Medicare parts A, B, C, D and the mysterious donut hole.

“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it is free.”

P.J. O’Rourke

Today I am officially a Medicare Two Digit Midget.  It is now less than 100 days until my 65th birthday and my turn at the medicare buffet.  Since I’ll be getting there before most of you rest assured that I will exercise restraint.  I will not take the last expensive hip replacement just like I didn’t take the last piece of prime rib at the wedding buffet. Ha!

I first heard the expression “two digit midget” when I was in the army and everybody was counting the days until they got to go home from Vietnam.  It is not intended to offend those who are height or digitally challenged.

Here is a link to my post when I became a “three digit midget.”

SML is an acronym we have created as a substitute for Alzheimer’s or Dementia, both of which sound too harsh to me.

SML stands for Senior Memory Loss

and it is also the consonants from SMiLe.

She had a long and untroubled life and a gentle end.

More Pictures on Flickr

You know you’re getting old when you get on a crowded bus and a young person offers you a seat….

And you take it.

You know your getting old when some of the displays at the Bass Pro Shop excite you more than a pretty girl in a bikini.

The beautiful beach at Cancun from our hotel.
btw: All of the getting old jokes are collaborations with Howard R.

You know you’re getting old when you wake up without any pain but you know it won’t last.

Photo from the Royal Solaris Resort, Cancun