Tag Archives: Cobra

The state of affairs.

Posted in cancer, cooking, husband, medicare, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

Things are good this week with 2 doctor appointments down.

B had clinic on Tuesday and I drove him to UCD med center as it was an early appointment so there was traffic.  He’s back on prednisone for a rash but it is minor and seems gone now.  I sat in the car dealing with the financial fallout from the Cobra.  What has happened is this: His group insurance ended as of 7/31 and that’s when we initiated the Cobra thinking at $700 a month that would take care of all the bills.

Ha!!! NOw UHC Cobra is still saying because he was Medicare ELIGIBLE they won’t cover the full costs. WTF????? Well, long story short, after numerous calls we are on the hook for the August appointments.  I made payment arrangements while I was waiting for him to finish up at clinic.  All his appointments from then on were covered by Medicare. But we still were paying the Cobra till actually just the end of last month( January). Not sure this was necessary but open enrollment hadn’t quite started so even though we could have signed him up with special circumstances, we just left the cobra in place.

All I can say is if you’re ever faced with losing group coverage and have to go on Cobra …DON”T.  Overall, the cost factor doesn’t cut it or you need to absolutely clear what the cover. In our case, I just assumed everything was covered.

So then yesterday, I had to drive back down to Mercy cancer center for my appointment.  It’s kinda what I thought he would say is yes, it’s going up but too soon to start treatment and to keep thinking of this as smoldering myeloma.  So it’s watch and wait. That’s okay and when the time comes and my numbers are going up faster, I’m sure we will move ahead.

Today, I’m going to do some cooking. I’ve made hardboiled eggs and I’m going to make the olive and feta topping again. Plus I ‘going to grill some chicken for lunches and dinner. I think I’ll grill some onions while I’m at it.

I have some house chores to catch up on and then I’m going to hit the gym.

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, husband, medicare, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s still cloudy and chilly here in Northern California. There was a big storm that came thru Wednesday and Thursday with I 80 getting closed due to spin-outs. The temperatures are supposed to go into the mid50’s and low 60’s next week so that’s better.

When it’s this chilly which is all relative, I don’t wander around outside much but I’ve decided to start doing at least 15 min outside even if it’s just raking.

Of course, I walk most mornings very early and it’s quite freezing. Literally 32 degrees, but somehow that’s just my MO.

I’ve had jury duty this week and I go one day next week. It’s all quite interesting but for me, with my IBS, I get quite nervous about bathroom access. I did fine because I didn’t eat in the morning.  I’m keeping track of what I’m eating to see what, if any, pattern there is. Plus I am somewhat claustrophobic so being confined to the jury room is a little stressful.  But I made it along with 12 others.

I’m definitely not used to being out all day and that was very stressful. My daughter made dinner both nights so that was nice.

I canceled the medical part of the Cobra so hopefully, that went thru as you do it by email. It takes up to 7 business days to reflect so I’ll be checking the online site. We did request to keep the dental and vision at least until I get that covered by something else. What do other people do? Is it AARP that has a separate dental plan and what about vision?

B was also able to get the very last of his 2019 SDI because we had the doctor say he was still disabled. It wasn’t a lot but it will certainly help.

We went to Costco and did some grocery shopping and filled the car up with Costco gas.

I read that there has been a norovirus at Yosemite from mainly people eating at the Ahwahnee so now we are decided to probably not go since we cannot even risk B getting something like that as it could activater his GvsH.  we have some time to think about it but there are other places we can go. We’ll see…..

I didn’t get to the gym today so I will go tomorrow.

 

Midweek musings

Posted in home stuff, husband, Retirement, Uncategorized by

We lost another chicken yesterday. It was one of our black and white ones. I looked all over for feathers but nada. I’m guessing it was the fox since he’s coming nightly to try and get compost( it’s closed). But foxes do hunt in the day. It always makes me sad to lose one. Now there are only 4. We aren’t planning on getting chickens this year but maybe next. I think we all need a break from the daily chicken routine. But I do love having chickens though and they eat bugs and keep snakes away. Still, the morning and night routines do get old and we have to lock them up as the raccoons would get in their pen.

I’m still checking daily on jury duty but there are 2 more days and last time I did get called on Friday which was weird.

There’s still a lot of uncertainty with things financially and with B finally giving his resignation. We think now that the long term disability we were counting on for the next 5 months won’t happen since he will be retired from UNFI. He’s still medically unable to work but because he will have left UNFI by Feb 1st we think they will say that’s that then.  Has anyone had this happen or been in a similar situation and still was able to get the long term disability? Hartford has tried everything not to pay and succeeded so I’m guessing they will win on this one too.

Some good news is though Merck, the drug company, approved B getting the Tier 5 drug Noxafil for free. That would have been an initial $2000 approx for the first month. I think it was @ 1750 or around that. So that is great news.

With that being resolved we can now drop the Cobra and just do Medicare and supplementals. It’s kinda scary giving up the Cobra but really it’s been a royal PITA. Especially the prescription part.  The one thing I need to check is if we can keep the Cobra for just the dental and vision. Before with the other provider, we could but as of January 1st, the provider changed. Actually, that’s when the issues with the prescription part started happening.

So still lots of things up in the air.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, camping, cooking, Flylady, home improvement, home stuff, husband, kitchen remodel, MDS, medicare, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

It’s been a nice week although weird again with the holiday in the middle of the week. I kept thinking Thursday was Monday. Oh well, it seems that we’re back on course and today is Sunday.

We did a shop a Costco on Friday and didn’t overdo it. I bought extra coffee and TP so we won’t need to ‘run’ down there for those things. We are eyeing a new TV though. Ours is about 8 years old and still works but the sound quality isn’t the best. There are some sales for the super bowl so if I think we can swing it, I will.

B’s last SDI was this last week too. He did get a notice to have his doctor fill out a form about not returning to work, so I’m not sure if they would extend his benefits to use up the little he has left or if it’s just paperwork. What I read is the maximum award is 12months, so we’ll see. We’ll try and do that next week although he sees his doctor on Tuesday and I’m sure it won’t be in the mail by then.

This month will be the big test of how we do without the SDI. I know it’s going to be an adjustment. But at least we have no big bills in January just the car tags for the old van. Still, that’s $150. I have been saving quite a bit of the SDI so that I know I won’t be adding to the savings.

Also, we had to call on his Cobra as, just as expected, the Noxafil prescription came in at$1200.  This amount was the Medicare Part D prescrpiton plan that I’m not planning on using that’s why we’re paying the Cobra amount. I am not paying that much money when last month it was 0.00 co-pay.  So he called and the Cobra payment letter was just going out. So we did it online and then now we have to wait for it to get activated by the prescription plan. After that, we still don’t know what the co-pay will be since we haven’t reached any yearly deductible.  It’s all unsettled right now but next week we should know and hopefully, it’ll be resolved.

Plus we know that within a few months Noxafil will be reduced or eliminated so then we will cancel the Cobra and just use the Medicare Part D as all his other drugs are Tier 2. I think it’s only Noxafil that is Tier 5. What a Fucking scam is all I have to say.

Today is a gym day and we will go for our walk shortly.

Flylady zone is the kitchen and I’ll start that today but finish tomorrow.

I made a new recipe last night from another blogger( Teresa Kasner)

She lives along the Columbia River in an old beautiful farmhouse. Her pictures are outstanding. So the recipe was for Chicken with potatoes and spinach in a creamy parmesan sauce. It was good.

This week is Clinic for Barclay and our overnight trip. Plus whatever stress with the prescription stuff comes up.:(

I started a list of projects for the year and we’ll see how far we get.

  1. to drop the wood stove to floor level so that the footprint is lower and less of an eyesore. We built the platform specifically so we wouldn’t be bending to put wood in but it does take up a lot of floor space. This won’t cost a lot except added stove pipe( which is pricey) but we won’t need a lot. And some stone for the floor. Our woodstove is quite efficient and we will keep it for a few more years. Eventually, we will put in a gas/propane stove. But that’s maybe 5 years out still.
  2. We will be replacing windows in my daughter’s room. This will be maybe @ $1000 as it will be 2 windows replacing one large one. The Anderson windows we bought last summer are great and very energy efficient. So that ended up @ $800( I think).
  3. I’d like to also replace the bathroom window. Same size but just more energy efficient. All the windows in the house we’re replaced when we remodeled but they are now 25 years old so an upgrade will be nice.
  4. I don’t think we will get to any bathroom remodel this year.
  5. I think we are going to try and redo some of the kitchen. The biggest thing is the counters and sink( pipes underneath) really need to be redone. Getting a new pantry system from Ikea will be first on the list as that will be freestanding.

There’s always garden work and yard work. That’s kinda ongoing.

Barclay’s official retirement date is January 30. That’s 25 years. It’s hard to let go of, I think, because of the way it all happened with him getting sick. But how incredibly lucky we are for modern science that has given him a new chance without cancer. Even I can’t say that, although I have been extraordinarily lucky that my Myeloma has responded to treatment. Well, it is what it is.

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This was our dinner the other night. A small piece of filet mignon and a Beyond Meat sausage( which are delicious BTW).

 

 

Midweek Musings

Posted in cancer, cooking, MDS, medicare, simple foods, Uncategorized by

We had a nice drive to Sacramento yesterday for B’s clinic appt. Traffic moved fairly well thru the usual difficult areas( where I -80 merges to Business 80) and the downtown area.  His appt went well and the good news is they have reduced his Tacrolimus to every other day. This is the biggest drug that targets keeping at bay Graft vs Host. So we need to watch for any flare-ups but the NP was pretty confident that this is the time to start. So that means maybe by February he can go off Noxafil which is the Tier 5 that we are holding on to paying the Cobra for. Actually, with the plan set to restart in January, we’re not sure if the Cobra co-pay will reset( I’m assuming it will) and that means, well, I’m not sure how much the co-pay will so that’s a big question mark.

We are set up with Plan D medicare for him but that’s not what we’ll use as that immediately goes to Tier 5 and the 25% start. So way to much $. I guess we will just need to wait and see how it plays out. I’m hoping we can drop the Cobra by March.

After clinic we went to Trader Joes and OMG it was a madhouse. I almost walked right back out. But we managed thru and I got what we needed for Christmas( fondue, and ham) and lots of good food( french fries, they have the best frozen) and other things including TJ’s wine!

We stopped for a pizza slice and then headed home.

Today is a gym day. And then I need to hit Home depot for a bulb for my salt lamp.  Then home to bake some more cookies and maybe make the fudge.

Tonight is a new recipe for a spinach pie. One of the very few memories I have of my mother and this was not when I was young but @ 16, she made a spinach pie that was like a pizza. My sister doesn’t remember it so I’ve been trying to recreate it. This recipe calls for ricotta so maybe that’s what she used.

I’ll update after it’s done and give a review.

 

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, frugalism, medicare, Uncategorized by

I’m not too sure anything these days is all that frugal. We still have medical bills coming in that the Cobra insurance(UHC) says we owe due to the fact B was medicare ELIGIBLE but was in fact not on Medicare. WTF! At least it was for only the one month as far as I can determine. But we could appeal but I doubt that we would win it. So payments on that for a while.  So NOT frugal. Or maybe it will keep us more frugal as that money cant be spent elsewhere.  No, I think it would go straight to savings.

I’ve got most everything for Thanksgiving but realized I still need the nut loaf ingredients. I have the brown rice but the binder is cottage cheese and I need mushrooms too. But I can get those next week at our local Holiday Market.

The dental surgery co-pay was $196 so that was worth having the Cobra for as it would have been @ $1500 so that’s good. I seemed to have a reaction thought to something as I started sneezing and my sinuses went berserk. But the oral surgeon seemed to think it was a cold even though I told him I had no cold. Anyway, it’s better today.

Still, no tree guys so that money is ‘hanging’ out in our checking so that’s a savings ( sorta).

I’m not going to the gym as I’m going to Walmart for a pickup and then to the bank to get a notarization. B sold his motorcycle to someone in Nevada and it was signed wrong so I need to sign a paper that says I signed it wrong .P.I.T.A.  Plus I’m still not feeling 100%. He did lose quite a bit by selling the Honda as he bought it new. But that’s the way it goes.

Dinner is pizza and I’m going to try Whole Foods refrigerator dough to compare to T.J’s. I’ll report back.

 

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Five on Friday

Posted in budgeting, home stuff, Lake tahoe, social security, Uncategorized by
  • I decided to do a Walmart order so I can get the items I needed for going to Tahoe. Vegetarian baked beans, veggie dogs, sauerkraut, rolls for the first night. Since I’d spent so much at Costco last week I wasn’t going to but then it seemed the easiest thing to do. Not really frugal, but it is overall cheaper than Bel-Air or Safeway.
  • I have to go to the dentist to have them check on my tooth that broke. I called the Delta Dental that we have on Cobra and it is activated or some such thing( I hope)  so we’ll see how that goes.
  • Today I’m going to call either AARP or a broker to get B signed up for Plan F ( I’m guessing that’s the best although a reader did tell me Plan G was also excellent. And then also the PArt D. I plugged in his prescriptions and it’s the Noxafil that is a Tier 5 so that’s what will make it expensive but we’ve got to do it one way or another.
  • I don’t think that this can all be in place by October 1st but definitely by Nov 1st. Our plan is to pay for another month of Cobra then cancel.
  • All the monthly bills are done except Verizon which comes out at the very end of the month. So that’s good. Next month will be expensive since 2 of our annual bills will come due. AAA house, which is going up because it was canceled and it needs to be done thru California Fair insurance. AAA will still handle it but it’s going up quite a bit. And our bi-annual car insurance, and then in November the property tax which also went up.  Not sure how all this play out once B is not getting SDI anymore but I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.