The Vent and Rant Thread

[Blossom]

I need eyeglasses badly. Mine are from 2008. I just haven't had the time to get someone to take me to the mall here. We have a place here in St Louis where you get two pairs and eye exam for $80. It use to be $50 when I was a teen. Maybe after summer is over.

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[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Obviously I was a bit exaggerating in my post. I'm happy enough that I don't need a doctor often. What I do get miffed about, is the fact that I have been paying thousands upon thousands for insurance for years, and *if* I need something, such as new glasses (which is a serious cost in my case), I *still* have to pay for them myself. I can get a €200 discount every two years, but firstly, it doesn't stack; if you make a claim after four years, you'll only get €200. Secondly, the cost is €7.50 a month to be able to make the claim. That comes down to €180.

So, I would need to first pay €180, and then get new glasses every two years (which are *a lot* more expensive than €200), for a total 'savings' of €20. That's useless.

Have you looked into the Hans Anders Bril Totaal Plan. I have the two year "subscription", I pay €3 a month (if you sign up now it's €3,50 a month) and I can go pick out new glasses every two years. I need extra thin lenses and normally that makes my glasses very expensive (over €200) but the extra thin glasses are included in the subscription. Extras such as special coatings and brand name frames you have to pay extra for, but it's still a lot cheaper than I would normally pay.

[wodin]

Do a coupled of subthreads in here rightfully belong in the sand box?

[CRussel]

No need, Woodin. They'll die out and then we can Vent about them.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Hubby's state job wants $268 a month to cover me with a huge deductible of $600. When he worked for the factory in Tennessee we paid $20 a week and the deductible was $100-$150. It was a union job though.
Currently we are not Insured. I can't pay that much for health insurance.

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I don't want this to accidentally digress into some other forum, sub-forum, or thread; and I fully understand that "expensive" is relative, of course, but...

I'd be bloody THRILLED if I was paying that. We pay more than 5.5 (Five and one-half) TIMES that much, each month, and your deductible is not even 10% of ours--EACH.

For two people who, until a year ago, were never ill. Not even colds. No weight issues, no diabetes, no heart issues, no cancer, etc. (Yes, Mr. Hitch has been ill this past year--but our rates went up the MOMENT that the perfectly great plan we had was CANCELLED due to the Unaffordable Care Act--so this is now going on 3 years.)

Our rates go up, and our deductible, etc., EVERY YEAR. Why? Why don't we have everything that was promised? Well, gosh, kids, if you don't happen to be URBAN-dwellers, the plans become scant on the ground. Yes, there WAS a less-expensive plan available, as long as I didn't mind driving more than 80 miles, each way, for any type of medical treatment, including emergency care.

Yup..."affordable" care means, the people who have jobs get the holy s*** taxed out of them, on one hand, and then get hosed by their insurers, with the other hand, paying for all the "have-nots," so that those of us who actually HAVE JOBS can be crushed under the weight of our obligations. Our pain factor was, if we used EVERYTHING and met our deductibles, including premiums, ~$12K/annum. Now? It's over $30K per annum. Yes: you read that right. If we meet our deductibles, we pay, out of our pocket, more than $30K/annum. And, NO: we are not rich. Not by any means.

I have to stop now, because I become so irate every time someone talks about "managed" health care, or "affordable" health care, etc., that I'm going to pop my own damn clogs.

</rant>

Hitch

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Obviously I was a bit exaggerating in my post. I'm happy enough that I don't need a doctor often. What I do get miffed about, is the fact that I have been paying thousands upon thousands for insurance for years, and *if* I need something, such as new glasses (which is a serious cost in my case), I *still* have to pay for them myself. I can get a €200 discount every two years, but firstly, it doesn't stack; if you make a claim after four years, you'll only get €200. Secondly, the cost is €7.50 a month to be able to make the claim. That comes down to €180.

So, I would need to first pay €180, and then get new glasses every two years (which are *a lot* more expensive than €200), for a total 'savings' of €20. That's useless.

Ditto here. Eyeglasses are marginally covered, and hardly worth it. I get the prescription, and buy online at zennioptical.com Several of us here do the same.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Have you looked into the Hans Anders Bril Totaal Plan.

I see (pun intended...) an optometrist/eye doctor combination, and even then it's hard enough to obtain reliable diagnoses and measurements. Most people working at Hans Anders, Pearl, and that sort of establishments are 'just' opticians, and not even close to being able to handle this.

I'm not saying anything bad about those opticians. They are very skilled people, able to assist many customers more than adequately, probably even excellently, but in my case, I just need something next level to get done what is needed.

Also, if I can, I want to use only Zeiss glass, and last time I looked into Hans Anders and such, they didn't have them.

Spoiler:

(Yes, I'm a Zeiss fanboy/snob... mostly because they were the first to be able to deliver ultra-thin glasses that fit my requirements, and because their photography lenses have such great price/performance ratio. I haven't taken a picture in three years, but I still can't bring myself to sell my three Zeiss ZM lenses and the Ricoh M-mount camera... sometimes, I'm thinking about buying one or two extra ZM-lenses just to have them, but I've resisted so far )

[ApK]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Ditto here. Eyeglasses are marginally covered, and hardly worth it. I get the prescription, and buy online at zennioptical.com Several of us here do the same.

My wife and I have both used Zenni for the past few years. Very happy with them.
And my current insurance plan reimburses me for them. At least partially.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yup..."affordable" care means, the people who have jobs get the holy s*** taxed out of them, on one hand, and then get hosed by their insurers, with the other hand, paying for all the "have-nots," so that those of us who actually HAVE JOBS can be crushed under the weight of our obligations.

Don't get me started on that one, because then the entire Vent and Rant-thread will probably get closed up or moved to the Politics forums. I'm just saying that the disposable income difference between me (having a 40-hour job that pays OK but not great) and someone who has no job is not huge.

It's not that welfare + subsidy in the Netherlands is extreme; it's the fact that you need a job that is quite a bit above average to be able to spend significantly more than someone in welfare or working in a minimum-wage job, because of taxes and stuff you have to pay, for which you get subsidies or even waivers if you earn less.

If you have a low-paying job which makes you *just* enough to *not* be eligible for subsidies, let alone waivers, it can actually be 'better' to be unemployed (or work a minimum-wage job), and that's something I think is ridiculous.

edit: I think having a welfare system is good; nobody should be left to die in the streets if it can be helped, but having minimum/lower-end salaries that put someone who's working 40 hours a week at the same or even *below* the level of someone who has maximum welfare+subsidies is *not* good. It's not that welfare + subsidies are huge; it's the lower-end salaries that are too low, at least IMHO.

(I have seen all sides of the spectrum: unemployment for some months, minimum-wage jobs as holiday jobs, a low-paying job when just starting out, and now mid-range jobs.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by wodin

Do a coupled of subthreads in here rightfully belong in the sand box?

You're probably right. And I posted too, without thinking hard enough about where I was posting.

OK, time to knock off the health plan comparisons, please.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You're probably right. And I posted too, without thinking hard enough about where I was posting.

OK, time to knock off the health plan comparisons, please.

Ok then,
I will rant about the ant invasion in my kitchen. Did I mention my feet swell up if I get bitten by ants?
OK , now I am off to get rid of the ants.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

OK, time to knock off the health plan comparisons, please.

We're not comparing health plans. We're creating rants supported by real life facts

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Ok then,
I will rant about the ant invasion in my kitchen. Did I mention my feet swell up if I get bitten by ants?
OK , now I am off to get rid of the ants.

I had that happen two days ago. They came through the window. They got on the cats I spray the ants with hot soapy water then removed their trails using cleaner. They haven't been back. I'm on second story. This is the first time we had them here. In Tennessee we had to leave baking soda around the front door to keep them away. I can't do that here the window is a favorite place for the cats to lay.

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[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I had that happen two days ago. They came through the window. They got on the cats I spray the ants with hot soapy water then removed their trails using cleaner. They haven't been back. I'm on second story. This is the first time we had them here. In Tennessee we had to leave baking soda around the front door to keep them away. I can't do that here the window is a favorite place for the cats to lay.

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Just plain old baking soda? I can easily sprinkle that around the back door.
Oh and note to self: keep track of your potato peels.

[wodin]

When we moved into our new (to us) home a few years ago we inherited a severe ant problem. There were at least four varieties from almost too small to see to quarter inch monsters. We tried all the tricks from insecticides to boric acid to no avail.

Then a nest of ground termites moved into the neighbors yard and we decided it was time to call in the professionals. They got rid of the termites, with the added benefit of no more ants. It costs about fifty bucks a month but it's well worth it for the termites alone.