Oh, the Clark’s boots! I wanted to keep them so badly that I took them to a long established boot and shoe repair company in Wayzata, Minnesota, Bob’s Shoe Repair.
Brian, a young, although highly skilled leather craftsmen at Bob’s was confident he could cut out three inches out of the calf of the boot, put them back together leaving me satisfied with the comfort, look and fit. He succeeded. Thanks Brian!
I picked them up yesterday and couldn’t be happier. The cost for the repairs: $100. Total investment in the boots including repairs: $249. With the promise of a great rating online, I offered the seller of the boots a five star rating, if he’d credit me the $14.95 I paid for shipping. He immediately posted the credit to my PayPal account.
Why did I deserve a credit for the shipping? The online description of the boots indicated a 14″ calf circumference when in fact, it was 16″ resulting in the necessity of the repair. I would have been satisfied with 14″ circumference. (My outrageously skinny calves measures 12.5″). Now, I’m beautifully repaired, I’m content.
The sinus infection I reported on two days ago is improving without seeing the doctor or taking antibiotics. The pulsating headache would have driven me to seek help had it not begun to dissipate later in the day yesterday. Today, I awakened with only a slight headache for the first time in eight days. It’s on its way out.
Thanks, Neti Pot, Aleve, Tylenol PM at night (with acetaminophen and Benedryl), lots of water, less dairy and light activity, coupled with periods of rest, good food and the loving support and comfort from my hubby. Now, I know I will most likely survive a sinus infection without antibiotics.
In the beginning stages of figuring out our insurance needs, I spent a few hours yesterday with our long time highly competent broker/owner of our local State Farm Insurance office, Chad Babcock. Having worked with State Farm for the past 40 years, we have never had a problem.
Before we begin traveling we must address these three major insurance concerns:
1. How will we insure our luggage, computers and equipment without the security of homeowners insurance or a permanent home?
2. Will we be able to buy a policy to avoid the high cost of insurance when renting a car abroad, which may be as high as $30 a day in certain locations?
3. Medicare doesn’t cover seniors traveling out of the US and its territories. What type of policy will cover me, turning 65 in six months, while out of the country?
With Chad’s help and a few phone calls later at home, we came up with the following scenarios:
1. Baggage Insurance: Once we acquire our Nevada residency and address, we will be able to purchase “renter’s insurance” covering the value of our belongings traveling with us, attaching a “rider” for our computers and digital equipment.
2. Car Rental Insurance: Many have the perception that one’s own auto insurance will cover a vehicle and liability while traveling in a foreign country. Not the case! Plus…we won’t be owning a car here in the US, if it did. We’ll bite the bullet on this one We’ll pay the insurance at the time of renting the vehicles throughout the world.
3. Health Insurance: Without Medicare, a senior cannot purchase a supplemental policy which usually covers most of the costs Medicare doesn’t pay. Thus, I will be required to apply for Medicare (Tom will have five years until he is 65), pay the monthly fees out of my monthly Social Security in order to receive the supplement.
Plan A: The cost of the supplement is $185 a month at this time along with the required Medicare payment for a monthly total of approximately $285. The hitch: traveling out of the country allows a total lifetime benefit of $50,000, rather skimpy. Our insurance guy gave us a quote for me for $432 a month for full coverage, with no limits but add the approximate $99 a month for Medicare, we’d be paying $531 a month, a huge chunk. Tom, obviously younger than me by five years, will be covered up to 94% with the policy offered to him by his employer plus the necessary supplement until he turns 65. His total cost (for the next five years), $207 a month. GRAND TOTAL FOR BOTH: $738 (Yikes! I hadn’t budgeted for this amount)!
As of this writing, I had a light bulb moment! Duh??? This is not rocket science!
Let’s look at the realities. Tom with better health than I (as hard as I have fought to win over my genes), rarely visits the doctor. Would the 80/20 (OK out of the country) company provided policy be sufficient for him, saving us $207 a month on the supplement?
Plan B: The only difference is 14% (based on the 80/20 coverage without the supplement, as opposed to 94% coverage with the supplement). Then, we purchase the “big guns” policy for me with a $1000 max-a-year out-of-pocket policy with no limits? GRAND TOTAL FOR BOTH: $531 a month!!
The financial risk for me?? None! The financial risk for Tom? We’d have to pay a maximum of 20%. Sure, I did the math, the savings of $207 a month over let’s imagine five years, is $12,420. If he had a $60,000 medical bill, we’d be even.
For now, until we get our feet wet on this adventure, its worth the risk. In the meantime, this pays for the insurance on the rental cars. (If a traveler has an accident in certain foreign countries and doesn’t have insurance, they can be detained until the bill is paid in full.
Tom just returned home. We discussed the above options A and B and we choose B, freeing up the $207 a month to cover the insurance on the rental vehicles. (We don’t plan to have a rental car more than half of each month to keep costs down, vital all month in some locations and seldom needed at all in others).
Of course, all of this could be a moot point when Obamacare kicks in. Not intending to get into politics on this site, this uncertainty faces all of us income earning citizens. Where will Medicare be in the next few years? None of us know at this time and, probably won’t be able to figure it out in the future.
Hum….