"Suffering" in retirement

All those planning retirement, beware! It seems poor in spirit and very unsporting, taking advantage of old people, but it goes on. Early on in our retirement we learned, painfully, that when HR says you will have the "same" health coverage you always had, they DO NOT mean it. What they failed to tell us was that, while it was the SAME coverage, it COSTS A HELL OF A LOT MORE. In fact, it eats up a huge portion of their pension check. To me, that makes it NOT THE SAME! Well, we dealt with that and moved on.


Recently we moved from our New Jersey residence down to Chincoteague, Va. In the last few posts you can see part of the why. It is beautiful. When we reported our move, however, we were told that the (health) plan would change. It was reported that the changes would be minor ("VIRTUALLY THE SAME"), and a report was promised. Since the report had not come, Esther inquired. Well, the changes ARE NOT MINOR. We are going from copay to deductible and 85% coverage for doctor visits. That also is NOT THE SAME to me. So Esther asked for a list of coverage in various areas and eventually got the assurance that it would come in the package to be mailed. Then she was told that it would take 48 hours to act on, followed by 10 days to get the package. I wish I had been on the phone, because I really care about ponies. I wanted to ask whether they would feed the ponies while the freaking PONY EXPRESS was delivering their package! Down in Chincoteague we take care of our ponies and want everyone elsewhere to do that, too.

Thanks for participating in this RANT. Warning: there may be more.