SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

I think he was wanting opinions of how hard it hits the body rather than the pocketbook

 

For me, it was about the same as Covid. Sore arm, listless the next day
Not horrible
But we have grandchildren. They got it and I didn’t.
Medicare covered it.
No more waiting 15 minutes after the Covid shot here.

 

For us the cost is covered.

However far from free.

Medicare B = $165
Medicare Supplement Plan= $175
Medicare Plan D = $1
Dental Insurance =$75
$416/month or $4992 a year + $238 yearly deductible = $5230 a year just for starters with no medical events.

That is just for me - my wife and one kids medical insurance costs are even higher.

Morale of the story - nothing is for free and if you are a middle class person with some assets you had better tighten your belt and prepare for some very high monthly medical expenses in your retirement.
If you family does have an unfortunate medical event even with insurance - that is when the fun really starts as far as medical payments!
NO! Medicare is not a free ride.

and... we would probably be considered to be one of the lucky ones who qualify for Medicare through my work history and payments into the system-have a retiree supplement insurance from a former employer and a tad of government help with the kids medical costs!

 

Medicare paid for my RSV vaccine.

 

I ain't there yet.

As a retired person who is not yet Medicare eligible, those numbers look very nice compared to what I'm having to pay now.

 

Agreed, we were paying 22k a year for 2 of us, and that was 5 years ago.
Maybe costs have come down

 

I wonder how many here are NOT commenting because their med retirement plans are so good - they pay zero - nothing - no copay, no deductable, nada, even out of network. Shame sometimes takes weird forms.

 

We’re close to that. $15. Copayments, no other out of pocket costs, and we’ve had a lot of medical care including surgeries and chronic disease care.
We haven’t hit the donut hole on prescriptions yet though.
One downside is that if we’re out of state, we have to go to the er to be covered

 

Such plans have long been getting increasingly scarce in private industry. Even my sibling who retired from a place that kept a generous pension plan, still must pay quite a bit for medical.

I worked in an industry that was dumping decent pension plans decades ago. My company's plan was gutted in 1993. The accompanying dog and pony show described the change as just keeping its value similar to past years, so that it wouldn't skyrocket to being extremely super-generous in the future under the new business vision, but that didn't come anywhere close to reality. The new plan remnants were also back-end loaded, being earned mostly in the last years before retirement, but industry and business problems also mean mass "right-sizing", i.e. very few would be able (or lucky enough} to stay long enough to reach that golden pewter back end. With 'free' medical for no-one except very top leadership. For all the rest of us, there were greener pastures available elsewhere, voluntarily or not.

In the long run, having nearly maxed out 401(k)s and outside IRAs, and putting more into private savings and investments, proved vastly more valuable than the hobbled company pensions.

Another sibling ended up in public sector. Not to retirement yet, but even with a late start, that PERS plan looks much better than what my old company had.

 

Measles outbreak in Florida grows: What to know about virus flare-ups across the US (msn.com)

Vaccinations, anyone? Just looking at this picture made me itch and brought back bad memories!

 

There are vaccines and THERE ARE VACCINES.
The MMR (studied for 10 years before mandated?) vax virtually eliminates your individual risk for those three diseases, meaning that this is one case where an 'outbreak' of each REALLY WOULD BE an 'outbreak of the unvaccinated' instead of some half-truth you hear in a press conference.
Also.....nobody is going to throw you in the clink or fire you from most jobs for not being vaccinated for MMR although measles in older folks is VERY VERY non-trivial.

Just ask some of the indig......oh....wait.
Nevermind.

Fun Fact: ...ONE exception is the US military.
MMR and all of the other mandatory vaccinations are aptly named.
They are MANDANTORY.

Period.
Full Stop.

Including the flu shot.
I personally saw people in the reserves who were AD-SEP'd for being real-world 'anti-vax' and sometimes with adverse RE codes.
(The thing they never tell you about when they let you go......)
Re_Codes

HOWEVER (comma!) the covid-19 vaccine is no longer a mandatory requirement for military service.
In a fair and just world, this would be because of science and stuff - but in 2024 it's "probably" because of politics.
New recruits are 'strongly encouraged' to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which in a boot camp environment may be a distinction without much of a difference.

I actually do not have a problem with that.
The military got out over their skis with experimental vaccines during Gulf-1, and there are still lingering questions and rumors about the risk/reward algebra with the Covid shots for the young and healthy - like..............military recruits.

 

We’re in Florida

 

Sometimes if you've been vaccinated and you KNOW you've been vaccinated, then you're good to go.

I'm good to go with MMR so I have zero fear about getting it.

 

Same here. So long ago with the measles vaccine, I’m not sure they are positive

 

Ask your health professional if you can get a booster.
I seem to remember that the USN boosted their folks for MMR more regularly than the CDC guidelines, but I've slept since then.

CONVENTIONAL thinking is that you're good to go if you had your childhood shots, but my faith in my nation's healthcare system has been pretty roughed up over the last 4 years.

 

I got the RSV and flu at the same time. No issues. A few weeks later, I got my COVID booster. Very minor chills that night. The got my first case of Covid a couple weeks later. (Early January.) Still coughing a little.

 

A man deliberately got 217 Covid shots. Here’s what happened (msn.com)

I certainly would not recommend this - but-
what medical catastrophes befell him after all these "toxic" vaccinations = basically nothing

“The observation that no noticeable side effects were triggered in spite of this extraordinary hypervaccination indicates that the drugs have a good degree of tolerability,” Schober said in a news release.

 

I need to read up on the vaccines. I was under the impression they strengthened the reaction to the target bug. So I would have expected after "n" vaccinations the previous resistance would cause a reaction to the subsequent vaccinations.

Bob Wilson