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Borrego Springs, CA

Friday, June 1, 2012

The weather forces me out of procrastination

I’m pretty good at procrastinating when it comes to things that aren’t my favorite chores.  (not that I can think of any chores that I love to do)  Anyway, it’s a new month today, and the deadline for making decisions concerning Medicare are looming at the end of this month.  I made the decision about a supplementary insurance plan last month, but hadn’t done anything about prescription drug coverage. 

Well, the day dawned very overcast with off and on drizzles, so I bit the bullet and dragged out the prescription drug coverage information.  I just couldn’t convince myself to put it off any longer since it wasn’t a good day for touring outdoor things.  For South Dakota, there was only one plan that was rated at 5 stars.  After reading everything in the booklet, going on-line, and talking on the phone to answer my questions, I went with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. 

One of my considerations was the ability to use mail order refills so I am not tied to having to be near a member pharmacy as I travel.  (although there are 62,000 member locations throughout the country with Blue Cross)  It turns out that Blue Cross uses the same mail order company that has supplied my meds for the last six years without any glitches.  I have often read of fulltimers having delays in getting prescriptions refilled at Walmart or Walgreens or some other place.  I can also receive a three month supply each time for the normal cost of two months using the mail order service.

Only the next year will tell whether or not my decisions were good ones for me.  It took me the better part of the day to get that taken care of, and I was relieved and exhausted when it was done.  I know it’s not real interesting unless you happen to maybe be at the same place in life that I am, but that’s how my day went.

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As I hung up the phone…( ha ha, isn’t that archaic?  Not many people hang up phones any more.  Winking smile)…the white-tailed doe was skulking around outside my window once again.  She actually seemed rather stoic as Emma was going berserk on the other side of the rig outside.

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                      Mrs. Pileated Woodpecker came near to give one of the pine trees a good whack!

The sun came out once again in the late afternoon, and after a couple of good long walks around the campground Emma and I settled outside to watch everyone arriving for the weekend.  I am so glad I chose a site in the woods rather than near the water.  The noise down there from all the boats, and kids, and carryings on is muffled up here in the woods.

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                                                  And it wasn’t long before her honey joined her.

As an addendum to yesterday’s post about the Popcorn Haven, I’d like to report that trying many different flavors of popcorn is very much like going to any other tasting or sniffing of fragrances.  After about three different varieties, your taster gets kind of numbed out.  It was like trying all the different varieties at a Jelly-Belly factory.  Rolling on the floor laughing  So far, parmesan/garlic is my favorite.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

21 comments:

  1. I love those woodpeckers and could spend the day watching them!

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  2. I know what you mean about insurance. I have my Medicare supplement with Gerber Life. I am also domiciled in SD. Three years and have not had an issue.

    Now that we've settled for a few days, I plan on doing some serious bird watching. You gave me the fever.

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  3. Love the Pileated Woodpecker. Beautiful bird.

    We will be going through your situation next year with Paul. Not looking forward to it at all!

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  4. By the time I reach 65 I hope they still have medicare! Your pics of the Woodpeckers are so pretty.

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  5. Beautiful picture of the doe. Hope your Rx plan works better than ours does with Humana.

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  6. Good to have the Medicare decision made. Hopefully it will work out just right for you.

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  7. I went with Humana because Craig only take one generic med and I take three. But when my doctor wanted to prescribe Lipitor for me the Humana plan doesn't cover it. We will probably be switching when the open enrollment period occurs. I choose the AARP sponsored supplemental plan and it has been very good so far. It covered my ultra sound, the oncologist visits, the hand surgery, Colonoscopy, and Craigs Urgent Care visit for stitches last month. No co pays for anything.

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  9. My words didn't come out right so here we go again. It's great to see this discussion about insurance..Eldy will need to work on this soon, so we are glad to hear what people have to say about it. Thanks for talking about it and for the helpful comments, everyone!

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  10. Glad you got that all straightened out...lots of people complain about medicare and prescription coverage...my mom has it and I think it is amazing what it covers. She seems to get any test she wants / needs and her meds come in the mail like clockwork...

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  11. Bill & I both have Humana.... it works for us. But our prescriptions are with Express Scripts... they don't cover Bill's BP meds... even with the doctors letter stating why he needs that kind instead of the generic. I don't know if we had a choice in drug companies, but having Express Scripts is sure better than having nothing! Before we were on Medicare, Bill had PERS, which I sure hated to lose.... it was great! Love your woodpecker photos.... such a colorful bird!

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  12. See, it pays to do your chores ... you were rewarded with sunshine for being a good girl :-)))

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  13. I'm glad to see Woody Woodpecker is alive and doing well in your neck of the woods :)

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  14. I'm with Harriet, I just hope they still have Medicare when I turn 65! We don't have a drug plan for Michael, he only takes two meds, one is dirt cheap and the other is so expensive I get it out of Canada for one third the price I would pay here in the states. Even with a drug plan paying the monthly drug plan premium would cost us more here in the US than getting the medication out of Canada.

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  15. That whole medicare thing is a conundrum. And I don't think that any one coverage is "best". It depends on where you live, or if you don't live anywhere, and what meds you need on a regular basis. I'm never sick now, so don't need any medicines that I can get by prescription. But some locations and some diseases are better served with different supplements. I ended up using my insurance that comes with my retirement and don't have any idea if that is good or not.

    The only thing I want is an a shingles shot and occasional chiropractic or acupuncture visit. But I have to spend $1000 to get to have most of that stuff paid for, especially the shot. But things have changed in the 5 years since I've been on Medicare so I need to investigate the shingles shot again. Hopefully it is down from the $280 it was when I first tried to get it.

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  16. So that's where our 'Woody the Woodpecker' went. We haven't seen him all spring. We will be doing the same coverage stuff next year. Can hardly wait. We'll see what kind of issues the Mr and I can get into!! Should be interesting.

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  17. Judy,

    We, too, chose Blue Cross as our supplemental carrier. In 7.5 years I've paid very little. Most doctor visits and some extensive testing at Mayo were almost 100% covered. I think I did pay Mayo about $300 bucks in all. And we use Walgreens and/or Walmart for prescriptions with no problems.

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  18. I have one advantage over you in that Dave is six months older than I am. He did all this Medicare evaluation the end of last year and I just followed his lead. :)

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  19. I used Walgren's when traveling and here in Redmond, never had a problem, they were always jolly on the spot!! NOW i no longer have any prescriptions :) woohoo!!!

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  20. Glad you got that all behind you ~ we use Blue Cross & Blue Shield also.... no problems! We love the mail order it is so easy for us. Loved the photos as always!
    Have fun & Travel safe
    Donna

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  21. Yes, I am the next batter up for Medicare, but McGyver has done this many times and I count on him to guide me through the labyrinth...Mr. Pileated looks like his head is growing out of that branch on the photo...I had to look twice!!

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