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Older Black Women Sunk in Middle Class Medicare Gap!

LemonShark

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The Golden Years are not shaping up the way 66 yr old Priscilla Greer of Maryland expected. Her Income is $4445 a month and Medical bills eat 34%! The struggle to make ends meet is compounded by her diabetes, cancer and her husband chronic debilitating disability from Alzheimer's and strokes. She's paying $631 a month just for Medical insurance. Co-pays and cost sharing bring their monthly expense to $1100. They live on American Express for gas groceries and prescriptions. There's also a Mastercard! It's the first time she's accumulated credit card debt. By govt standards they are considered Middle Class And she volunteers at a food pantry to get free food. Friends give her small sums of money.

She looks like a DMV success story but her suburban life is a house of cards. :sad


80 yr old Georgia Williamson lives in Detroit and is a widow. Her monthly income is $1674 and her expenses are $1476 Her healthcare is 19% of her income! Her daughter Rita is her mother's advocate and manages her money. Georgia has $100-$150 left at the end of the month! Her daughter tries to establish a relationship with each of her doctors. The alternative is paying each doctor a little each month and hoping. So this keeps them all willing to see her again if she needs them. Georgia has a couple of thousand in savings. So this is a precarious hold on solvency. Monthly rent is half her income. Georgia has Medicare and her late husband's employer pays for her supplemental insurance. She needs new dentures so she will somehow make monthly payments until it's paid off. She may have to downsize from her senior living to make ends meet.


Mr Hersch's made $100,000 a year as a pharmacist. But only has $40,000 is retirement fund! His wife has had a brain tumor and he has severe allergies. He just lost his job and will be moving to Medicare. So now they are spending down their savings and planning to ho on Medicaid. Together they live on social security and unemployment. Dental work is on hold and Robert ignored a broken toe! Darlene has delayed her brain scan. She is afraid what her copay would be. She's hit the Donut Hole. She'll pay more for her prescription drugs. They cost $1,000 a month. Gotta wait until next year to get her scan.

These women are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid and not rich enough to be above worrying.
 
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First Time Caller

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The US needs universal healthcare. He has a lot on his plate but I hope Biden will focus on healthcare before the next election.
 

UglyFatGirl

Living Rent-Free in Taylor Swift's Bald Spots
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My heart goes out to these families, but they all need to lose weight. Diet and exercise would decrease their food and healthcare budgets substantially.

The first woman also needs to get a part-time job. She's only 66.
 

O.o

Black Women Disproportionately @ Risk For Homicide
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Charity care
Most major medical systems have charity care to help with copays
 

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