Pandemic threat? Anyone else concerned?
- Thread starter erkme73
- Start date
No logins...I know, I know, our kids would get onto the wife and I for not being on those sites. The wife had a Facebook account once, due to her work but she deleted it years ago, too much to keep up with. We are pretty private people and the less we have to keep up with the better for us. My wife has not checked emails since she retired a few years ago. I am becoming less connected myself though I do still like to share, as ya'll know here. Being semi- retired I have less contact, not like when I was working fulltime.
Anyway, doubt we will sign up at our age, the time has passed for us, we are slowly unplugging from the Matrix
Huge Apologies are warranted for all the Brave people who were in the spotlight during the Plandemic but held their ground. Many went through hell with their careers. Novak Djokovic, tennis player, wow all that he had to go though...
bigredfish
Known around here
No logins...I know, I know, our kids would get onto the wife and I for not being on those sites. The wife had a Facebook account once, due to her work but she deleted it years ago, too much to keep up with. We are pretty private people and the less we have to keep up with the better for us. My wife has not checked emails since she retired a few years ago. I am becoming less connected myself though I do still like to share, as ya'll know here. Being semi- retired I have less contact, not like when I was working fulltime.
Anyway, doubt we will sign up at our age, the time has passed for us, we are slowly unplugging from the Matrix
I get it.
But at some point you're going to discover that like the horse and buggy, cars do have distinct advantages
More importantly though, I see quite clearly the separation of those who get their worldview strictly from the programmed MSM TV actors and scripted statements vs real time interaction with 1/2 to 1 Billion people.
Hell, even the President and 100% of our political class, Scientists, Finance, etc etc.. Even the President and MSM use the Interwebs as their primary source of news and communications..
People try to demean it and end up looking dumb.
Dumb is listening to scripted "news" and believing its not propaganda.
The divide between those who embrace online media (social or otherwise) as a means of being aware of the world and those who dont is getting much larger, and its become ridiculously easy to spot the difference.
You sound like my son...I get it.
But at some point you're going to discover that like the horse and buggy, cars do have distinct advantages
More importantly though, I see quite clearly the separation of those who get their worldview strictly from the programmed MSM TV actors and scripted statements vs real time interaction with 1/2 to 1 Billion people.
Hell, even the President and 100% of our political class, Scientists, Finance, etc etc.. Even the President and MSM use the Interwebs as their primary source of news and communications..
People try to demean it and end up looking dumb.
Dumb is listening to scripted "news" and believing its not propaganda.
The divide between those who embrace online media (social or otherwise) as a means of being aware of the world and those who dont is getting much larger, and its become ridiculously easy to spot the difference.
He says that we, my wife and I, have Tapped Out, from this world, he watches alot of MMA. He has a son with a daughter on the way, so for him I get it, their futures look grim with all of this AI taking over. He shares alot of what you post.I know Social Media is the new newspapers sort of speak. Watched my father and grandfather grab the paper every morning to catch up on what is happening locally and around the world. I was really never like that majority of my life. Only in this last decade have my wife and I took notice. She always voted, I did not. But over this past decade my eyes got wide open, thanks to the Plandemic and overreach of our Gov't as with many other nations Gov'ts. The abuse of Politics. I now have huge mistrust for many things which I use to not give much thought to. Doctors, hospitals, medicine...to name a few...
I will use the Jab as an example, nothing a newspaper/social media could of said that changed our decision not to take the shot. Once we say the insane hype, push we knew something was fishy. We sat back and watched the insanity. My wife was still working at that time and was forced to work at home. My job (contracting) pretty much came to a halt, slowed down alot, we were not "Essential". At first we fell into the wipe everything down, hand sanitizer overuse, holding a wipe in your hand while pumping gas, having to wear mask that did nothing to stop the spread, trying to find toilet paper, the list goes on and on...Then finally, Ding, Ding, Ding went off in our heads...
This Thread started:
So I get it, it is important to be informed and I thank everyone here for their sharing...you guys are my newspaper
But I will say I am a very hard sell, every sales person that have come in contact with me finds this out real fast. I can say this, the majority of things I have heard in my life were either untrue or exaggerated, looking back...so my shields are up majority of the time. Alot of what I have seen posted on Social Media platforms has a lot of fluff/biased/opinions with some facts mixed in, today's MSM is all of that minus the facts.. Alot of clickbait out there, which I have naively fell for. So I try to take pretty much everything with a grain of salt until the salt becomes a mound...like the Plandemic...So maybe we are Tapped out, somewhat. If you go to an old folks home or 55 and older community, most people are not glued to their phones, most are not glued to news, most are just trying to enjoy life, their retirement. My wife and I worked real hard all our life, we are not in a retirement home, well maybe we are since my wife is retired and I am semi-retired, still working a few weekends out of a month. Haha, never really looked at it that way. We do get out, but not as much as a recreation bus at a retirement community. Faith and Family are our main priorities these days.
So we give the world back., we are pretty much done. We now stay away from the big cities as much as we can. We sit out on our back porch 10 times or more than we did in the city. This morning we just saw over a dozen deer, A whole family, even a very young buck with them. My wife was running from one window to the next trying to get pics...
The young ones are starting to get their horns now...
This is our medicine now and dinner, haha
So we give the world back
., we are pretty much done. We now stay away from the big cities as much as we can. We sit out on our back porch 10 times or more than we did in the city. This morning we just saw over a dozen deer, A whole family, even a very young buck with them. My wife was running from one window to the next trying to get pics...The young ones are starting to get their horns now...
This is our medicine now
and dinner, haha
bigredfish
Known around here
bigredfish
Known around here
Besides, I need time to upgrade all of cameras to 4K and add some so I can get better shots of the backyard..
View attachment 192.168.1.110_ch11_20260804113251_20260804113257.mp4
View attachment 192.168.1.110_ch11_20260804113251_20260804113257.mp4
bigredfish
Known around here
Let's see if I can embed this satire/meme photo today.
Nope, but it would attach to a DM, so let's try attaching it.
Nope, would not attach, either.
Saved it as a JPG image, and that sort of worked.
Too much work, just for a laugh.
Nope, but it would attach to a DM, so let's try attaching it.
Nope, would not attach, either.
Saved it as a JPG image, and that sort of worked.
Too much work, just for a laugh.
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Out here are alot of Republicans, older folk. I like to talk, hahaha, as ya'll can tell. The Jab has been brought up in atleast half of my conversations in one way or another out here. So far, Everyone here I have talked to except for one, did not take the Jab. Back in the city, a whole different story, sadly the majority of our family took it. Some went as far as taking boasters even though at that time they were already hearing the objections/warnings. Guess they wanted a free hamburger
But back to here, yes there is alot of MAGA here, still see alot of Trump flags everywhere. I won't go there, but as far as Covid informed, all non-jabbers that I talked to were pretty informed, actually a few gave me new info I did not get here. They all knew what Ivermectin can and does do. A few said they actually took the horse paste, it is at every feed store here. Others said they got the pills sent to them. These people are not ignorant. Oh and MSM is a bad word here, this I can say for sure, Everyone I have talked to all said the same thing that MSM sucks. You never see a TV on any of those channels in restaurants here. Yes, Fox is on, or Newsmax and of course the Rodeo channel and bigtime Football, but that is satellite for you or cable in some parts, what is offered. We go there to eat, not watch TV anyway.
I have not met one Democrat here, funny but when we vote they have two papers taped to the table you register at, Republican or Democrat, when they take your ID, you have to point to one, so you don't have to announce your party affiliation. I am sure heads would turn if anyone said Democrat around here, hahaha. But back to my point, Every Democrat back in the city praised the Jab, I mean everyone, it is easy spot a Democrat in the city, they don't even have to say a word. Or should I say Liberal. Even saw some with Fauci shirts back then, big city, very crowded. Every place, clinics, hospital, nursing homes (my parents were at), etc., they all gave you a bad look when we answered, no we did not take the shot. We were the bad guys back then.
So this is what I have observed, many MAGA, or Republicans, lets say Conservatives, do have a clue, that I have talked to. In the city, yes I have met Conservatives who took the jab, these were mainly mid to older folk, 40s, 50s, 60s. Most said they did because their jobs required it. I will say later on, like when my wife was getting her Social Security, we were in a long line waiting to get in, the Jab was a big conversation with almost a dozen of us close in line, guessing there were atleast 30 or more in line. This was in 22, about a 1/4 to a 1/3, guessing, said they took the Shot but everyone of them said the regretted it and wish they had known what they know now back then, they would of not taken it. I remember seeing some liberals turning their blue haired heads to us all, some actually left, not sure because of our conversation or not. What started the conversation was everyone had to put on a mask to go inside, even handing them out at the door. SS office, government building. They even policed anyone not wearing their mask over their nose, one guy was made to leave, very old guy, he was telling them he could not breath, and no it was not George Floyd...
Hear the wife calling, dinner time, gotta go, haha, good time to Shut Up/Stop before I fill my screen with this long post.
Dude, you/ya'll are blessed, we are blessed...your pond is bigger than ours, haha. Was that a Great Blue Heron?, awesome footage/shots. We get cranes in ours, a few ducks. Our young dog loves to bark at them.
This is a pic my wife took this morning, guessing Great Egret...
So next year I get Medicare, been without Ins. a few years since the wife retired. Been staying off of 20 foot ladders too. Anyway, the wife is on a Supplement, Medigap plan.
To my understanding, supplements are more for those sick or more likely to get sick and can afford the higher monthly payments, where as Advantage plans are for less sick, less meds, don't care about which Doc they go to, more like a HMO plan. This is just a rough summary. My Dad was on an Advantage plan, never was sick enough to stay in a hospital, was not on any meds, so it worked for him but he did not go through having to use it. I know he had no or little co-pay, monthly payments were very low if any at all, his checkups were free. The local hospital did take his plan, we found out later but we also knew he had a very small network of where he could go. Outside of this network the plan paid nothing, zero from our understanding but we could be wrong there.
I won't make this long, just saw/ran across this video about hospitals dropping Advantage plans, or atleast from United Healthcare which AARP sells. I am new to most of this, just curious anyone's experience in this...
Anyway, the wife is on a Supplement, Medigap plan.To my understanding, supplements are more for those sick or more likely to get sick and can afford the higher monthly payments, where as Advantage plans are for less sick, less meds, don't care about which Doc they go to, more like a HMO plan. This is just a rough summary. My Dad was on an Advantage plan, never was sick enough to stay in a hospital, was not on any meds, so it worked for him but he did not go through having to use it. I know he had no or little co-pay, monthly payments were very low if any at all, his checkups were free. The local hospital did take his plan, we found out later but we also knew he had a very small network of where he could go. Outside of this network the plan paid nothing, zero from our understanding but we could be wrong there.
I won't make this long, just saw/ran across this video about hospitals dropping Advantage plans, or atleast from United Healthcare which AARP sells. I am new to most of this, just curious anyone's experience in this...
When I had to make the decision and saw how the advantage plans worked, I signed up for traditional medicare and a gap plan. The biggest factor was the restriction on what doctor I could go to. It was more intuition than fact based. I was pretty much totally healthy and with no prescriptions as I watched all of the advertisements for advantage plans, that cost a whole lot less than I was paying. Fast forward a decade and I've got so many things wrong with me that I wouldn't be offended if you called me a basket case, and take way too many pills. Since that started I'm very glad I'm on traditional medicare. I can use any doctor who will take me, with very few authorizations needed, and when needed they come through in a few days. The largest bad part is the price of the gap plan has increased a lot more than I ever expected it to. When I signed up it was $1,220 per year, now it's $3,374 (for plan F). Double that number to include the wife. Along with the medicare premium, we're probably paying about the same as for conventional insurance, but with better coverage, no deductible and no copays. I've been using medicare+supplement a lot the past few years.
The way the advantage plans are so heavily advertised I figure they must be big money makers for the insurance companies. The warped way the world is now, I suspect their main business model is to get as much as possible from the government, and pay as little as possible for the medical care. Things like fairness and credibility would be somewhere further down on the priority list.
The way the advantage plans are so heavily advertised I figure they must be big money makers for the insurance companies. The warped way the world is now, I suspect their main business model is to get as much as possible from the government, and pay as little as possible for the medical care. Things like fairness and credibility would be somewhere further down on the priority list.
bigredfish
Known around here
I have
Traditional Medicare A/B - 200-250 p/mo
Medigap/Supplemental- 250-300 p/mo
Not another single cost. No copays
Go to any doc anywhere, no referral
Switching from a Advantage to Medigap later may require dr visit/checkup, pre existing conditions may be a problem, prices can go up
www.medicarefaq.com
If you never get sick, never go to a doc then Advantage works well
If you never have to shoot it, a rusty High Point works
If it never rains you don’t need an umbrella
If the power never goes out you don’t need a generator
Own a $500K house (no mortgage) with $20M in the bank and there’s never a Fire/Flood/Tornado or liability claim, you don’t need homeowners insurance
Outside of watching critters, why do you need surveillance cameras?
Traditional Medicare A/B - 200-250 p/mo
Medigap/Supplemental- 250-300 p/mo
Not another single cost. No copays
Go to any doc anywhere, no referral
Switching from a Advantage to Medigap later may require dr visit/checkup, pre existing conditions may be a problem, prices can go up
Switching from Medicare Advantage to a Medicare Supplement Plan (2026 Guide)
Switching from Medicare Advantage to a Medigap plan is possible, but medical underwriting in most states can make it difficult. Learn when you can switch, how underwriting works, and the step-by-step process.
If you never get sick, never go to a doc then Advantage works well
If you never have to shoot it, a rusty High Point works
If it never rains you don’t need an umbrella
If the power never goes out you don’t need a generator
Own a $500K house (no mortgage) with $20M in the bank and there’s never a Fire/Flood/Tornado or liability claim, you don’t need homeowners insurance
Outside of watching critters, why do you need surveillance cameras?
Thanks guys, good points. So hard to predict the future. Our financial guy always showed us if we live to our mid-90s how much we will or not have. He even asked our family's medical history, guess that is all we can go on to try and plan ahead.
Was hoping for a lower cost, like an Advantage plan but my mild heart attack in 2000 (I thought it was heartburn, did not even go see a Doc until two weeks later, EKG found it) and an injury caused stroke 2012. MRI found it (apparently from old car accident(s)), it was a flap in a vein in my neck that broke/opened, MRI one year later, flap was healed they told me, I actually went to see an Ear/Nose/Throat Doc first, thought the dizziness was a head cold, 3 weeks later a MRI found the stroke. Oh and get this, I drove the next day 7 hours to South Padre on vacation after the dizzy spell.
Now I am labeled as high risk, like a criminal with a rap sheet. The few places I called after I lost my wife's Ins. a few years ago quoted me $800 a month avg., of course I told them to shove it.
I am over weight, have been for a few decades, even while I worked full time, but only in the stomach area, family history here, pretty much most all the men in our family has a beer belly. If I go by my father's medical history, he passed at 84, healthy, zero meds, pressure spot-on, 120 over 80, he even did not eat right, that is high sodium frozen dinners. He had a stomach of iron, could pretty much eat anything with no problems. Rarely sick, only common colds. One surgery, hip replacement, well he did have carpal tunnel syn. surgery many years back, before laser surgery. was from banging/hitting on things, like bolts fixing cars and he was a Programmer, so keyboard., but that is it, that we knew of.
My mother, different story, she had a regiment of meds, but she was one that live by the Pill(s), if you know what I mean, a pill for everything. She had Two weekly pill boxes full, I mean alot of pills, but really no heart attacks, strokes, major conditions that we know of. If anything elevated, or decreased she would take pills for it. Her charts were all over the place, chasing numbers, she would try this pill, then that pill. (Huge rap sheet) Take her pills away and she would shoot you. This all started when her parents in their late 80s had by-passes, they both lived till 89. So for her history it is hard to say, the big surprise is her last years she ended up in Memory Care, she always had issues sleeping, she worried about everything. But even in memory care, where they controlled her meds, so way, way less pills/meds than she did herself, her vitals were spot on, even better than mine at times. 120/80. She did develop type 2 diabetes, but mild, like both of her brothers, controllable alot by diet/exercise and I want to say maybe a decade or little more of pills, metformin, before she past at 79. She was small/skinny, like one of her brothers, the other was like me, somewhat overweight, belly only. But if you look at her family history, they pretty much all lived till their 80s/90s She was the only one that we know of that developed Dementia, believe me we checked. Also, zero cancer in her family history.
Also zero cancer on my father's side except for his step brother with a different father, they shared the same mother. He had cancer and his son, but not his two daughters who are still living in their late 70s. My uncle lived till 86, his son, sadly died of brain cancer in his late 50s, same type of brain cancer like Senator McCain had, we were told.
So what do I do with the above, lol most of it is confusing. I will say I have never met a person who regretted having a Supplement plan, but have met a few and heard of many regretting having an Advantage plan.
Looks like I will have less money per month starting next year thanks to our great/greedy medical system here in the states. Medicare is forced Ins. if you think about it, if you try to sign up later you are penalized, plus I was told at 65 Medicare part A automatically starts whether you want it or not.
Well those who are receiving SS benefits like I am:
Guess I will be joining the Get Screwed club soon...
Was hoping for a lower cost, like an Advantage plan but my mild heart attack in 2000 (I thought it was heartburn, did not even go see a Doc until two weeks later, EKG found it) and an injury caused stroke 2012. MRI found it (apparently from old car accident(s)), it was a flap in a vein in my neck that broke/opened, MRI one year later, flap was healed they told me, I actually went to see an Ear/Nose/Throat Doc first, thought the dizziness was a head cold, 3 weeks later a MRI found the stroke. Oh and get this, I drove the next day 7 hours to South Padre on vacation after the dizzy spell.
Now I am labeled as high risk, like a criminal with a rap sheet. The few places I called after I lost my wife's Ins. a few years ago quoted me $800 a month avg., of course I told them to shove it.
I am over weight, have been for a few decades, even while I worked full time, but only in the stomach area, family history here, pretty much most all the men in our family has a beer belly. If I go by my father's medical history, he passed at 84, healthy, zero meds, pressure spot-on, 120 over 80, he even did not eat right, that is high sodium frozen dinners. He had a stomach of iron, could pretty much eat anything with no problems. Rarely sick, only common colds. One surgery, hip replacement, well he did have carpal tunnel syn. surgery many years back, before laser surgery. was from banging/hitting on things, like bolts fixing cars and he was a Programmer, so keyboard., but that is it, that we knew of.
My mother, different story, she had a regiment of meds, but she was one that live by the Pill(s), if you know what I mean, a pill for everything. She had Two weekly pill boxes full, I mean alot of pills, but really no heart attacks, strokes, major conditions that we know of. If anything elevated, or decreased she would take pills for it. Her charts were all over the place, chasing numbers, she would try this pill, then that pill. (Huge rap sheet
) Take her pills away and she would shoot you. This all started when her parents in their late 80s had by-passes, they both lived till 89. So for her history it is hard to say, the big surprise is her last years she ended up in Memory Care, she always had issues sleeping, she worried about everything. But even in memory care, where they controlled her meds, so way, way less pills/meds than she did herself, her vitals were spot on, even better than mine at times. 120/80. She did develop type 2 diabetes, but mild, like both of her brothers, controllable alot by diet/exercise and I want to say maybe a decade or little more of pills, metformin, before she past at 79. She was small/skinny, like one of her brothers, the other was like me, somewhat overweight, belly only. But if you look at her family history, they pretty much all lived till their 80s/90s She was the only one that we know of that developed Dementia, believe me we checked. Also, zero cancer in her family history.Also zero cancer on my father's side except for his step brother with a different father, they shared the same mother. He had cancer and his son, but not his two daughters who are still living in their late 70s. My uncle lived till 86, his son, sadly died of brain cancer in his late 50s, same type of brain cancer like Senator McCain had, we were told.
So what do I do with the above, lol most of it is confusing. I will say I have never met a person who regretted having a Supplement plan, but have met a few and heard of many regretting having an Advantage plan.
Looks like I will have less money per month starting next year
thanks to our great/greedy medical system here in the states. Medicare is forced Ins. if you think about it, if you try to sign up later you are penalized, plus I was told at 65 Medicare part A automatically starts whether you want it or not.Well those who are receiving SS benefits like I am:
Guess I will be joining the Get Screwed club soon...
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bigredfish
Known around here
With Medicare A/B and Supplement at Approx $550 p/mo, I'm paying about the same I did for 30 years on an employer plan deducted from my paycheck. I don't consider that expensive at all.
Now if you're under 65 and need insurance without an employer plan (ACA or Private Insurance), you're looking at triple that and its about to get much worse.
The people truly getting fucked are the ones without an offsetting subsidy of some type (employer or .Gov).
But we really need $1.5 Trillion for Defense even though we just got our ass handed to us by a much less advanced country.
Now if you're under 65 and need insurance without an employer plan (ACA or Private Insurance), you're looking at triple that and its about to get much worse.
The people truly getting fucked are the ones without an offsetting subsidy of some type (employer or .Gov).
But we really need $1.5 Trillion for Defense even though we just got our ass handed to us by a much less advanced country.