8/13 - Fate and our trip to the Keys

Do you believe in providence, karma or fate?

I planned out a trip to the Keys this summer.  The game plan was to take the Amtrak out of Penn Station to Miami.  From there grab a hotel for the night then rent a car.  Drive to the Keys and get a room at the Sombrero Hotel in Marathon.  Why there? Cost and it is in the center of the Keys for the most part.  We would leave late in July and come back to NY (yuk) the first week of August.

While there I wanted to reach out and meet face to face some of my FB friends.  Lunch or a drink or two, or something like that to BS a bit.  I’m not going to mention who I wanted to meet here.  I want to learn firsthand the business climate there and see where I can market myself to prospective employers.  After all I specialize in network / computer support and webpage design plus have a lot of marine service experience as a chief mechanic and parts manager from working in a yacht dealership.

Of course while there do some ‘tourist’ stuff.  Things like hanging out at Mallory Square during sunset, lunch at the Hog’s Breath Saloon, a brewski or two or three at Sloppy Joe’s, maybe lunch at the No Name Pub.  Watching the Dolphins at the DRC.  And enjoy sitting on the beach just letting time slip away.

Next thing you know, my pathetic below poverty level unemployment ran out.  There is no way I could finance the trip on that but it did supplement what we have.  At least it would have paid for a few nights at the hotel.

Because of the stoppage of funds the trip is now on hold, again.  Please feel free to insert some appropriate language here, I know I did.

As you would have it we were hit with yet another tragedy.  My sister-in-law who lives in Phoenix had two CVA’s with the second being pretty bad.  For those who do not know what a CVA is, it is a Cerebral Vascular Accident or a stroke.  We have been on the phone with her and her husband on a daily basis.

There is improvement and she is now stable and out of the hospital, but there is a decent amount of damage.

It was decided that we are going to have to drive, you heard me, drive to Phoenix from Long Island.  My wife refuses to fly and the train is totally out of the question.  So we are going to rent a car and three of us are driving the entire distance.  It will not be cheap and it will not be comfortable.  But it is something that we have to do, for what if.  We are leaving NY on 9/1 and hope to be back 9/11 of all days.  Of course if things for her get worse then we are going to bump the trip up sooner.

I figured that with the three of us taking turns driving we should make it in about a day and a half depending on traffic and how we hold up.  But I am allowing three days each way to be on the safe side.

I guess there was a reason as to why we never made it to the Keys in July.  Providence, karma?  Who knows?  But I am NOT giving up on my dream or plans on going to the Keys.

8/3 - NY Afforadble Healthcare, what a joke

Everyone is aware of the ObamaCare law which mandates that all Americans have affordable healthcare. But the law does not state what is to be considered affordable.

Case in point, in New York they came up with the affordable heathcare reform on the heels of ObamaCare. Looking at the New York Affordable Heathcare site paying from $3,000 to $4,000 a month is considered affordable.  I would like to know what Governor Cuomo has been smoking.  I don't think many indviduals can afford that unless you are very well off.  Cuomo has always been in favor of the rich and could care less about the working class or the low income.

Of course there is Healthy New York. This plan for a family of two will cost just over $1,000 a month. Better than the Affordable Healthcare but still not affordable.  Healthy New York does not cover anything much.  No durable equipment, only a hand full of medications, and if you need surgery you are better off grabbing the kitchen knife and doing it yourself.  So for the most part Heathy New York is a waste of time and money.

Next is Family Health Plus.  This is a free program and it covers a lot.  Unlike Healthy New York it will pay for durable equipment, most medications, most surgical procedures, doctor visits and more.  It is a great plan but it is very difficukt to get into.  Your household income must fall between a certain amount.  Even with New York Unemployment which already is way below the national poverty level is far too high of an income to qualify for Family Health Plus.

Next is Medicaid.  In Nassau County you have to sign over everything you own to the Department of Social Services who administers Medicad here.  You cannot have any savings for at least three years prior, have to sign over your life insurance to them, cannot have any retirement, if you own a home that must be signed over to DSS, if you own a car that must be signed over to DSS unless you can find someone who will pay for the car insurance, gas, maintenance, and if there is a note on it they have to take that over.  Also with Nassau DSS ypu are not allowed to be in debit to any credit card agencies for they consider that a luxury.  And the big kicker, you cannot have anyform of income at all for three years. Gotta love Nassau County.

Once you get onto Medicaid the care you get is pathetic at best.  Beyond substandard.

To add insult to injury with Medicaid in Nassau County, let's say you are on it for a year and then finally get a job, something that does not exist in New York, Nassau DSS will garnish 50% of your salary to get paid back.  If you had a surgery during that year, you will be paying them back for the rest of your life.  So once you get onto Medicaid in Nassau, you will never get off it.

How do I know this, we were being forced to go that route and when we learned how much we would lose we backed out.  Plus a neighbor of ours had to go onto it.  She was forced to sign over everything to Nassau DSS.  DSS allowed her to live in her home with her mentally disabled son.  When she died and before she could be put into the ground Nassau DSS evicted  her son onto the street then turned around and sold the house.

Now in December the minimum wage is to go up to a whooping $9/hr.  Do you think with that people can get health insurance?  Let's do the math, shall we?

NYS Minimum wage ($)                      9.00
Times a typical work week(hr)            40    
Gross weekly salary                     360.00
(Less 25%) taxes                        (90.00)

Net weekly salary                       270.00
Times weeks in a month                    4.5  

Net monthly salary                    1,215.00

Right off the bat you can see that the new minimum wage of $9 that takes affect in December cannot possibly cover what New York claims to be affordable healthcare.  Mind you the figures still do not cover rent which is an average of $1,600 a month in Nassau, food for a family of 4 can run $200 a week, gas for a car and more.  Without the health coverage you are running into a deficit.

Governor Cuomo obviously does not care.  So as far as affordable health care in New York, there is none.