"Boater" wrote in message
...


What if he didn't have a pension through the union?

What if the pension he had through his union was very small?

What if the employer with whom his union negotiated a pension
completely or partially welched on the pension and he's only getting part
of what was agreed to, and only because of the pension guarantee agency?
That happens frequently.

Or are you saying retired union members without pensions should be able to
have their health care paid through the general fund of the union?

Or maybe he did save enough, but he's been nearly wiped out by recent
medical bills in his family.

Most middle income retirees are not that "Fixed" well enough to be able to
handle the costs of serious surgery or an extended hospital stay.

In many cases, being flatlined by medical expenses when you are retired
has very little to do with "personal responsibility."


Harry, being in my last year as an older, young man (59), I've started
looking into health care plans, etc. for Mrs.E. and I for our future as
younger, old people. As a start, I looked at my parents to see how they
dealt with it.

My parents were far from being wealthy. When my father died back in 1999
at age 74, he had a very modest pension from the company he had worked for,
plus social security. They had a small amount of money (about 22k) invested
in a money market account and a house with an outstanding mortgage of about
40K. My mother, who is still alive, has progressive MS and requires
regular health care.
When he died, the house was sold and she lived in one of the investment
houses that we had purchased until her condition required more care than we
could provide. She recently moved into a brand new, very nice assisted
living facility in Plymouth. She loves it there and has all kinds of new
friends with common interests.

She is doing very well under Medicare and an affordable supplimental plan
that my father had set up before he died. Her total income is about 2k per
month now, but her total health care premium is only about 200 bucks.

We help out once in a while to assist with items that insurance won't cover
(we recently bought her a new powered wheelchair) BTW ... she pays for the
assisted living as well. There is a little known veterans benefit program
for vets or surviving spouses that provides an additional $1k per month to
help with assisted living or nursing home costs.

My point is .... I think they are very representative of lower middle class
citizens, but with proper planning and assuming responsibility for your
future, it's not impossible to survive, be secure and happy.
She is in no danger of her health problems "wiping her out".

I suspect a retired UAW employee is probably in much better financial shape
than my parents.

Eisboch