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I figured since I have not done a post for awhile … again, then I’d do one to bring you up to date on a few things. I have really not been doing much besides staying at home. I have been out a few times though. My leg is still not completely healed although it doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m still being cautious though because the last time I thought it was good, it came back and it was worse the 2nd time. This time I want to be sure it is completely gone.
I have still only been to the new supermarket once. I don’t mind the shopping part so much, but the waiting in line part I can not stand, especially when the lines are so long and the cashiers are so slow. Instead of them just doing the cashier part, they do other things that slow them down even more. Plus half the time they must think they are Wal-Mart, because they only open like half the registers. You wait in line longer than it takes to shop. Although I have yet to use the Express Lane, I hear that it is the worst of them all. Maybe they are not limiting the number of items, but letting people through if they only are carrying a basket. Well a family of people can carry several baskets and that, of course, is not the intention of the Express Lane. I hope they catch on to that soon.
We’ve got a new place that we do our drinking when downtown. I can’t tell you where it is though, because it’s a secret. Randy would be upset with me probably. The ladies that work there are very friendly and the beer is usually very cold. I asked Randy if he was going today, but he wasn’t. He said that if I went about 4:00 pm I might catch a couple of other there, but no one showed up. I just had a couple of beers and then left. I walked part of the way home, but since I had more than P1000 in my pockets, I decided to hail a tricycle and take it the rest of the way. I got a little bit of exercise. I’m sure not enough though.
Speaking of that, I have lost a little bit of weight. It’s not much, but it’s better than gaining. I think I lost mainly due to the fact that I have stopped drinking soda and I no longer eat more than 2 scoops of rice per day. Sometimes I do not eat any rice for a day. That’s a big change from when I first arrive here and I was eating like 6-8 scoops of rice per day, plus drinking at least a 1/2 dozen sodas. Oh, also I no longer drink the 3 in 1 “coffee”. I’ve got that in quotes because it was pointed out to me that it’s not really coffee. I checked the ingredients and it’s mostly sugar. Mostly these days I have cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, fruit or something else light for lunch. The heaviest thing I’ve eaten recently for lunch is a couple of grilled ham & cheese sandwiches. For supper I usually have home made vegetable beef soup. I was eating 1-1/2 to 2 bowls of that, but now I’ve got it down to just 1 bowl. Of course this is a large bowl were talking about here.
Right now I’m home alone. Lita and the relatives are down in Catmon & Tambis for Poppa’s 94th birthday. They should be back on Sunday afternoon (Easter). Pam, our house lady is also here, but she stays at the cousins’ house in the back and is watching things for them back there. Of course she is here during the day to take care of all her chores. I’m glad she’s our house lady, she’s very trustworthy. She doesn’t like beer though.
Well this post has already been longer than I figured. I just finished eating my soup. I wasn’t very hungry, but if I don’t eat now, I’ll want to eat at midnight before going to bed. I’m trying not to do that anymore and I’ve been doing pretty good. I’m also trying to go to bed earlier, but that’s not working out so well so far.
Okay, I’m going.
Salamat Y’all
Hey UJ,
Medicare and Tricare and what ever else care is never enough but it works fine. The asawa is now drawing ss and on medicare and tricare, other posters are correct in that the tricare part kicks in after medicare pays and tricare picks up the rest. Only issue is medicare is of no use to you in the philippines as it won’t pay for any out of U.S. medical cost. Also the cost to have tricare as a secondary to medicare is deducted from your monthly ss, the asawa’s is about $100 a month but in return we have yet to receive a single bill from any DR or hospital as practically every DR and hospital here have agreed to accept both as payment in full. The one time we did receive a bill, I mailed back a copy of my EOB(explanation of benefits) showing they had been paid and I owed nothing according to tricare. Needless to say they wrote it off. Tell the DR’s there to give you a dose of old school antibiotics for your leg, that always worked!!! The new medicine practices I’m starting to see today is more like lets see what this does for you and come back in if doesn’t help crap burns my cheeks so to speak. Hard to find an old school DR anymore who actually listens and prescribes good medical care and gets you what you really need. A couple years back I had major sharp pain in my knee that floored me and swelled up like a damn melon, went to primary DR who says go see an orthopedic DR, which I do and he says an MRI is needed. So happy go lucky ortho DR says the MRI showed nothing wrong…oh really? So why is my knee so damn swollen and hurts like a broken bone. Ah ha, well maybe we should open it up and see, so 2 days later they do and low and behold they find 2 pieces of bone broken off in my knee which their $10 million dollar MRI didn’t show. The ortho DR was shocked he found it…relied on the damn machine and not listening to the patient bit him in the butt. Give me an old school DR any day or a young one who will frigging listen and do the right thing by not trying to push the latest sample drug on you to get you out the door.
I think that you must have Medicare in order to get Tricare for Life.
You’re probably right. I’ll definitely look into that this coming September. I’m going to be getting us Phil-Health next month. Although I understand that we have to wait at least 6 months before we can use it, that should work out well. That would be in October, right after we return from Texas.
This is True. I was using Tricare Prime. And before I turned 65 they sent me Notice that I had to sign up for Medicare if I wanted to keep Tricare. Because Medicare becomes Primary Payer and Tricare for Life becomes Secondary. But you are no longer paying for Tricare like before going to Tricare for Life. But your Medical payments go up when signing up with Medicare. Payments went from about 39.00 a month for 2 on Tricare Prime to 238.00 for 2 on Medicare. And they deduct it from your SS each month before they pay your SS.
Well I think I’m going to hold off on Lita’s Medicare then, if I can. She gets less than $300 per month on SS and them taking $119 of it and us not being able to use it here in the Philippines, is just wasting money. We’ll just wait until I’m 65 and take it for 2 from there, if we can and if we just have to have it.
I think you are between a Rock and a Hard Place. Or Dam if you do or Dam if you don’t. Because if you do not sign up for Medicare when 65 they have Penalty you have to Pay And they are pretty steep. So if I was you I would do a lot of Research on SS and Medicare web sites before you make up your mind. Are you not Paying for Tricare Standard while living in the Philippines? And will it Pay after 65 while living there? If so and you are thinking about living in Philippines for ever. And need Health Care when just Visiting US. It should also pay when in US. I think you can also use Military Hospitals for Care if Retired. Just low man on List when getting health care. Your wife also.
I have Tricare Standard, but it’s free, I don’t have to pay for it. Lita is already over 65 and if they did not sign her up automatically, she ain’t on it either. If they did sign her up, they are not taking any money out. That’s why we need to get back there this September to figure all that out. It also gives me an excuse to go, since Lita is thinking of just going to Japan for a few days instead. Yes I believe we can use the military hospitals, but, as you say, low man on the totem pole. It might be a long wait before we can get an appointment. I’ll try to contact them from here and see what I can find out. We do get our medication on base and that is free also.
Glad to hear that you’re back up on your feet. Try to find something to fill your day. Don’t just sit around that’s not good for your mind or body.
I hope to do it this time around. This leg thing scared me pretty good, since I, for a short time, feared it was diabetes. I sure don’t want that. I really think I will this time around. As for right now, it’ almost 0400 and I’m still awake. I have not been to sleep yet. I tried, but I couldn’t. That only happens to me once or twice per year, so I hope I’m over and done with it for this year.
It sounds to me John like you need to find Hobby. Or learn to do work around the house. When I was there for 3 months working around the house de-rusting and painting Grills and Gates. I lost almost 30 pounds and had to put another hole in belt to keep pants from falling off. Even if I was Drinking Beer at same time. I was probable sweating it out as soon as I was drinking it. Another thing is I only Eat 1 meal a day even if Nila has to have her 3 meals and snacks. If I eat more then that I usually end up sleeping during the day after eating. Heat and Food makes me Sleepy. ( A foot note) Remember that Hernia operation I told you I went in for and was in and out in 2.5 Hrs. Well I got bill Hospital and Doctor came to almost $ 13,000.00. Medicare and Tricare only paid for $ 2700.00. But according to Tricare I owe nothing. I have ask Hospital, Medicare and Tricare as to who is trying to Screw who but have never got straight Answer from none of them.
I do need a hobby, an active one. I was trying to learn keyboarding, but I think I’m giving up on that. I’m not sure I’m coordinated enough for that. I do plan on walking more now that I know I can put on sun block to keep the blotches off my arms. I just need for this leg to be ‘completely’ healed before starting. I don’t want it to get messed up again. I want to walk and take more videos for the blog. I don’t write too much for it recently, so the videos would fill in all that time in between writings. Who knows, maybe while walking I’ll see or think of something that I can write about.
As for that hospital bill, well if Tricare says you don’t owe, don’t pay anything. See what the hospital has to say about it. They are notorious for over pricing anyway. I always thought that with Tricare AND Medicare, you had the whole bill covered anyway. You know I think I need to get Lita signed up for Medicare. I wonder if I can do that from here?
I don’t see why not. If she is already getting SS. I signed up for SS and Medicare on line. The only problem is Medicare will not pay outside of US. I think they will pay if you make it to Guam for Health Care.
We did SS in person in Texas. I don’t even know how to do the Medicare thing. Just something else to look up.
To check on Medicare you have to go to SS. From what I read if you are receiving SS before 65 you are Auto enrolled when you turn 65 but you need to check on that seeing as how you are living out of Country. Check with Embassy they should have someone who can answer your questions about signing up for Medicare while living in Philippines even if you cannot use it.
We’ll just check in September when we go to Texas. Lita has been trying not to go, but to only Japan instead. This will give me some ammunition to make her want to go. If she signs up and we can’t use it here, will they still be taking money out of her SS for it? That’s something we should ask.
As for having no cost this is not true any more even if you have Medical Care and Tricare. They all are trying to squeeze every thing they can get. They are getting like Air Lines. How dumb is it when they will pay for Serum when getting shot but will not pay for Nurse which is giving shot because Hospital bills separate. So Hospital will bill you. I said what the Hell are we suppose to give our selves shot to cut out the cost just because Medicare and Tricare doesn’t want to pay because it is Billed Separetely.