DON'T FORGET TO READ TO FINE PRINT

I am just flat out annoyed. Whatever happened to the time when you bought a item or an insurance policy and you didn't have to pull out the microscope to find out what is written in fine print somewhere at the bottom of the page. It seems that everything has restrictions or loop holes or "Oh I forgot to tell you" attached somewhere.

I received a letter from my Advantage policy this week telling me that the blood pressure medicine that I have been taking for a number of years is no longer available to me. They have given me an added month of the prescription. During that time I will need to see my doctor and have her prescribe another medication. It usually takes me a few weeks to adapt to a new medication, since if there is a side affect I usually have it. I am going into my second year with this Advantage policy. Apparently a year is enough time for them to see which medications a person takes and delete those meds from their list.

Back when John was working and we had the regular Blue Cross and Blue Shield, (this was before we turned 65 and had to find a Medicare supplement), we could go to the drug store with our prescription and pay a $15.00 co-pay and walk out with no problems. Now we have money taken out of our social security check, and pay for the Advantage policy out our pocket. By the way the Advantage policy doubled this year. Now if I am not mistaken, we pay more per month than when John was working and are getting less. I guess that is a ploy to kill off all the senior citizens, move the longevity rate back a few years and then lay the loss of years on our diet.

We also bought an insurance policy when we were in our late twenties or early thirties. This was supposed to be one of those policies where the money grows and when you get to retirement age you have a nice nest egg to make your life easier. WELL!! Last year we go a notice from the company saying that they had been using our money that the policy had made to pay premiums and the money was gone. We had never missed a payment and had always been prompt in paying the premiums. To keep the policy active we would have to pay xx amount extra. Since this will be our funeral expense money, we continue to send payments. This is as bad a dealing with the Mafia. How are companies allowed to miss use money like that? My advise to young couples is to figure out how much you will have to pay each month for prescription and premiums and stuff it in a fruit jar and bury it it in you back yard. At least you will know where your money is.

Now this will just make you want to spit out ten penny nails. We got a subscription notice from Reminisce Magazine this week. Now we love this magazine but have only bought occasionally because they are kind of expensive. John said maybe we should buy this subscription. He got to reading the fine print and found out that there are only six issues a year. If they issue a special, that counts for two issues and that at any time they can change the number of issues per year and guess what? You pay the same amount whether it be six issues or one. Huh mm.. Whatever happened to the times when you knew what you were buying and got in a timely fashion?

Since I am on a complaining soap box, let me say something about our economy. We live in a beautiful area with lots of lakes, boating, fishing and golf courses. But most of us can't survive on professional fishing and golf. Most of the industry in our area has shut down and moved to other countries. We are an area of food related businesses and retail stores. I don't understand sending the textile and garment business out of the country. We are loosing a whole generation of people to welfare and government programs who could be self providing for their families, if the jobs were still here. There will come a time when the people in these other countries will not be willing to work for pennies by the hour. When they price themselves out of a job, who will we turn to then? We will have to find a way to retrain our own workers and reestablish all these businesses that we have so foolishly thrown out.

We are going to have to move back a little to a time when a person could make a living, have confidence in the business they dealt with and not become such a skeptic as myself.