My first day...

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Technically, yes, it is the first day of my retirement though I have never worked anywhere in my life that didn’t give January 1^st as an official holiday. Still…

I suppose the biggest thing happening is financial right now…in my head, anyways.  I tend to procrastinate and I knew when this day came, I’d need to do something for medical insurance.  I’d met with my financial planner last fall and we’d discussed my options, one of which I’d said was to just go without coverage until Medicare kicked in, which would be in April.

“John…you just DON’T want to do that.  One serious accident and you could wipe out your retirement account,” he said.

He provided the name of a company that could handle my short term needs and get me set up with Medicare and a supplemental plan afterwards.  “Do this thing, John.  We’ll both sleep better.”

I finally connected with her on December 26^th.  “We still have time if you’d like to do this over the phone,” she said.  I did.  There is nothing I do more poorly than visiting sites that are ‘user friendly’ only to screw them up and not get what I was after. 

She described a plan that would cost me $700 a month, about what I’d have paid if I’d kept my Fieldstone medical policy through Cobra.

“Too rich for my blood, Sharon.  I was thinking of not having any coverage at all for three months and take my chances if it’s going to cost that much,” I said.

“Here’s something with a $10,000 deductible that would only run about $310 per month,” she offered.

Something in my wheelhouse and so I said ‘yes’.  She started asking questions for the application and once I’d given her my address, she surprised me by saying, “your premium just went down to $280 a month because you live in Summit County.”

Well damn, paying off again for moving into Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  She finished the paperwork and submitted my application.  “I should have an answer in a couple of days at most, but yours should fly through since you have no pre-existing’s and aren’t taking any prescriptions.”

She then go into the supplemental insurance I knew I would need once Medicare began in April.  I already knew, having signed up for Social Security benefits in October, that $140 would be deducted from my monthly check to cover Medicare.  I’d also heard from friends that a supplemental plan was essential as Medicare didn’t cover prescriptions, left a large deductible, offered no dental and had a co-pay for office visits.  I’d resigned myself to the fact that it was going to bite…and hard.

“The plan I suggest in almost all cases offers dental, covers the co-pay, a deductible of only $1,000, and covers prescriptions,” she said.  She rambled on so more about what it did and didn’t do, but I only partially listened, thinking ‘this is going to be expensive’.  Finally, I interrupted her saying, “Sharon, the suspense is killing me…how much will it cost?”

“The premium is $21 per month,” she said.

I was pretty sure I’d heard her right, but said, “I live by the adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!”

She laughed and assured me it did what it said and cost what I’d heard.  I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from my chest and I breathed deeply.  Why had I put this call off for so long?  Suddenly I felt as though I could make the retirement finances work even if I gave up the part-time job, which I would at some point.

“You can’t sign up for this until sometime after January 1^st and can do it yourself on-line or I can do it with you,” she said.  “Oh…and while we were looking at all that I received a confirmation on your short-term coverage.  You’ve been approved!”

No, no…let me sign up on-line by myself and possibly suffer a brain aneurism when I do any one of several things wrong and am never able to complete the transaction.  “Yeah…I think I’ll have you help me sign up for it,” I told her.  She wished me a happy New Year and said she’d call back after the first.

I’d woken up hacking and congested that morning and gave strong consideration to putting off my first retirement workout before concluding I just couldn’t start that way.  I put on my running gear and headed out for a loop around Indigo Lake.  It had snowed the day before, but was warming and the trail was sloppy.  I ran slowly but easily, completing the loop, a little over two miles, in 22 minutes.  Once back inside, I immediately hopped on the trainer, loaded a ‘Netflix’ movie on the computer, and rode for 40 minutes.  My goal was to get in my training heart rate zone for at least an hour and I’d managed.  I finished the work-out portion of the day by taking Dakota for a 3.5 mile hike and logging over 20,000 steps. 

So, yeah, it was a good first day.

Run duration:  22 minutes.  Bike duration:  40 minutes.

Training Heart Rate:  140 running and 120 bpm on the bike.

Calories burned during workout:  400 running and 650 on the bike.

Bonus: 21,000 steps.