Last night my husband called from work saying he wouldn't be home until 8:30 pm. He wouldn't elaborate. He got home a little before 9 pm and told me that nine people in his department were laid off yesterday, luckily not him. He and some workmates went to a pub to sort of console each other about losing the nine colleagues. A couple of the workmates laid off had worked there for decades. It's really so sad! Lay offs were sort of expected to happen in the future, given the company's issues, but hubby said that Covid 19 likely made some happen now, as some issues pertain to China (and other parts of Asia).

Those laid off employees from my husband's work will surely need to pay the expensive fees for Cobra for health coverage, and then that will end. If my husband eventually lost his insurance, we'd be up the creek. I am covered under his insurance, but do have Medicare from my SSDI, but at this time I only elect for the hospitalization benefits, which haven't been used while being covered by my husband's private insurance. Of course when Medicare open enrollment comes, I could elect for part B, C, and D, too, but that would mean less money in the bank AND the likely necessity for me to change many (or all) of my doctors. I don't expect to lose my SSDI in the near future, but what if I did? Obama Care would be all I could hope to use. But what if Obama Care is gotten rid of? That would be a sad sad situation for many many people. It can happen, depending on what is done in November. But even the current Obama Care is not exactly ideal. Far from. friends. This is serious stuff!

Luckily, my car only needed a new battery, so the charges weren't that bad. I'll walk to the dealership in a little while.

The stupid "mafia" pharmaceutical management organization associated with our private medical insurance (for profit $$$$$) out of the blue said that the brick and mortar pharmacy we've been going to (small mom pop business) for some medications (ones that can't be ordered mail order) is no longer "in network", so we'll need to switch to one of the monopoly mega giant brick and mortar ones (i.e. CVS or Rite Aid), where you're just a number and not a human being, and the lines are halfway out the door. What's next? Will our "Out of Network" benefits be taken away? If that would be the case, I'd have to either leave my beloved psychiatrist or pay the full amount, which he'd hopefully discount.

At https://worldpopulationreview.com/co...al-healthcare/ you can see a map showing the countries of the world, in 2020, that have universal health coverage. You'll see that the USA is joined only by countries like Mongolia, many (but not all) countries in Africa, India, and similar countries as not offering universal health coverage. The rest of the civilized world believes that all of their citizens should have health coverage, which very often even includes dental and vision. My husband is from a European country. They love their universal health coverage. They are NOT jealous of what people in the US have (or rather don't have). If my husband and I moved to France, as an example, after three months we would be included in their basic universal healthcare coverage. That's one of the reasons my husband wants us to move to France. For our safety. We are vulnerable people.

There are some people in the US, that after reading the above, would say "Get the F out of the US, if you feel this way, BirdDancer! Good riddance!" Well, all I can say is that that is mighty sad. Mighty sad!

For the record, I'd like to say that my venting above was quite well restrained.

Update: I'm unwell. I need my prn! I just got off the phone with the stupid pharmaceutical mgmt mthrfkry and told t hem they are abusing people and that we are human beings and should be treated like human beings.