Tuesday TwitterdeedahBig M

Today is my classmate Joanne's birthday.  That means she's hit the Big M, as have many of my friends who graduated from SHS in 1965. 

We're all turning 65 this year, and I'm not too far behind Joanne and the gang.  

My upcoming "golden age" is becoming perfectly evident with the seemingly endless bundles of packets that have been showing up in my mailbox lately. 

THEY know.

I don't know who "they" are, but "they know" how old we are and that this year marks our significant birthday where we sign up for "the plan" to avoid catastrophic health-care costs.

"The plan" we choose helps us out, but then we're also advised to come up with another "plan" to supplement what the U.S. Medicare system does not cover.

So, this morning my first phone call comes from a government agency.  

I think I have to answer a bunch questions correctly----like my Social Security number, my husband's name. 

(Do you know they send you a form to fill out for ALL your spouses?  I think it allows spaces for four or five and then the option of including an addendum.  

I won't need the addendum, thanks).

Anyway, by 9:15 I should be approved for Medicare.  People tell me Plan B is the one. 

I looked at Plan A and can't quite figure out who would sign up for it.  Can someone fill me in?

Since I take an occasional Advil and no other legal pharmaceuticals (or illegals), I don't think I'll sign up for the drug plan just yet.

Later this week I'll talk to a person who will guide me through how much I want to pay for the supplemental plan. 

I'm assuming my classmates, like Joanne, who've already hit the Big M birthday have become experts on this old-age health-care stuff. 

And, soon I can enter their realm.  

My Medicare doesn't start until June, but I've been told that if you don't fall in step with getting signed up, they penalize you.  

So, I'm doing my best to follow the rules.  I'd hate to have a Medicare tardiness slip put in my permanent folder.

Anyway, when all this week's decisions on plans and the necessary paperwork are completed, I have only one more big item to attend to in my official timeline----besides dying, of course.  

That's to get my Social Security stuff all in order for next year when I turn 66. 

I think we seniors are feeling a bit like most high school seniors across the country who have spent the last year figuring out their "plans."  College-related, of course, with the supplemental plans of "how ya gonna pay for it all?"

I don't remember things being so complex back in 1965 when our decision-making revolved around whether we were going to be a teacher, a nurse or a secretary--we females,  of course.  There was also the option of joining the military.

If we decided college was our thing, NIC or the University of Idaho turned out to be like Medicare Plan B.  Most of us chose those routes. 

Nowadays, the gender aspect of teaching, nursing or otherwise is pretty much a moot point.  And, the possibilities of careers these young folks can follow with their lives is downright mind-boggling.

In the years leading from 1965 to 2012, the University of Idaho and NIC have joined hundreds of other offerings on the college smorgasboard table for seniors.  

We don't even want to talk about the draconian efforts that go into students getting accepted at all these educational institutions and then figuring out how to pay for it.

Yup, life was fairly simple back in 1965 compared to what high school seniors experience these days.   

I hate to think of what this year's graduating seniors are gonna go through with their choices when they reach our golden age of 65. I wonder if they'll have to take a bunch of tests and write essays.

As for me, I'm glad that this week will take care of most of the heavy decision-making on how to make it through the rest of my life.  

That said, I'll just send my friend Joanne a shout out for a happy 65th.  I'm not far behind.