stelea99

Comments

• A single plan design that covers all FDA drugs would likely be much more expensive with many companies choosing not to participate. And, if they did, the premiums and co-pays and deductibles would be much higher for many participants who take only one or two generic drugs. You have written many posts about the unrealistic coverage expectations of health care insurance consumers. Does any commercial health plan cover "ALL" FDA drugs? I think not. A plan that covers all, including some which cost hundreds of thousands per year, would not be commercially insurable. The present Part D plan lets the government limit its financial exposure and than of the participating companies. This also limits the premiums and costs of the vast majority of participants.

  Post: When $2100 is not what it appears. The Medicare Part D trap

  Link to comment from February 6, 2026

• One of the nice things about Part D plans, is that you are only stuck in your plan for the rest of this year. 2026 is my 15th year in Medicare, I have had 14 different Part D plans over those years. All of us who use Part D roll the dice each year looking for the best combination of coverage for our needed prescription drugs at the lowest total cost. As our health situation evolves our annual choice of plan can prove to be good or bad; but the damage if we didn't correctly predict the future is limited to one year. And, since you are wealthy, a $6000 negative surprise ain't the end of the world financially. That is what your emergency fund is designed to handle.

  Post: When $2100 is not what it appears. The Medicare Part D trap

  Link to comment from February 5, 2026

• This is one topic where I think you are spot on. If you are paying IRMAA, take a look at your SSA 1099 for 2025. You will find the IRMAA surcharges showing as part of the premiums you paid in Box 3. Therefore, like the Part B premium, if you are able to itemize deductions, and have medical expenses high enough to get over the 7.5% of AGI hurdle, you can deduct them from your taxable income.

  Post: Your effective tax rate

  Link to comment from February 3, 2026

• Like many other discussion on HD, we have wandered into the badlands of word definitions. I think anyone who pays FICA would clearly think of it as a tax on income. However, it is not an Income Tax nor part of its calculation. Likewise, anyone who received muni bond interest, or dividends on a ROTH account, (just to name a couple of examples) enjoyed collecting these items, while knowing that they were not going to be taxed. Perhaps the entire financial system in the US, is a kind of electronic game which only the well off can win.

  Post: Your effective tax rate

  Link to comment from February 1, 2026

• The interesting thing about this kind of post, is that it demonstrates one of the fundamental qualities of life; the lack of certainty. Whether it is how long we will live, how long our money will last, or what the weather will be next December 25th, nothing is certain (except death and taxes). However, we must constantly make decisions to do or not to do things which will affect how our future lives play out. Decision making is stressful, so we seek reassurance from others perhaps seeking to share or soften the weight of the responsibility we feel. Even as we are seeking reassurance, we know down deep that we cannot achieve certainty, and thus attempting to do so is futile. So, we generally choose safer options and die leaving money on the table. This is reasonable behavior, because we all have some potential for needing to deal in the future with some potentially really bad thing. For example, both my mother and the mother of my spouse had dementia, and thus we both had this as a potential thing we might have in our future. In the US, there are around 900,000 new cases of dementia diagnosed each year. The additional cost of Memory Care, in a high cost of living area, would be a significant hit to the finances of the vast majority of households. For many, it is simply unaffordable. So, when my spouse received this diagnosis in 2022, I knew that I would have to pay for Memory Care at some point in the future. That point arrived in November last year. For 2026, this cost will be around $100k. One of the questions I asked at each of the Memory Care facilities I considered was the average length of stay for a person with dementia. And, while there were some with very long residence, the average was 2-3 years. While the cost of Memory Care can be a huge problem, the disease itself exacts a terrible cost from those who have it and their families. For my spouse, without the ability make new memories, there is only the Now; there is no past and no future.

  Post: Customizing the Safe Withdrawal Rate

  Link to comment from January 9, 2026

• Corporations have a life cycle. For most, at some time they will be publicly owned. When they lose relevance they are often taken back to private ownership. The dream of most entrepreneurs is to take their startup public and get the big bucks.

  Post: The Incredible Shrinking — Stock Market?

  Link to comment from December 17, 2025

• I think it would be helpful, if you truly want a discussion on this topic or any other, if you didn't use your own financial situation as the basis for consideration when you are quite wealthy in terms of income. HD readers are not the general public in terms of income or assets. What is affordable to them has no relevance to affordability for most of the US population. How can a household which has trouble paying for rent and food deal with a high deductible health plan? This is the conundrum that faces the current majority in the House of Representatives. Health Savings Plans are a joke for most Americans; they have no extra money to save.

  Post: Affordable is an interesting word – especially related to healthcare

  Link to comment from December 17, 2025

• Well, my new Canon B&W laser arrived yesterday. I paid $122 for it at Amazon. I did get the WIFI connection working. The tiny LCD screen was hard to see but it only took 3 tries to get the WIFI password entered. I will be ordering a couple of new aftermarket cartridges today as well as seeing how printing from my IPhone will work. The new printer is quiet, starts fast, and the print quality is sharp.

  Post: Tech Part II: How to buy a printer/scanner, accessories and more

  Link to comment from December 14, 2025

• In helping family over the long term, less spent for undergraduate education opens the way to potential help with home purchasing, weddings, or many other aspects of life that cost so much more today than they used to. The kids and grand kids will ultimately get all that remains when we pass. We didn't accumulate what we have by making unwise decisions during our lives. Nothing teaches like the example we have already set.

  Post: $92,000 a year is quite an investment. The ROI is real, but maybe not.

  Link to comment from December 13, 2025

• For less than $100, it is easy to buy a docking station which allows with one cord, the use of a monitor, big keyboard, and wired mouse, speakers, and wired network printers. After loading the software for the station, it only requires using one Fn key to mirror the laptop screen on the monitor. You can then unplug that one cord and carry to laptop off to use remotely. So, you can easily transform a laptop into a desktop.

  Post: Part 3.0: More notes and ideas from the retail tech world

  Link to comment from December 12, 2025