Middle Class squeeze..(Or Why don't y'all just do us a favor and drop dead already)

My friend sheepishly handed me a letter tonight.

It was a resignation letter for her team from our bowling league.

My league is a 30x5 mix of all ages, races, income levels. We have a kid who just turned 17, and we have a few octogenarians. we have married couples, dating couples and a fair share who are "looking".

i mention these details because our league is an anomaly in this day and age. The league has been in existence since 1988, and from this eclectic bunch, we have had marriages---kids who first met in the playroom, and are now dating---a few tawdry affairs--- and horrors..even a murder in the family of one couple.. These people came together as strangers, and have formed life-long bonds, so when something bad happens to one, it affects us all.

There's not a week that goes by. that there's not a card for someone going around...a death in the family, an illness, a wedding, a baby..

but I digress..

My friend and her husband's team consists of their married son & his wife, and their friend. They got a letter from their insurance company today informing them that her insurance premium has increased to $1,400.00 a month..just for HER.. She had the AUDACITY to get cancer a few years back, and the treatment that saved her life ended up ruining her kidneys. She is on dialysis , and a transplant list (although she is on it for her husband's peace of mind, because the doctors have more or less told her she won't get one)..

Their one night out to hang out with friends, see their grown kids, and bowl has been snatched away from them because like she said..."we just can't afford it anymore"..

These are people who worked hard all their lives, raised their kids,don't smoke or drink. Apparently he's self employed,(minimal health coverage) and her medical coverage is one she was able to convert when she had to quit working.

They worked hard all their lives and have a house (modest, and nearly paid for), one car, and thought they might enjoy a nice retirement, UNTIL she got sick. She's 58 and he's 60.

I could tell that she had been crying today (who wouldn't?). Her husband is worried sick about her health, and now they have to give up their one "fun" thing they had left.

The irony is that if they were German, British, Canadian, French......well , you know what I was going to add at this point..

It's extortion, pure and simple. Pay $1400 a month or you die.

(or they could sell their house, use up the money for her treatments until the money runs out, and then go on welfare.)

Middle-class boomers are an endangered species...

a few people like this. It is becoming all too common.

I am very sorry for your friends.

Would your bowling group be willing to take up a collection and pay for them to continue bowling? Would they accept charity? Some people won't.

:scared:
I have nothing more to add. Any comfort would seem futile. :(

I just got an email from a friend of mine who worked for a non-profit university. Apparently the donor who assists with the school's mortgage payment is withdrawing his funding for '07, so she and others got laid off yesterday, when she returned from her Xmas vacation.

Things are only going to get better, and I'm being highly sarcastic of course.

That is pretty much what it is coming to.

Perhaps it is time the super rich start acting out of a sense of rational self interest. Because the shit is already hurtling toward the fan.

And while they hate to admit it, they are still mortal.

(without splitting) and he was given the house. Would that protect their assets?

remarried his ex-wife so she could have cancer surgery. They don't live together, but he said she was the mother of his children and he could not bear to see her die for lack of decent medical coverage..

she's fine now, and they are still the best of friends..(most of us never could figure out why they split up after 30+ years)


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=1846329

They're the ones in their 70's and up, similarly getting screwed over by our country's medical failings.

Gen X and younger are getting hit, too...no matter what your age, insurance companies literally don't care if you live or die.

They drive around in limos drinking lattes, enjoying the good life,
while they condemn the rest of us to death.