I have a friend I have known more than 30 years. Except for a few relatives, this makes his friendship my oldest surviving relationship.
His story is not unusual. I know of a few other people in his situation. He is a lifelong bachelor who never left home. Life was comfortable, but one day he realized, instead of living with his parents, his parents were now living with him. Suddenly becoming the caretaker of two elderly people is a strange experience for anyone and it dictates one's life decisions.I've never seen a personal ad that says, "Must like old People." There were a few relationships along the way, but each eroded away. Your basic 30 to 40 something woman is going to wary from the start. She knows he's not moving in with her and she certainly doesn't want to move in with him. The end result is a 50 something man who now lives alone.
My friend has always been conservative in his politics and religion, but in a fairly superficial sense. His religion is Sunday School level and his politics comes from Fox. It makes for interesting lunch conversations. He won't admit it anymore, but I think he still believes President Obama was born in Kenya. I think he is a homophobic racist asshole and he thinks I am a liberal libertine with no personal morals. It's a beautiful friendship.
In the past five years or so, things have not gone well. It started with diabetes, progressing to liver problems, gout, partial kidney failure, and chronic pain. All of these problems are the result of a life of obesity. He is very tall, which masked his weight for a long time, but it eventually caught up with him. This makes life difficult for a man who repairs transmissions. He applied for disability two years ago, but was rejected. It's difficult to convince the government that your are disabled, while working 40 hours a week. But. once the real decline began, it was sure and steady. Two months ago, he developed a staph infection in his ankle, which quickly moved up to his groin. The doctor wanted to admit him to the hospital, but this was not an option. Several years of declining income, combined with unreimbursed medical expenses have depleted his savings. There was no money for a co-pay which would be about $2000. The next best thing was out-patient antibiotic infusions and bed rest at home, for at least four weeks.
This was incentive to try for disability again. His lawyer looked over the case and said it was open and shut. He might have his first check in a month or so. He applied for food stamps(it's actually a debit card) and met a very sympathetic government bureaucrat who fast tracked his paperwork, because his situation was so dire. He's eligible for a $150/month food credit.
All this time, his biggest worry is medical insurance. His employer provided a major medical policy which covered prescriptions and he would be eligible for a Cobra plan. This was a problem. The Cobra premium would be about $650 a month. There simply wasn't any money for this. I sent him to the Blue Cross sales agent who handles my medical insurance. My friend's projected income makes him eligible for a considerable Obama care subsidy for his insurance premium. He now has a Gold level policy, for a monthly cost of $149.
We had lunch together yesterday. He is now a Democrat.
His story is not unusual. I know of a few other people in his situation. He is a lifelong bachelor who never left home. Life was comfortable, but one day he realized, instead of living with his parents, his parents were now living with him. Suddenly becoming the caretaker of two elderly people is a strange experience for anyone and it dictates one's life decisions.I've never seen a personal ad that says, "Must like old People." There were a few relationships along the way, but each eroded away. Your basic 30 to 40 something woman is going to wary from the start. She knows he's not moving in with her and she certainly doesn't want to move in with him. The end result is a 50 something man who now lives alone.
My friend has always been conservative in his politics and religion, but in a fairly superficial sense. His religion is Sunday School level and his politics comes from Fox. It makes for interesting lunch conversations. He won't admit it anymore, but I think he still believes President Obama was born in Kenya. I think he is a homophobic racist asshole and he thinks I am a liberal libertine with no personal morals. It's a beautiful friendship.
In the past five years or so, things have not gone well. It started with diabetes, progressing to liver problems, gout, partial kidney failure, and chronic pain. All of these problems are the result of a life of obesity. He is very tall, which masked his weight for a long time, but it eventually caught up with him. This makes life difficult for a man who repairs transmissions. He applied for disability two years ago, but was rejected. It's difficult to convince the government that your are disabled, while working 40 hours a week. But. once the real decline began, it was sure and steady. Two months ago, he developed a staph infection in his ankle, which quickly moved up to his groin. The doctor wanted to admit him to the hospital, but this was not an option. Several years of declining income, combined with unreimbursed medical expenses have depleted his savings. There was no money for a co-pay which would be about $2000. The next best thing was out-patient antibiotic infusions and bed rest at home, for at least four weeks.
This was incentive to try for disability again. His lawyer looked over the case and said it was open and shut. He might have his first check in a month or so. He applied for food stamps(it's actually a debit card) and met a very sympathetic government bureaucrat who fast tracked his paperwork, because his situation was so dire. He's eligible for a $150/month food credit.
All this time, his biggest worry is medical insurance. His employer provided a major medical policy which covered prescriptions and he would be eligible for a Cobra plan. This was a problem. The Cobra premium would be about $650 a month. There simply wasn't any money for this. I sent him to the Blue Cross sales agent who handles my medical insurance. My friend's projected income makes him eligible for a considerable Obama care subsidy for his insurance premium. He now has a Gold level policy, for a monthly cost of $149.
We had lunch together yesterday. He is now a Democrat.
