The Financial Facts

A lot of people have expressed concern to me regarding what kind of financial hit I am going to take in this whole deal. In the early going, it was really the last thing on my mind, and truthfully, if it was going to be something that was going to sink me, or worse, something I just couldn’t put together at all... trust me, in the words of that famous Motown hit, “I ain’t too proud to beg!”

The fact is, that as much as I (and probably every one of you) have complained about our Health Care System... which incidentally I have often referred to as our Sick Care Program (a whole other blog entry in and of itself), we are very fortunate in Canada that once we actually do get tagged as having something wrong with us, we can get fixed in a relatively decent amount of time and our tax dollars (as obscene as they are) foot the bill for the medical expenses. The atomic blast that I have signed Achmed up for costs... are you ready for this?... $17,000.00. Can you imagine what kind of guitar I could buy for $17k? To hell with a new guitar, that kind of money can buy an awfully shiny motorcycle to replace the “classic” one I ride around on now. Anyway, not only do I not have to pay for this, I don’t even have to front the money to the Marines in Winnipeg and get reimbursed by the bureaucrats back home. I have suddenly become a willing taxpayer! On the other hand, if I did have to put that on my VISA, just think about the airmiles I would get.

The Provincial Department of Health will also cover a portion of my transportation and lodging related to the treatment, and a good friend of mine who has an obscene amount of those airmiles, has offered to try to get Mom up to Winnipeg with me when I have to go. All-in-all, I don’t expect this nuclear blast to cost me much more than a nice ski-weekend at Marble Mountain... I am just going to miss out on the skiing... and the good food... and the wine... and the mountains... it is probably a bad analogy. I don’t know if I am going to be a candidate for a hearing aid to fix my listening problem yet, but I am pretty sure I can finance that over a few years anyway. Too bad I spent that extra cash on speeding tickets this year!

As far as my job goes, I have a great boss and work for a great organization (I really hope that she reads this stuff) and I am not too worried about missing a lot of work time that won’t be paid for. Just between sick days and vacation time that I have, I would be really surprised if I lose a single day. Plus, if everything does go completely south, which seems so outside the realm of realistic possibility, I do have a good health plan. I have come to realize over the past few months, while I was going through all of this testing, that being present and being productive are not always things that happen simultaneously. My mind does wander to the “what if” scenarios when I am not busy and just doing paperwork, but the bulk of my job I don’t struggle with at all, in fact, I love it and it is a welcome distraction from Achmed on a less than perfect day.

So, now I drink domestic beer and cheap scotch and I eat whatever cut of meat which happens to be on sale this week... not to mention the 2-for-1 sets of guitar strings that I scored. My motorcycle also burns less gas than my car... yet another reason to ride rather than drive...well, at least as long as the weather is decent.

Maybe this little scare will teach me some better spending habits that I can integrate into my normal life...

From Achmed and Me... Live Life!