OK - You Dropped Out - Yes! But How do you pay the bills?

That's my problem.

I kind of had to drop out - hit a brick wall in the corporate world and just could not go on.

Now I feel a lot better because I'm not working for the first time in my life.

But how do I make enough to pay the bills?

I'm thinking maybe I can cobble together a couple of part-time things. But then what about health insurance?

I'm starting to have anxiety attacks over this. Please help.

the things you mentioned, and then I don't drop out.

You had better think about dropping back in to some kind of non corporate gig.

But I just don't have many expenses and I still don't see how to get the bills paid.

I have lived most of my adult life (and raised 3 kids) without it. Fortunatly the few times we had big emergencies, we qualified for the state low income insurance program. There are lots of inexpensive ways to maintain your health if you are crative and alrady fairly healthy. In fact going without kind of forces you to take more responsibility. (the down side is it also forces people to wait too long when they really need care)

Do you have a lot of material possesions that are at risk if you have some kind of catastrophic event? If not, check into some local service agencies and see what is available.

All that it would take is one major illness and I would be a bag lady for all of my older years.

a bunch of previously existing, serious conditions.

Check out www.simpleliving.net

And best of luck!

It had a high deductible - $5,000. But that sure would be better than nothing.

A friend of mine just went in to have her shoulder replaced. She had complications and ended up in intensive care and other fancy stuff - I bet her bill will be over $100,000. I would never be able to recover from something like that at my age.

She has medicade and a tie-in plan of some kind so I think everything but her therapy will be covered.

or you can go to work at Walmark & get some insurance after working there for a long time :)

Starbucks pretty easily.

What young people forget is that us older folks can't physically do the work that younger folks can. I'm not sure I can stand on my feet for hours at a time.

Listen to me - can I rationalize or what?

they give part-timers health insurance

Is that incorrect?? I hope not!

Wally World actually tries to dump people onto already burdened, underfunded state Medicare programs to avoid paying them health care coverage.

You get used to living on a knife's edge. You just hope one of those body parts you can't afford to have checked every year isn't conspiring to kill you because you know your country doesn't consider its citizens' lives worth anything. You begin to think they want working people to die, and you might be right about that. If you're not rich, you can be thrown out with the garbage.

I am deeply angry about what this country has done to us all. That anger is spread equally to conservatives in both parties, the conservatives that keep wages low, corporate taxes low, fail to deal with the looting of whole industries and good jobs in the US by predatory and protectionist countries abroad, and fail to check corporate greed. The conservatives have failed us all, and both parties are infested with them.

Don't expect of having an easy time of dropping out. Every illness becomes a crisis. Do I seek treatment, or do I just try to ride it out and hope it doesn't get bad enough to kill me?

This is what you are facing. It is not pleasant, but it can be done.

I am very fortunate in that I'm still insurable, but I do have some chronic health problems nonetheless and I so completely know that feeling of hoping none of your body parts are conspiring against you. I read articles every now and then or hear someone talking about how some serious condition was caught by early detection, and that freaks me out. And there's that constant questioning you have to do every time you're sick or injured - the whole "is this really serious enough to go in?" question, which for me almost always means I *don't* go in, even when sometimes I probably should.

I share your anger about the corporate greed, the way we are all being screwed over by the government simply because we're not rich, etc. And I absolutely DO think they want us to die, or at least they really don't care if we do. My husband and I have kind of a black sense of humor about this and he always says that letting all the poor people die is Bush's new solution to the Social Security "crisis."

I've either worked on my own s a freelancer or worked in jobs for small (non-corporte) businesses and non-profits for most of my adult life.

I've worked steadily but only worked once in what could be called "corporate" job. The rigidity of it drove me nuts and I quit after six months. (Was late getting back from lunch one day. Got all stressed out in fear of getting chewed out. Then realized "life's too short for this shit" and went in and quit.)


So I'm definetly on the outside looking in regarding that way of life. It requires an adjustment of "lifestyle expectations" regarding expensive goods. But there are a lot of compensations....And, who knows, you might find a successful personal niche and be better off financially thanhj you would have been as a corporate serf.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=362

Just an idea where you could get some ideas and ongoing support.

Btw, if it's your feet that make it hard to be standing a lot, try investing in a great pair of sensible shoes and some good shoe inserts. They could take you a long way into being on your feet if you need to go that route. I have some problems like that so it came to mind.

I would suggest a change in the way you live - spend less... it doesn't help with the debt, but it does help going foward.

PT jobs will get you by, and perhaps give you the time you need to recharge...

I'm in my 6th month of unemployment, but I was able to save a good chunk of cash. I will need to return to work soon.

God bless, and best of luck. Don't stress it.

but I'm at the end of my rope.

I can't put together enough part-time wages to stay afloat, even working 20 hours a day.

:shrug: