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Winter 2020 New England Banter and General Obs


CapturedNature
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1 hour ago, mreaves said:

Interesting piece on NWS participation in the 1980 Winter Olympics. https://vlab.ncep.noaa.gov/web/nws-heritage/-/no-snow-in-sight-the-nws-and-the-1980-olympic-winter-games

Interestingly I don't think this would fly anymore. The NWS couldn't provide support like that to the Olympics directly because they could pay for private service. Nowadays we would only be able to address public safety issues with the EM community. 

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Combination of temps and a newer home has done wonders for my heating expenses this year.

Topped of our 500 gallon propane tank end of March last year (80% is considered full, due to expansion etc etc). So this winter we started at 80%... currently sit at 50% remaining as we approach March... highly doubt we go lower than 40% by the end of the “heating” season.

Quick math based on what we’ve used and price we paid last March puts us at about 110$ a month to heat our home.... not bad 

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So I have the pleasure of getting off my parents health insurance next month (turning 26) and am choosing between an hmo and ppo for myself and wife. 
 

Ive always has a ppo on my parents insurance, and that has worked well, especially when needing to see a specialist for various reasons.

Im leaning ppo, any practical reasons not to do so?

Its about 50$ more per pay period and co pays are 10$ higher 

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10 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

So I have the pleasure of getting off my parents health insurance next month (turning 26) and am choosing between an hmo and ppo for myself and wife. 
 

Ive always has a ppo on my parents insurance, and that has worked well, especially when needing to see a specialist for various reasons.

Im leaning ppo, any practical reasons not to do so?

Its about 50$ more per pay period and co pays are 10$ higher 

what about the deductibles? they can be very different between plans

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11 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

So I have the pleasure of getting off my parents health insurance next month (turning 26) and am choosing between an hmo and ppo for myself and wife. 
 

Ive always has a ppo on my parents insurance, and that has worked well, especially when needing to see a specialist for various reasons.

Im leaning ppo, any practical reasons not to do so?

Its about 50$ more per pay period and co pays are 10$ higher 

Since you're young, I'd consider a health savings account with a high deductible plan.  You have 40+ years to build a health savings account and that money can be used for ANY healthcare related expense, including Medicare premiums when you retire.  The money comes out pre-tax so it lowers your overall tax burden.  The premium will be lower but you'll have a higher deductible.  If you divide the deductible out, it will actually be about the same as the HMO or PPO.  It gives you the benefits of the PPO but you'll be able to carry over funds year to year and you never have to worry about out of pocket healthcare expenses.

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1 hour ago, SJonesWX said:

what about the deductibles? they can be very different between plans

 

30 minutes ago, MetHerb said:

Since you're young, I'd consider a health savings account with a high deductible plan.  You have 40+ years to build a health savings account and that money can be used for ANY healthcare related expense, including Medicare premiums when you retire.  The money comes out pre-tax so it lowers your overall tax burden.  The premium will be lower but you'll have a higher deductible.  If you divide the deductible out, it will actually be about the same as the HMO or PPO.  It gives you the benefits of the PPO but you'll be able to carry over funds year to year and you never have to worry about out of pocket healthcare expenses.

300 hmo 600 ppo. 
 

I looked into that as well. My wife has some weird conditions that she sees specialists for, so I’m not sure if that would be the best option for us, since she probably needs pretty consistent doctors visits.

I mean, it’s pretty expensive either way... the damage is done with the cost of any plan lol... I guess it’s just choosing between various degrees of suck 

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7 minutes ago, weathafella said:

I thought you had to leave your parents plan regardless of age if you got married.  Is that not true?

Nope.... there is almost no disqualifying factors... marriage, moving out, etc etc. 

It was a pretty good gig honestly.

I was prepared to have to come off in October when I got married... but both my wife and my insurance said it didn’t matter. We were good until 26

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2 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Nope.... there is almost no disqualifying factors... marriage, moving out, etc etc. 

It was a pretty good gig honestly.

I was prepared to have to come off in October when I got married... but both my wife and my insurance said it didn’t matter. We were good until 26

Thats crazy. I was kicked off my parents plan at 18 as soon as I graduated high school back in the 90s....

 

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On 2/23/2020 at 2:06 PM, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Combination of temps and a newer home has done wonders for my heating expenses this year.

Topped of our 500 gallon propane tank end of March last year (80% is considered full, due to expansion etc etc). So this winter we started at 80%... currently sit at 50% remaining as we approach March... highly doubt we go lower than 40% by the end of the “heating” season.

Quick math based on what we’ve used and price we paid last March puts us at about 110$ a month to heat our home.... not bad 

How old is the house? I dont think people realize how much you can save on energy costs with a modern airtight insulated home. You can also seal and insulate an older house pretty close to the same standards. I have solar but my house would cost me about $75-100 a month for heating in the winter if I had to buy the electricity. 

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