Budget Squeeze

It is looking up for once everything gets stable, but there are some timing gaps to fill.

Tomorrow, Prudential will be calling me just to collect a few more statements on my case to determining if I qualify for the Long Term Disability, which I believe I should.

If awarded the maximum, I should be getting a direct deposit on the 24th of each month.  So of course I have to manage that my pay comes in monthly, but I have done this before.  The trouble is that I have run out of a lot of money and there is no buffer or "floor" left in my checking account which means this first first check will hit me when I'm dry.

The first check should cover from June 11th to June 24th (The 24th is Laura's Birthday co-incidentally.) but as I'm running so dry, I will be receiving checks in arrears to my expenses until I can get a floor saved up.  Not a very good place to be when trying to explain this to creditors.

Social Security has already approved my disability, but those deposits won't show up until September.

Now all told, this means I will be living at about 87% of my regular pay while I was working.  So I consider myself very fortunate because I have not prepared for retirement, and this is a comparatively high level when you consider people living off of Social Security alone.

It's nothing to sneeze at, but numbers are numbers and they must balance.

The LTD checks barely keep us afloat, for all our fixed expenses like mortgage, utilities, and such.  It doesn't cover food, nor will it cover the health insurance premiums.  Once Social Security is in place, I think we can swing it all, but we've got a couple of months of robbing Peter to pay Paul before we can begin to catch up.

I have contacted USAA directly too look at thier health care coverage, and there is a plan that looks like it fits. It's a bit unusual to choose, because the co-pay is 100% until the deductibles are met. However, since we know we should hit those deductibles each and every year, the total cost of premiums and out of pocket deductibles will be about 20K per year.

It will still be a tight squeeze for sure, and it requires that there is cash up front but it seems to be the only thing that gets us going.

I still have a good back log of medical bills from 2015 and 2016 before I hit my maximums.

I hate to beg, but I guess I need to do it. If you can offer any help, please see our gofundme page set up by Pat Crawford.