The Lounge 2

[looker-on]

Now that's not cheap Thomas.
Many Australians take out private health insurance with options for dental work and glasses.
Not me though. I have a slush fund to cover a lot of contingencies and find that cheaper in the long term. Glasses last me years and years and I get the best multifocals.
No health, dental, optical nor Pet insurance for me. Home, car and contents I do insure for.
Having no private health insurance I have worked out ways to get cheap medical treatment such as bulk billing medical practices. There is a government funded dental scheme I've tried but found it's useless. They mainly do extractions and not root canals nor especially crowns.

That sounds a bit risky to me, Terry. Who will pay for a major operation then, should it be necessary? A heart operation might cost you up to 35,000€, 42,000€ for a skin transplantation, 32,000€ for a chemotherapy, a stent would be 16,000€ , a bypass 30,000€ just to name a few.
We do have private health insurance but it's not as advantageous as it used to be and it chiefly makes sense for civil servants who get a 50% allowance from the state. For all the others, insuring oneself privately is risky and has ruined the prospect of a care-free life as a retiree for those who got trapped in it by signing up as a young family. When money is tight as a young family, you might get attracted by the low premiums offered to you as compared to compulsory insurance. For retirees, though, premiums are very high eating up a large portion of your pension and, thus, leaving very little leeway financially while those of the state insurance are very low. The sting in the tail is that the decision to get privately insured which you made 40 years earlier is binding for a lifetime. If it weren't, people would always go for the lowest premiums. I'd have ruined my life as a retiree if I'd given in to the temptations of low premiums as a young man with a family.
My wife has an additional private dental scheme and has fared very well so far. I don't have one but we never pick the standard treatment that is fully covered by the insurance but always treat ourselves to something extra if you like but which isn't an extra. Getting an amalgam filling these days, for example, would be crazy but is the standard dental care for a filling.

 

[Richie]

premiums are very high eating up a large portion of your pension and, thus, leaving very little leeway financially

Wife and I look on this as a 'damned if we do damned if we dont' scenario Thomas. Do we relinquish our private health insurance and and as soon as we do risk being hit by a huge medical bill of which private care would have covered a large part. A lot more by comparison to premium costs. That is what keeps us hanging on to our insurance policy. We have dropped one or two sections of the policy to save money and now use the free seniors public hospital system more.
Do all Germans pay for public health?

 

[Grier]

That sounds a bit risky to me, Terry. Who will pay for a major operation then, should it be necessary? A heart operation might cost you up to 35,000€, 42,000€ for a skin transplantation, 32,000€ for a chemotherapy, a stent would be 16,000€ , a bypass 30,000€ just to name a few.
We do have private health insurance but it's not as advantageous as it used to be and it chiefly makes sense for civil servants who get a 50% allowance from the state. For all the others, insuring oneself privately is risky and has ruined the prospect of a care-free life as a retiree for those who got trapped in it by signing up as a young family. When money is tight as a young family, you might get attracted by the low premiums offered to you as compared to compulsory insurance. For retirees, though, premiums are very high eating up a large portion of your pension and, thus, leaving very little leeway financially while those of the state insurance are very low. The sting in the tail is that the decision to get privately insured which you made 40 years earlier is binding for a lifetime. If it weren't, people would always go for the lowest premiums. I'd have ruined my life as a retiree if I'd given in to the temptations of low premiums as a young man with a family.
My wife has an additional private dental scheme and has fared very well so far. I don't have one but we never pick the standard treatment that is fully covered by the insurance but always treat ourselves to something extra if you like but which isn't an extra. Getting an amalgam these days, for example, would be crazy but is the standard dental care for a filling.

It is a calculated risk not to have private health insurance Thomas but with Australia's Medicare major operations and procedures like Heart, Cancer, ... are provided free to public patients like me. It's more the elective surgery one has to pay for. One can even get hip and knee replacements on the public system but the waiting lists are very long. I'd consider paying out of my slush fund to avoid a long wait.
That's the downside of public medicare, waiting lists can be long but not for heart issues which are prompt and of a very high standard in my state of WA.
In recent years I had skin issues and had to pay the Dermatologist over $1000 out of my own pocket.
For services like X rays and ultra sounds my Doctor requests they be bulk billed for me.
It's my pets that cost me mostly for medical care.

 

[Grier]

I don't think I could handle temps of 31C, I'd be looking for the nearest swimming pool to cool off in!
Do you wear the leather riding gear?

I don't have a leather jacket for my motorbike Jessica. Leather is very expensive so my jacket is a Drider made from polyester and nylon but with tough carbon fibre armour inserts for shoulders, back, elbows and forearms. I wear thick jeans, tough boots, knee pads, tough gloves and a good helmet.

 

[looker-on]

Do all Germans pay for public health?

Yes, with the exception of a) civil servants, and b) the self-employed because both groups are privately insured, and c) those who either refuse to have or can't have any health insurance at all (the former being "players", the latter being mostly immigrants, long-term unemployed) It's actually not possible ever to be faced with a huge bill since both types of insurances cover the cost. If it does happen, it is the result of their own decision taken a long time ago but making itself felt now.
That's why I don't fully understand why you may have to pay a huge bill if you give up your private insurance? Public health insurance is usually cheaper than a private one. No worries. Over here no one can quit a private insurance. All you can do is to change the tariff within the private system by picking the cheapest one which is still costly enough.
What regularly causes a public outcry is when celebs who used to be quite well-off if not rich, didn't pay for health insurance. These things become known when they can't pay for a necessary operation and then appeal to the public to foot the bill.

 

[Jessica 🤗]

I don't have a leather jacket for my motorbike Jessica. Leather is very expensive so my jacket is a Drider made from polyester and nylon but with tough carbon fibre armour inserts for shoulders, back, elbows and forearms. I wear thick jeans, tough boots, knee pads, tough gloves and a good helmet.

View attachment 3043

As long as it would protect you if the worse should happen. Are you part of a biker community? There's a huge biker community not too far from me, it's nice to see all the bikes lined up on display while the bikers tuck into fish and chips at the nearby restaurant!

 

[Jessica 🤗]

Yes Terry is Perths elderly 'easy rider'.

Just like Babs in Carry On Girls!

 

[looker-on]

Yes Terry is Perths elderly 'easy rider'.

With a bit of luck and the right poses nobody knows that the easy riders are elder unless they take off their helmets which is why they often keep them on fiddling endlessly with the chin straps when chatting with younger women or girls ---- or so the bon mot goes among bikers.

 

[Richie]

Australian firm Pegasus Aerospace Corp received airworthiness certification from CASA for its driveable Pegasus E flying police car last year, with future commercial production its key goal in a world-first for a Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicle (VTOLV).

(L) Watch out baddies we gotcha spotted. (R) the flying car for the busy executive.

 

[Grier]

As long as it would protect you if the worse should happen. Are you part of a biker community? There's a huge biker community not too far from me, it's nice to see all the bikes lined up on display while the bikers tuck into fish and chips at the nearby restaurant!

Hi Jessica,

I'm not in any Biker community group, and never ever a bikie nor affiliate.
I looked on line and there's not much. I saw one Biker group in a far flung suburb, so too far. I helped run a Uni Biker group once.
My two ageing biker mates are procrastinators .. truly. All talk..
I honestly don't mind riding alone. I plan out and explore various easy rides I can do and occassionally take a pillion passenger. I live close to Perth's Swan River and the lovely touristy Swan Valley which is where I mainly ride. Lots of Vineyards, Restaurants, Fun stuff for kids, Chocholate factory, wooded and bush areas, grazing fields, .... and an amazing Coffee place. They sell huge amounts of their own ground coffees but for the pubic it's a huge variety at reasonable prices for a mug of theirs. Cakes and muffins too and a rambling but busy outdoor picnic area overlooking the water, trees, birds, running kids and dogs, hills in the distance and huge metal power lines and towers stretching to the foothills. Yet another wonder of our world...

In recent years a huge network of freeways, highways, ring roads and spaghetti junctions have been and are being built in my growing city of Perth. A lot of them are close to my little quiet suburb and are easy to get to for me. They are great to ride on outside the city, smooth gently curving bends and big round-abouts needing leans left and right.
Closer to the city the freeway traffic gets faster and more congested. I only ride semi-rural, blue skies and between rush hours to avoid the traffic. 🏍

 

[Jessica 🤗]

Hi Jessica,

I'm not in any Biker community group, and never ever a bikie nor affiliate.
I looked on line and there's not much. I saw one Biker group in a far flung suburb, so too far. I helped run a Uni Biker group once.
My two ageing biker mates are procrastinators .. truly. All talk..
I honestly don't mind riding alone. I plan out and explore various easy rides I can do and occassionally take a pillion passenger. I live close to Perth's Swan River and the lovely touristy Swan Valley which is where I mainly ride. Lots of Vineyards, Restaurants, Fun stuff for kids, Chocholate factory, wooded and bush areas, grazing fields, .... and an amazing Coffee place. They sell huge amounts of their own ground coffees but for the pubic it's a huge variety at reasonable prices for a mug of theirs. Cakes and muffins too and a rambling but busy outdoor picnic area overlooking the water, trees, birds, running kids and dogs, hills in the distance and huge metal power lines and towers stretching to the foothills. Yet another wonder of our world...

In recent years a huge network of freeways, highways, ring roads and spaghetti junctions have been and are being built in my growing city of Perth. A lot of them are close to my little quiet suburb and are easy to get to for me. They are great to ride on outside the city, smooth gently curving bends and big round-abouts needing leans left and right.
Closer to the city the freeway traffic gets faster and more congested. I only ride semi-rural, blue skies and between rush hours to avoid the traffic. 🏍

As long as you are safe on your bike
The bikers that I often see are based in Southport, which is just further along the coast from me, they tend to head to the same area, especially in the summer, their bikes look so powerful

 

[Richie]

As long as you are safe on your bike
The bikers that I often see are based in Southport, which is just further along the coast from me, they tend to head to the same area, especially in the summer, their bikes look so powerful

Sounds as tho you missed being a bikies girl when you were younger Jessica.

 

[Richie]

I found this an eye opener. Never heard of this Nun.